Improving the small rural or remote school: the role of the district.

Clarke, Simon ; Wildy, Helen

Introduction

For about a decade, we have been involved in research focusing on principalship with the general aim of analysing ways in which principals can work more effectively within the realities of schools as complex organisations. Some of our recent work has targeted beginning principals of small, rural and remote primary schools in the West Australian and Queensland government sectors. The complexity of leadership in small, rural and remote schools and the national imperative that all students be successful, regardless of their location, make these settings pertinent to the pursuit of sustainable school improvement. Our research has emphasised principalship and has sought to identify and conceptualise a range of influences on the work of teaching principals within the contexts of their communities to inform processes for their preparation and development. Through the International study of the preparation of principals (University of Calgary, 2009), we have sought to investigate the extent to which principals perceive that their preparation aligns with their professional needs in their first year of appointment.

This work has contributed to the development of what is now--at least in Australia--a robust body of work highlighting the distinctive challenges encountered by leaders of small rural and remote schools in their pursuit of school improvement. Although this comprehensive depiction of the complexity of leading small schools has inevitable implications for district-level and district-wide endeavours to improve schools, attention has not been focused on the role of the district in providing strategies enabling leaders in small rural and remote schools to be as effective as possible. This neglect is reiterated by the observation made in the recent report, Capturing the Leadership Premium (Barber, Whelan & Clark, 2010, p. 23), that there has been less concern among researchers and policy-makers on enhancing performance at the district or middle-tier level than on enhancing performance at the school level.

Notwithstanding this oversight, Anderson (2003) identified an upsurge in attention devoted to school districts because of increased accountability demands placed on schools and an acknowledgement that district influence is unavoidable if not desirable. Leithwood (2010) also suggested that, at least in the USA and Canada, school districts have been rediscovered for their role in school reform. Similarly Barber, Whelan and Clark (2010) asserted that 'many principals cannot be successful without the best possible district leadership' (p. 23). Although this comment refers to principals generally, we believe that it is especially applicable to principals of small schools in Australia located, more often than not, in challenging rural and remote environments.

This article, therefore, first identifies from the literature salient features of effective education districts in supporting change and improvement in their schools. The article goes on to present a case study of one district in Western Australia and concludes with suggestions for strengthening these strategies with an eye to the new model of supporting schools to be implemented in Western Australia.

Literature review

There is an emerging body of literature that examines the potential of the district level to promote or thwart improvement in schools and learning (Barber, Whelan & Clark, 2010). The scope and complexity of this literature means that it has been necessary for us to be selective. The practices that we have identified describing the contributions districts can make have been selected for their specific application to providing professional support for principals as well as for their potential value to the small, rural or remote school context. Most of the literature has emanated mainly from North America rather than from Australian settings, in which the functions of middle-tier structures are relatively under-reported.

In connection with the school district's role in educational change generally, Anderson (2003) identified a number of strategic actions that are common to many successful districts in North America. Several of these strategic actions are especially pertinent to enabling leaders in small rural and remote schools to be as effective as possible in the pursuit of school improvement. Underpinning successful strategic actions is the presence of what Anderson (2003) described as a 'district-wide sense of efficacy' (p. 8). District-level leaders are able to evince a strong belief in the capacity of school personnel to achieve high standards of learning for all students, and high standards of teaching and leadership. Similarly, Leithwood (2010) referred to the need for districts to create a shared sense of purpose about student achievement for generating the 'will to improve' (p. 252). It is this fundamental philosophy that can serve as a catalyst for a district to make a positive impact on the efficacy of the education provided in its jurisdiction. As Waters and Marzano (2006) suggested, 'district leadership can make a difference and district office staff should not be regarded, as has often been the case in the past, as an anonymous bureaucracy standing in the way of progressive change' (p. 8).

Another strategy associated with successful school districts is the investment the district makes in instructional leadership development at the school level; an investment reinforcing Leithwood's observation (2010) that the role of superintendents (directors) appears to be shifting from being an organisational manager to being an instructional leader. It might be argued that this strategy is more imperative in remote areas of Western Australia where students' poor 'academic' performance can often be perplexing. These are also the areas in which many small schools are located. The investment in instructional leadership engenders priority being given to helping principals of these schools develop their expertise in evidence-informed decision-making for improving students' literacy and numeracy (Wildy, 2009).

In a similar vein, Togneri and Anderson (2003) referred to the emphasis effective districts place on data-informed decision-making rather than decisions based on instinct. For this purpose, these districts provide and encourage the use of multiple types of data in schools to augment standardised test results. Shen and Cooley (2008) observed that school leaders often lack confidence in understanding and using data and tend to use data for 'accounting' purposes rather than for improving teaching and learning. The investment in instructional leadership also extends to assisting principals to become skilled observers and interpreters of the quality and progress of teaching and learning, especially literacy and numeracy, in their schools (Anderson, 2003). It is desirable, therefore, that principals are adept in engaging their teachers in dialogues starting from evidence of student performance in relation to district or state standards and focused on the work that each teacher does in a classroom. In this way, a reflective and evidence-based approach can become a philosophy of practice (Togneri & Anderson, 2003).

Clearly the mission to enhance instructional leadership, identified in the literature as an indispensable feature of successful districts, is highly dependent on effective professional development of school principals as well as other staff. As such, using professional development to support improvement efforts is consistently emphasised in the evidence as a priority of successful districts. For example, Togneri and Anderson (2003) suggested that successful districts implement coherent strategies focused on the improvement of teaching and learning. To this end, these authors argue that successful districts adopt an innovative approach to professional development that is primarily job-embedded. Similarly, Bottoms and Fry (2008) advocated that professional learning be embedded in principals' and teachers' daily work and linked directly to the school's teaching and learning program as well as state and district standards. This might entail on-site coaching to support principals and staff in implementing tried and tested school and classroom practices. These researchers also observed that effective districts incorporate training in data analysis and in the use of district data as an integral component of the professional learning agenda.

As Togneri and Anderson (2003) emphasised, it is helpful for districts to recognise that principals alone cannot be expected to provide the magnitude of school-based professional support that teachers require to implement significant changes in practice and student learning in the classroom. To support this policy, it is desirable for districts to encourage networks of principals. Anderson also suggested (2003) that successful school districts are characterised by district-wide and school-level emphasis on teamwork and professional community. According to Leithwood (2010), engagement in professional communities can build the capacity of everyone involved--including principals and district personnel--to help colleagues develop agency in instructional leadership. One potentially powerful way in which teamwork and professional community can be realised is through the operations of clusters of schools that enable the sharing of expertise, and networking of principals and teachers. Collaborative endeavours of this kind have become more common between small schools seeking to retain the advantages of the small unit while creating the conditions in which to reap the advantages of a larger unit (Jones, 2009).

From our overview of the literature, three salient features of effective education districts are evident that seem to have a particular resonance for small school leadership. First is the need for districts to create a shared sense of purpose for evincing a strong belief in the capacity of school personnel to achieve high standards of learning for all students, and high standards of teaching and leadership. Second is a relentless investment in enabling principals and teachers to be powerful 'instructional' leaders. Third is the provision of job-embedded professional learning and contiguously the encouragement of professional communities within schools, between schools and across schools.

Case study method

As Mangin observed (2007), the district constitutes an important social context that can influence what principals know and how they use their knowledge. In this section of the article we present a brief case study of one education district in Western Australia (Clarke & Wildy, 2011). The purpose of this case is to illustrate some of the insights generated from the literature as well as to highlight the impact a district can have in creating the conditions for leaders in small rural or remote schools to be as effective as possible in pursuing school improvement.

Western Australia constitutes one-third of the land mass of the country and has a population of around 2 million, of whom 1.5 million people live in the capital city of Perth. For the administration of public education in this vast state, the Education Department of Western Australia currently divides its jurisdiction into 14 education districts. These districts are charged with the main responsibility of delivering quality services to schools so that student outcomes are enhanced.

The education district that constitutes the case study was selected because it is characterised by its magnitude, its diversity of landscapes and the remoteness of its hinterland. As such, the district contains a sizeable proportion of small rural or remote schools. It also embraces environments that exhibit the challenges intrinsic to leading these schools that have been identified elsewhere in our work (Clarke & Wildy, 2004). Another reason we selected this education district was its reputation for innovative strategies in supporting principals in their work. The data for this case study were collected by means of relevant publicly available artefacts such as policy documents, web sites, performance data and statistical information. To protect the anonymity of the district in question, these artefacts have not been referenced directly in the case account. Data collection also entailed one in-depth interview with a director of schools. The interview was designed to elicit the issues and influences that principals of small schools face in pursuit of school improvement, the nature of the context within which these issues and influences arise, and the strategies adopted by the district in order to promote school improvement and support principals in their work as well as the reasons for adopting these strategies. These considerations also provide a structure for describing the case to which we now turn our attention.

Context

The education district under discussion embraces a diversity of environments but, typical of the more remote hinterland of the region, is the presence of small communities and towns, mining leases, pastoral properties as well as Indigenous outstations. The diversity of the physical environment is matched by the diversity of the people. Many areas of the district as a whole are inhabited by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and in some places Indigenous people and families predominate. Not surprisingly, it is these more remote contexts that present the greatest challenges for leading small schools and, for this reason, the case study concentrates most of its attention on such settings.

The issues and influences that principals of small schools face in many parts of this education district tend to be characteristic of remote environments throughout Australia and present a graphic illustration of the observation made by Barty, Thomson, Blackmore and Sachs (2005) about the unevenness of students' academic and social achievements in rural or remote schools and the high rates of absenteeism. In some parts of the district, data that monitors school attendance indicate that large proportions of students attend school for less than 80% of the time. (It should be emphasised that these data are not disaggregated for small schools.) No doubt closely aligned with the issue of low student attendance in these areas of the district is the poor performance of many students on standardised testing in literacy and numeracy. In some instances, there is a disconcertingly high number of students deemed 'at risk' in reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy.

The nature of the community in which many small schools are located can often hinder school improvement initiatives. In some areas of the district, communities are in a near-perpetual state of chaos, as long-standing family feuding disrupts the day-to-day functioning of the school. In these settings there may also be little parental engagement with the school because of a profound mistrust of the education being offered. In the more agricultural areas of the district, which also contain a number of small schools, it is the conservative mores of the community that are likely to compound the difficulties of enacting school improvement and require considerable savoir faire from principals in their interactions with community issues.

These intractable problems besetting education in many small schools, especially in the more remote settings of the district, represent what Fullan (2005) portrayed as 'adaptive problems' (p. 53). These are the kinds of problems for which we do not have ready answers and that take time to deal with. Fullan described these as 'politically charged, because solutions are difficult to discern and learn and some disequilibrium on the way to addressing the problem is inevitable' (p. 54). Dealing with such problems within the district is made more difficult by an interesting juxtaposition of challenging circumstances and inexperience, which is often a feature of rural or remote contexts. Many of the principals who are grappling with such complex matters are inexperienced, at least at the level of initiating, implementing and sustaining school improvement of the order required by the prevailing circumstances. Teachers too are often inexperienced and at the start of their careers.

One of the main reasons for the rawness of many of the personnel involved in small, remote schools in this district is that these schools tend to be 'difficult to staff'. In spite of additional compensation provided to principals and teachers for living in remote areas, it is often hard to attract personnel to these locations. Moreover, when new principals and teachers arrive at a school, they do not always expect to stay for long. Contiguously, a chronic shortage of relief (substitute) teachers makes staffing arrangements in many schools fragile and hinders opportunities for off-site professional development. It should also be pointed out that in some parts of the district it is frequently necessary for principals to travel at least three hours by car, with an overnight stay, in order to attend meetings.

Case study

Strategies for school improvement

Given the district's mission to deliver 'quality' services to schools for enhancing student outcomes, a repertoire of strategies has been adopted in order to support principals in their pursuit of school improvement surrounded by such challenging circumstances. These strategies are predicated on five foundational beliefs (stated in the district's education strategy):

* all students can be capable, independent learners

* parents and communities want their children to be successful learners

* Indigenous staff are the bridge to culture, community and learning

* with the right support, knowledge, skills and resources, teachers can improve student learning

* highly effective principals are instructional leaders.

The importance of these foundational beliefs lies in establishing a clear moral purpose that drives the district's strategies and is predicated on the desire to improve students' lives through learning. The strategies have been forged out of consultation with key stakeholders including communities, principals, Indigenous staff, teachers and support staff. The process of consultation has elicited a broad spectrum of views about what is expected from schools in the district, ensuring that school improvement processes are attuned to multiple interests across communities. It has also generated a level of agreement regarding the strategies for action that is more likely to result in support for their implementation (Waters & Marzano, 2006). Indeed, statements of these beliefs went through several iterations before they became acceptable to stakeholders, a process that was beneficial in bringing various parties closer together to create a shared sense of purpose.

The strategies that are most pertinent to small, remote schools in the district are oriented around the following themes: positive relationships among students, families, schools and community; programs that engage students to improve achievement and attendance; knowledge of teaching and learning involving strategies leading to improved literacy and numeracy; and well coordinated inter-agency collaboration at a local level to deal with the needs of students and their families.

The development of positive relationships between students, families, schools and community is based on the belief that, ideally, these stakeholders should have some input into the educational programs and processes that are initiated and implemented in their schools, especially relating to approaches adopted for enriching learning and dealing with student behaviour. Collaboration of this kind within the school is complemented by collaboration between schools. The clustering of small schools, for example, can reduce the isolation of staff and allow professional interaction and a sharing of resources for mutual benefit. Networking opportunities have been established, therefore, to support Indigenous staff, principals, teachers, and support staff located in the more remote areas of the district.

Related to these considerations is the strategy of implementing programs that are most likely to engage students for improving their achievement as well as their attendance. Principals and teachers in small and remote schools who are effective leaders of learning use pedagogies that are grounded in local needs and interests. In particular, approaches to teaching, learning and assessment that encourage student-centred and community-oriented learning seem to be effective. To this end, a number of pertinent programs have been introduced based on collaboration with communities and interagency partnerships. For example, a Football Academy program, an arts program involving a local theatre company, playgroups for years 0-4, before and after school programs--such as breakfast club, homework programs and sport--a science outreach project involving school visits by staff from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to provide class lessons on astronomy and night star-gazing, and family workshops that focus on improving outcomes for students. The programs place a heavy emphasis on improving literacy and numeracy, which are informed by relevant knowledge of teaching and learning. This engenders a minimum of 80% of instructional time (years 1-3), and 50% (years 4-12) being devoted to literacy and numeracy. Teaching and learning are strengthened further by integrating literacy and numeracy with community-based learning within the curriculum.

Programs that are designed to enhance literacy and numeracy outcomes are bolstered by well-coordinated inter-agency collaboration at a local level to accommodate the needs of students and their families. For example, collaborations have been forged between relevant authorities such as the Department of Child Protection, the Health Department and the police. These collaborations have yielded the provision of comprehensive hearing screening for students by the Health Department and the development of intervention plans. In communities where children might be contending with exceptionally abusive circumstances at home, the police and Department of Child Protection are working with schools to make informal contact with students for creating harmonious and trusting relationships and to encourage disclosure. This kind of partnership between health and community services, welfare and education can evolve into extended models of schooling that are capable of promoting greater community engagement in educational achievement and can assist in overcoming disadvantage in the school community.

Professional support

The repertoire of strategies pursued by the district to enhance the vitality of small schools in remote locations and the communities they serve requires considerable professional support. Particularly germane to this article is the employment of mentor principals and expert teachers. The role of the mentor principal is to work in partnership with principals in clusters of schools to develop and implement strategies that have been identified above. For this purpose, the mentor principal supports school principals to become instructional leaders, with the main goals of improving literacy and numeracy, behaviour and attendance. It is not entirely clear how 'instructional leadership' is defined in this context but it is implied that ideally the principal's role moves towards a deeper involvement in the core business of teaching and learning. More specifically, mentor principals provide guidance on raising community engagement in education, establish collaborative partnerships with mining, local business and other agencies, assist principals and schools in strategic development, planning and change management processes, and, where appropriate, enhance the capacity of Indigenous staff as leaders and cultural experts in the school.

In Western Australia there is no formal or specific preparation for principalship. Inductions are organised for principals at the district office three to four weeks after they have taken up their appointment. These inductions are normally held over three days. In some parts of the district, principals new to the area are required to attend the remote graduate teacher induction for two days before the beginning of the school year. It is emphasised very strongly by district personnel that principals' learning is 'not an event, but a journey', and connected with ongoing processes of leadership development described above. For new principals, who are often those appointed to small schools, the induction program focuses mainly on technical matters, such as financial management, duty of care, and occupational health and safety. The district office's awareness of the challenges of principalship is demonstrated by the attention that is also given in the induction process to 'self-care'.

In the wake of the principal induction program, the district office's principal consultants make contact with new principals and visit their schools. They also make themselves accessible by telephone or email contact. Furthermore, all first-time principals in the district are allocated a trained 'professional' coach. These coaches are selected by district personnel according to their knowledge and skills in educational leadership. The arrangement is offered as a support provision and is not mandatory. New principals find the arrangement a helpful source of professional sustenance because it sits outside the usual line management processes. The district's commitment to the coaching of new principals is highlighted by the considerable financial investment that is placed in training the coaches.

Support strategies are reinforced by instructionally focused professional learning to support principals and teachers. Pedagogies in small and remote schools are effective when teaching is informed by data--especially in low socioeconomic status environments. In these challenging circumstances, principals and teachers appear to benefit from plentiful opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in using data for improving teaching and learning. Among the skills for using data is the capacity to scrutinise and evaluate information to ascertain how it fits with what is already known about the school context and how it can be used to implement improvements. More prosaically, perhaps, this approach is referred to as 'lining up the ducks' in the vernacular of the district's language of professional learning. Lining up the ducks is based on responses to three questions: Have you got the data? What are the data telling you? And is your strategic planning aligned with what the data are telling you?

The opportunities for professional learning are made more plentiful by means of clustering arrangements. In keeping with the district's quest to promote professional learning communities within schools and across schools, clusters have been encouraged in many parts of the district. These clusters are not necessarily restricted to small schools, but also include connections with larger schools. Clustering brings many benefits to small schools, such as making available to students a wider range of equipment, resources and expertise, fostering a broad sense of community, and reducing the insular nature of being part of a small school. The clusters tend to be driven by the principals (rather than the district), who capitalise on opportunities to visit other schools, share practice and exchange data. Such is the impact of these interactions that in some instances principals have decided to extend their appointments because of the professional stimulation they experience as well as associated feelings of worth and achievement.

Conclusion

It seems clear that, in the case of the district reported here, the role of providing on-the-job support for principals is taken seriously; an observation that is especially true for those contending with the challenges of leading educational improvement in small rural/remote schools. This commitment is a vital requirement to ensure that all schools build their capacity to be as effective as possible. It also indicates that the district is engaging in an approach to school improvement that Honig, Copland, Rainey, Lorton and Newton (2010) described as 'central office transformation' (p. iii) rather than relying on more customary arrangements in district offices that tend to pursue 'administration as usual'. In other words, the district is not just an irritating background noise, but has a critical role in facilitating school reform.

Notwithstanding some optimistic signs that education districts (at least in Western Australia) have recognised the need to support and develop principals' agency in facilitating school improvement, we offer three suggestions for strengthening these processes that have particular application to small, rural or remote schools. First, we suggest that dealing with the problems of small schools in remote areas of Australia is aided by continuous monitoring, assessment and reporting of the outcomes of actions that are implemented. In the case of the district described here, the strategies are at a relatively early stage of implementation but their systematic evaluation in the long term is likely to present a clearer and more authoritative account of what works.

Our second suggestion relates to the vexed issue of initial preparation for principalship. We note that the support provided by districts for principals tends to be on the job and that some of the challenges surrounding principalship remain untapped by the strategies designed to help principals of small schools in their work. We argue, therefore, that although on-the-job support is a crucial component of the professional formation of principals, it needs to be complemented by systematic and specific preparation for the role before appointment. We have asserted elsewhere (Clarke & Wildy, 2010; Wildy & Clarke, 2008) that there is no substitute for deep understanding of leadership concepts, a personal leadership philosophy and a thorough articulation of the links between theory and practice. Such knowledge and understanding are not learned by trial and error but by reading, reflection, writing, debate and critique in a scholarly manner over a prolonged period. Learning of this nature requires not only time but also a certain distance from the practice of leadership. Hence, it requires not only ongoing professional support from the district on the lines described in this article, but also leadership development programs prior to appointment.

Lastly, we urge more research to be conducted into the strategies that successful middle-tier structures employ to support principals within their jurisdiction, especially those principals who are grappling with challenging circumstances such as leading small schools in rural or remote environments. In this connection, Barber, Whelan and Clarke (2010) concluded that, although most systems agree on the importance of middle-tier structures, there continues to be uncertainty about how to maximise their effect. It is incumbent, therefore, on all systems 'to refine, contexualize and optimize the processes they use to support their leaders' (Barber, Whelan & Clarke, 2010, p. 21). This can only be achieved by drawing from plentiful evidence of demonstrated good practice.

Postscript

The exhortation for systems 'to refine, contexualize and optimize the processes they use to support their leaders' (Barber, Whelan & Clark, 2010, p. 21) is particularly apposite in our own context. As this article is being written, the Department of Education in Western Australia is about to implement a new school support model throughout the state (Education Department of Western Australia, 2010). According to this model, up to 75 school networks are to be created in eight education regions across the state. These networks, as well as eight regional education offices and seven local education offices, will replace the 14 existing district education offices. Each network will comprise up to 20 schools led by a 'network principal'. This is a new position created to enable what are described as the 'best' principals to extend their influence and knowledge. Network principals will still manage their own schools, but will be released to assist other principals in the network. In more remote areas, geographical isolation may mean that principals will be employed on a full-time basis to support schools in networks across a region headed by a regional executive director, rather than being attached to a particular school.

The belief underlying this change is that there are several benefits to be derived from the new model of delivery of school support services. First, locating the resources in schools or networks of schools allows principals to determine how support services are used. Secondly, the new school network structure emphasises and encourages a practitioner approach to support, providing flexibility to schools and networks enabling highly competent principals and teachers to help and support other staff. Thirdly, the reduction in bureaucracy associated with this new structure will enable schools to respond more quickly and in more creative ways to future changes and opportunities in their local environments. Placing greater control of support services in the hands of principals and teachers is intended to ensure that support is better aligned to the specific needs of students and staff.

The structure and rationale for this new arrangement seems to be very similar to that of the Victorian model, in which the state was organised into nine regions and 70 networks of schools in 2008. According to Caldwell (2009), the intention of this model is to 'augment traditional vertical top-down or bottom-up lines of authority, responsibility and accountability with lateral arrangements' (p. 21). This is premised on the assumption that schools located in networks are more inclined to share, amongst other things, ideas, experiences and data. Caldwell (2009) went on to describe what is considered to be a particularly successful region (one which is a predominantly rural region) because of the effectiveness of its networks. In the context of this article, it is interesting to note that the success of the networks seems to depend heavily on the commitment and agency of their principals. It is also noteworthy that principals report an increase in the time spent out of the school and that they do not always have enough time for their administrative work. As Caldwell (2009) rightly pointed out, the time spent away from school is a particular issue for leaders of small schools, who do not have administrative or support staff who can assist them with their role.

The new model of school support in Western Australia is not due to start until mid-2011, so it is impossible at this stage to make any comment on its efficacy. In light of the Victorian experience, it seems clear that the capacity of the model to bring about school improvement, especially in remote parts of the state, will hinge to a great extent on the effectiveness of the network principals. These principals will have considerable responsibility for developing the degree of teamwork and professional community necessary to enable the sharing of expertise, and networking of principals and teachers. It is unlikely that this will occur unless the new regional executive directors support and develop principals' agency in facilitating school improvement in the ways that have already been described. Furthermore, given the practitioner approach to supporting schools that is claimed to be integral to this model, we reiterate even more emphatically that the preparation and ongoing professional development of principals warrants close attention, especially in more rural and remote vicinities.

Acknowledgement

We are indebted to District Office personnel for their support in the writing of this article.

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Simon Clarke

Helen Wildy

Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia

Simon Clarke is Professor and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Australia.

Email: simon.clarke@uwa.edu.au

Helen Wildy is Professor of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Australia.