Key staff (i.e. senior and middle school leaders) questionnaire data were collected from 1,167 most effective and most improved secondary schools in England. The data were collected to i) identify senior and middle leaders’ perceptions of the impact of their principals on school improvement; and ii) explore a structural equation model (SEM) of school principals’ influence on change in pupil achievements. The data were collected from a previous government funded research project on the impact of school leadership on pupil outcomes (Day et al., 2011). This ESRC project provided an opportunity for the research team to conduct more complex secondary analysis of the survey data.Raising standards of teaching and learning in schools is a key focus of recent educational reforms. The purpose of this research is to contribute new knowledge of the complex interface between policy intentions and educational practices and outcomes through a comparative analysis of the ways in which the intended outcomes of such reforms are mediated and enacted by school leaders and teachers in a diverse range of effective and improving secondary schools in England and Hong Kong. The research will begin with a mapping exercise of perceived challenges of current government reforms in Hong Kong and England and a secondary analysis of two existing national surveys on senior and middle leaders' perceptions of their principals' contribution to change and improvement in their schools. These analyses will inform case studies of eight successful secondary schools (four in each country) across diversified school populations in different socio-economic contexts. Pupil surveys will also be conducted to explore their views on the impact of changes (or no change) in their schools and classrooms on their motivation to learn and achieve. The research will make a distinctive contribution to knowledge of how mandated reforms are enacted in schools for the improvement of pupil outcomes.
An analysis of national assessment and examination data sets on primary and secondary school performance was used to identify schools that were effective in their value added results (which take account of pupils’ prior attainment and background characteristics) and also showed significant improvement in raw results or stable high attainment over at least the previous three consecutive years under the leadership of the same principal. The analyses were based on relevant published data and key indicators, including both “value added” measures of pupil progress based on multilevel statistical analyses, combined with important accountability indicators such as the percentage of pupils achieving national performance benchmarks in Key Stage 2 assessments (age 11), or at Key Stage 4 in public GCSE examinations (age 16). Approximately a third of the secondary (37 per cent) schools in England for which national data were available were classified as meeting our criteria as more effective/improved in terms of value added performance and changes in pupil attainment over a course of three years. The questionnaire survey was conducted for principals and key staff (fiver per school at secondary level) amongst the sample schools. The response rate for secondary key staff at the questionnaire/individual level was 20% and at the school level was 34%. We are the data owners of this previously government funded research project. Professor Christopher Day was the Principal Investigator of the project and I was leading the survey strand with Professor Pam Sammons who was an External Consultant for this ESRC project.
