Emerging Leaders Forum

ICP – Ideas and Suggestions

What have we learnt?

School Leadership: Being a school leader is rewarding, but there are challenges that can diminish its appeal.
Understanding Leadership: It’s essential to nurture individuals into leadership roles. Leadership styles vary based on individual personalities; it’s crucial to be authentic.
Similarities and Differences: School leaders share more similarities than differences globally. However, the context in which they operate can influence their challenges and responses.
Voice of Principals: Principals have a significant voice and should be heard. They play a pivotal role in fostering creativity in children and emphasizing skills over mere assessment.
Health Concerns: There are health challenges faced by administrators. While there’s a need to better prepare them, it’s worth questioning if that’s the primary focus.
Global Perspective: While challenges in school leadership are universal, the severity varies. For instance, the situation in The Netherlands is relatively better than in many other countries.
Shared Challenges: School leaders worldwide face similar challenges, which have persisted over time. However, knowing that one isn’t alone in facing these challenges offers solace.
Mentoring Emerging Leaders: There’s a need for intentional mentoring of upcoming leaders to guide them effectively.
Community and Collaboration: Principals are remarkable individuals who collaborate with their school communities. They share practices, are responsive, and have a shared passion and commitment.
Student Voice: Leveraging student perspectives can provide insights into areas school leaders might overlook.
Seasonal Challenges: Every phase of school leadership presents its unique set of challenges.

What will we do differently in the future?

Narrative Control: Actively shape the narrative by co-designing policies and ensuring their effective implementation.
Data Utilization: Connect available data to the necessity for change and link workforce issues to their impact on students.
Communication: Produce clear and decisive communiques.
Student Well-being: Prioritize the happiness index to ensure students enjoy learning and adapt methods to enhance their happiness.
Mentorship: Make mentoring programs mandatory and continuous for leaders, ensuring they aren’t placed in challenging schools prematurely.
Attitude Shift: Embrace diverse perspectives, as inspired by Frans Johansson’s quote on the convergence of different viewpoints leading to the best ideas.
Adaptation: Implement mentorship programs from other countries, survey leadership needs, and create programs to support school leaders.
Networking: Leverage the networking opportunities provided by ICP, focusing on exchanging mentorship and leadership development ideas.
Strengthened Connections: Enhance global connectedness, advocate for equitable education funding, and emphasize the importance of school leadership development.
Diverse Representation: Ensure voices from diverse backgrounds, especially from marginalized communities, are heard within the organization. Promote gender equity in leadership roles.
Resource Sharing: Share best practices to enhance leadership skills and effectiveness.
Inclusivity: Listen more to students and consider incorporating parents’ voices. Also, focus on research and documentation.

What are the biggest challenges?

Resource Allocation: There’s a need for job resources to align with job demands and for proper educational funding, as it’s an investment in the future.
Occupational Violence: This is becoming a normalized challenge that school leaders are expected to manage.
Diverse Skillset: The workforce should possess a range of skills to address various challenges.
Personal Well-being: Leaders face challenges in creating personal time, preventing burnout, and managing difficult schools.
Resource Limitations: There’s a struggle to secure adequate resources to meet student needs.
Unified Voice: The need for a common global voice to advocate for educational priorities.
Job Attractiveness: Questions arise about the appeal of the leadership role.
Quality vs. Quantity: The dilemma of choosing between the best available candidate and the need to fill positions, even if it means losing a top teacher.
Child Development: The challenge of tracking child development in various contexts and the recurring issue of starting efforts from

How can ICP build on the momentum of the forum?

Information Sharing: Disseminate reports, data, and research to emphasize the global nature of educational challenges. Highlight successful solutions from regions like Singapore and share insights with various educational systems.
Amplify ICP’s Voice: Ensure ICP speaks on behalf of principals worldwide. Members should continue to be ambassadors for their roles and share ICP statements within their regions.
Collaborative Projects: Initiate projects that members can collaboratively work on, producing case studies and sharing them with other organizations.
Expand Table Talks: The table talks at the forum were impactful. ICP should consider expanding this format and focus on finding sustainable solutions.
Online Engagement: Introduce an online forum for emerging leaders and make better use of regional meetings for input. This can foster a community of like-minded professionals seeking guidance.
Follow-up Meetings: Organize opportunities for attendees to meet online post-forum to delve deeper into discussed topics. Share initial steps taken in various regions and create cohorts of emerging leaders for regular interactions.
Promote Global Interaction: Enhance ICP’s capacity to gather global delegations and share effective practices. Organize online “World Cafe” events for global participation.
Raise Public Awareness: Increase public knowledge about ICP’s global initiatives and actions.
Post-Conference Actions: Develop a clear “call to action” statement and enhance communication channels like Twitter, Instagram, and the website. Schedule debriefing sessions post-conference to share insights and align them with personal or organizational goals.
Focus on Contemporary Issues: Share best practices related to sustainability, well-being, and climate change. Also, facilitate global visits and learning opportunities for members.