School Leadership Development in Western Australia: An Impact Study

Abstract

This paper reports an impact study of the Western Australian School Leadership Program, an innovative leadership development program for principals, deputy principals and heads of department of elementary and secondary government schools in the state of Western Australia. Approximately half of the people in promotional positions in state government schools had participated in the program at the time of the study. Perceptions of the nature and extent of change in leader practice as a result of involvement in the program were sought from all program participants using a questionnaire and a series of case studies. A design feature of the study was that participants were asked to select a colleague with whom they worked closely to give their perceptions of the nature and extent of change. It was found that the program was perceived to have an impact on leader behavior in schools. This effect was enhanced when a number of leaders from the same school participated in the program.