The use of external programmes and ‘outside’ experts’ to support colleagues’ learning can be very powerful. However, if we are really serious about making significant and sustainable improvements to the learning of every youngster in our care then school leaders must focus on developing rich opportunities for professional learning from within the school.  Some key principles behind this professional learning have been highlighted in the Victoria Government's publication The Professional Learning of Teachers.  In this context Aprill, Burnaford and Cochrane [2011, p.371] suggest that:

‘The capacity of the …school leader to act as the ‘lead enquirer’, nurturing and enabling partnerships, supporting others to engage in reflective practice, creating space for experimentation and teacher leadership, and pursuing enquiry for themselves is key to school reform.'

The language used here, words such as ‘nurturing’, ‘enabling’, ‘supporting,’ and ‘experimentation’ reflects a reframing of the leader’s role in supporting professional development. This is characterised by a distinct move away from staff development as an event, both directed and controlled by leaders, to professional learning as a process, an arena in which direct leadership control is difficult to exert. Instead the leader has to use a huge range of other skills, including motivating and influencing, to support the conditions for the effective, ongoing and sustainable learning of all colleagues within their area of responsibility. The emphasis here moves the role of the leader to that of a ‘capacity builder’, supporting the professional leaning of his or her colleagues as self-directed learners. This is about sustaining ongoing enquiry into the practice of teaching and how children learn effectively and engaging colleagues around their role as active change agents in their own right.

This has some significant implications for the behaviours of leaders:

Firstly, it may seem somewhat paradoxical, but in order to become more effective in their support of self-directed professional learning, leaders have to get much closer to the action and business of professional learning. This fits with Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe’s finding [2008, p. 663] that a key leadership practice that can make a significant difference to student outcomes is that of ‘Promoting and participating in teacher learning and development.’

They found that this is more than simply supporting professional learning, the leader is actively participating in the learning with colleagues in ‘formal (staff meetings and professional development)’ and informal (discussions about specific teaching problems)’. There appears to be something very interesting happening through this active engagement in the professional learning process that enables the leader to:

  • demonstrate the importance he or she attaches to both individual and team learning
  • model the learning behaviours he or she wishes to see in other colleagues, highlighting the importance in particular of enquiry as an aid to the learning of colleagues
  • develop important operational and strategic insights around the impact of professional learning on improved pupil learning outcomes and how to support specific Individual and group professional learning needs
  • engage as a fellow learner in powerful learning conversations with individuals and groups that benefit all parties in terms of new and deeper understanding of pedagogy and professional practice

Secondly, leaders need to be connected to the business of Learning and Teaching. They need to know what effective pedagogy looks like; they need to understand the challenges and problems around achieving effective teaching and effective learning, and above all they need to be able to relate this to the needs of professional learning across their remit. If the leader is not close to practice, he or she cannot have meaningful conversations around learning and teaching with colleagues, conversations that are themselves rich sources of learning for both colleagues and leaders.


Thirdly, leaders need to be committed to the idea of being ‘autonomy supportive’. Reeve [1998, p.312], using this term to describe teacher pupil interactions, says an autonomy supportive teacher’s goal is to strengthen students’ autonomous self-regulation. If school leaders are to successfully support their colleagues then an autonomy supportive stance should colour all their interactions around the professional learning of colleagues. An autonomy supportive approach will see school leaders:

  • encouraging and stimulating ideas, experimentations and innovation from colleagues and promoting resilience in the face of difficulties and problems
  • supporting self- directed learning opportunities and developments
  • initiating and supporting opportunities around new roles and challenges designed to stretch the learning of colleagues allied to their needs and aspirations
  • ensuring coaching and feedback approaches that use descriptive rather than evaluative language, as well as articulating clear and objectively based reasons when requesting changed actions or behaviours from colleagues
  • engaging in two-way discussions around Learning and Teaching issues
  • supporting and developing communities of practice and networking opportunities


None of the above prevents leaders from directive actions or indeed from running leader initiated events and programmes. There are times to command, tell and instruct. However it does mean that the leader’s overall aim is to support the professional learning needs and aspirations of colleagues in such a way as to eliminate reliance on additional funding or one-to-one support as the only or primary means for their professional development and learning.

Leaders can do this in a number of ways, not least by:

  • encouraging and supporting opportunities for colleagues to be involved in small learning communities around pedagogy
  • using a coaching approach to support a self-directed learning process
  • capitalising on the rich range of formal and informal opportunities for professional learning both within and beyond the school


The following article explores the relative impact of some different vehicles for professional learning - Valuable Professional Development Opportunities 


Sources used for this page:

Aprill, A., Burnaford, G. and Cochrane, P. [2011] 'The grit in the oyster: creative partners as catalysts for school reform in the US and the US'. In: J Sefton-Green, P Thomson, K Jones, L. Bresler, eds. [2011] The Routledge International Handbook of Creative Learning. Routledge: London.

Robinson,V.,  Lloyd,C. and Rowe, K. [2008] The impact of leadership on student outcomes: An analysis of the differential effects of leadership types'. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(5), 635-674.

Reeve, J. [1998] 'Autonomy support as an interpersonal motivating style: Is it teachable?' Contemporary Educational Psychology, 23, 312– 330. If you are interested in reading this article selec tit from the list that appears through this Reeve Link.



Last modified: Wednesday, 13 February 2013, 6:03 PM