Because Leadership Matters

It has been clearly established that effective school leadership leads to school effectiveness, which in turn leads to better outcomes for children. IPPN’s mission is to enhance leadership capacity, leadership effectiveness and sustainability of school leadership roles as the ultimate beneficiaries will be the children in our classrooms.

IPPN’s direct engagement with school leaders has highlighted the increasing levels of challenge, frustration and disillusionment experienced and articulated by school leaders in response to their experience of the practice of leadership. Leadership capacity and effectiveness have been undermined and the tenability of school leadership roles has been compromised. It is in this context that IPPN continues to prioritise this Sustainable Leadership project. 

What constitutes effective, sustainable school leadership? 

It is important that there is a shared understanding of what we mean when we refer to effective, sustainable leadership. It is IPPN’s view that the following conditions must be met for school leadership to be both effective and sustainable:  

• There is clarity around the role and focus of school leadership 
• The necessary structures and resources are in place to facilitate and support the practice of leadership 
• Leaders can focus on their core purpose of leading teaching and learning 
• Meaningful capacity exists to share / distribute leadership 
• The practice of leadership does not have a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of school leaders. 

Evidence Gathering  

The original report – Primary School Leadership: The Case for Urgent Action – A Roadmap to Sustainability – published in November 2022, sought to establish why so many of those who are tasked with one of the most strategically important roles in education, and a key determinant of a school’s effectiveness, are struggling to sustain themselves in those roles. 

There were four elements to the evidence base established in the report   

• the extent of the tasks and responsibilities that fall to school leaders 
• the nature of those tasks and responsibilities 
• the impact on the effectiveness and sustainability of school leadership roles 
• the impact on the health and wellbeing of school leaders. 

Progress  

There have been two official Progress Reports on the project. The first was published in November 2023, the second in November 2024. These progress reports sought to  

• reaffirm the rationale underpinning the project 
• highlight the actions undertaken and the progress made since the publication of the original report.  
• provide an up-to-date evidence base, addressing each of the four elements included in the original report. 

The November 2024 report also detailed specific proposals in respect of the four key themes that emerged from the project: 

• the need for a greater allocation to schools of discrete time for leadership 
• the need for school leaders to maintain their focus on their core purpose of leading teaching and learning 
• the need for greater capacity to share leadership effectively and 
• the need for a governance structure that has the capacity to meet its onerous statutory and legislative responsibilities. 

These publications are available here: