International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP)

The ISSPP began in 2001 with a meeting called by its founder, Professor Christopher Day, at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Representatives from eight nations agreed to create a range of case studies that would examine successful school principalships in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden and the United States. The network now involves 24 in active research and continues to grow.

The origin and methodology of the ISSPP lay in an earlier study of English schools (Day, Harris, Hadfield, Tolley & Beresford 2000) that included qualitative case studies of personal qualities and leadership practices common to successful school principals with data collected from multiple perspectives, i.e., head teachers, deputy heads, governors, parents, students, support staff and teachers in diverse contexts ranging from small primary schools to large urban secondary schools.

In 2022, the ISSPP methodology was revised to feature mixed methods (teacher survey in addition to qualitative interviews from multiple perspectives) and comparative approaches. The revised research design is grounded in a common theoretical framing of ecological systems theory that explains layers of influence on principals’ leadership of schools, including digitalisation, externalised evaluation policies, the needs of increasingly diverse students, and a global pandemic. Further, the project considers principals’ leadership as part of a multi-level phenomenon, including districts/municipalities, states, if applicable, and nation states. The project complements ecological systems theory with complexity theory to explain dynamics within these levels. An analytical framework guides comparative analysis of data.    

• Christopher Day, United Kingdom – Founder and Coordinator
• Helene Ärlestig, Sweden – Member
• Ruth Jensen, Norway
• Ann Elisabeth Gunnulfsen, Norway – Membership Secretary
• David Gurr, Australia
• Rose Ylimaki, United States of America

• RQ1: To what extent, and in what ways, is ‘success’ in schools perceived and measured [similarly and/or differently within and across different countries]?
• RQ2: What are the key enablers and constraints for achieving school ‘success’ in different contexts?
• RQ3: To what extent, and in what ways, do diverse socioeconomic, cultural, political, and professional contexts at different levels of the education system influence systems in which schools operate?
• RQ4: Are there similar and/or different personal dispositions and professional knowledge, qualities and capabilities needed in enabling leaders to be(come) successful in different contexts [within and across different countries]?
• RQ5: What similarities and differences can be identified in the values, beliefs, and behaviours of successful school principals across different schools in the same country [and across national cultures and policy contexts]?
• RQ6: How do different key stakeholders within and outside the school community and at different levels of the education system define successful school leadership practices [within and across different countries]?
• RQ7: Is each leadership practice identified by different key stakeholders within and outside the school community and at different levels of the education system truly essential for achieving and sustaining ‘success’ [across different schools within each country and across different countries; and over time]? In what ways?
• RQ8: [How do different education systems support school principals to learn to become successful, and to sustain their success over time?]
• RQ9: To what extent, and in what ways, do school principals contribute to the ‘success’ of their schools (and/or groups of schools) similarly or differently [within and across different countries]?

Complexity theory informs the stance taken by ISSPP members in their research as part of the Network. It derives from a belief that events in today’s world are highly interdependent (Kuhn, 2007). It rejects linear, atomised and predictive explanations of the social world.

Successful principalship is dynamic and emergent, dependent on clear sets of humanistic values, and the interaction of several variables. Not all events can be observed or predicted, but all are connected (Cohen et al., 2011). Thus, researchers need to design research that gives them the fullest access to the thinking, emotional, and social worlds of principals, teachers and schools.

Complexity theory offers a way of thinking about institutions, principalship, cultures, groups, and individuals as systems. These systems interact with each other but are also partially constituted of other interactions with larger systems of governance (Haggis, 2008). Leaders are a group of people who are part of a profession, part of a school organisation that is also part of educational system, as well as a country’s culture heritage. The system affects the environment, and the environment affects the system (Morrison, 2002). The underlying rationale is, therefore, that:

• successful schools are dynamic, policy influenced but not directed, task driven and relational in their nature;
• success goes beyond the ‘functional’, and the ‘personality´ or ‘style’ of particular principals;
• success is achieved through the ‘layering’ of values, beliefs, strategies, actions and relationships over time which, in combination, directly and indirectly lead to sustained achievement;
• successful principals are agential, rather than compliant, influential through how they think and feel, who they are, what they do, and how and when they do it.

See also:

• Cohen, L. M., Manion, L. & Morrison (2011) Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge Falmer.
• Haggis, T. (2008). ‘Knowledge Must Be Contextual’: Some possible implications of complexity and dynamic systems theories for educational research. Educational philosophy and theory, 40(1), 158-176.
• Kuhn, L. (2007). Why utilise complexity principles in social inquiry?. World Futures, 63(3- 4), 156-175.
• Morrison, M. (2007). What do we mean by educational research. Research methods in educational leadership. and management, 2, 13-36.

The ISSPP utilises a comparative mixed methods design, in which researchers draw upon different data sources and design elements to bring multiple perspectives to bear in the inquiry (Creswell & Creswell, 2017; Patton, 2002). Data sources include semi-structured qualitative interviews with the district/municipality, governors, principals, teachers, parents, and students and a teacher survey. A comparative analytical process (Authors, 2021) provides a coherent but contextually sensitive data analysis approach that supports triangulation and trustworthiness (Denzin, 2012).

In our reconnaissance of the school leadership field, we found that much of the research was on principalship or effective schools but not on successful principals and, where this was the focus, it was largely based upon self report, narrative single lens accounts, input-output measures, and theoretical perspectives, or the world of business. Notwithstanding Leithwood’s work over a number of years, combining the empirical and conceptual, we were intrigued by five questions which did not yet seem to have been answered:

1. What similarities and differences can be identified in the beliefs and behaviours of successful school principals across national cultures and policy contexts?
2. Do different countries have different ways of defining success?
3. How do high-stakes assessments and accountability measures influence the practices of successful principals?
4. Do different socio-economic contexts in which schools operate affect the ways in which successful principals work? Are different qualities, strategies and skills needed?
5. How do successful principals come to be successful? How do they learn about their work and acquire the skills needed to create and sustain school improvement?

Over the years, we have found that multi-level, multi-perspective research methods provide richer, more authentic data about successful principalship than has hitherto been available.

Such data are best provided by those with close knowledge of the principal i.e. teachers, students, parents, non-teaching members of the school and other community members.

Schools and principals are selected in each research site using, whenever possible, evidence from independent school inspections, evidence of student achievement beyond expectations on state or national tests, principals’ exemplary reputations in the community and/or school system, and other indicators of success that are site-specific. In other words, the criteria for selecting principals are based on a range of evidence that the school had become successful during the period of their leadership.    

Selected academic papers authored by ISSPP researchers.

• Ärlestig, H. (2007). Principals' communication inside schools: A contribution to school improvement? The Educational Forum (West Lafayette, Ind.), 71(3), 262-273. doi:10.1080/00131720709335010 (citation 116).
• Day, C., Gu, Q., & Sammons, P. (2016). The impact of leadership on student outcomes. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 221–258. (citation 1469).
• Drysdale, L., Goode, H., & Gurr, D. (2009). An Australian model of successful school leadership: Moving from success to sustainability. Journal of Educational Administration, 47(6), 697-708.  (citation 152).
• Gurr, D. (2015). A Model of Successful School Leadership from the International Successful School Principalship Project. Societies, 5(1), 136–150. (citation 227).
• Höög, J., Johansson, O., & Olofsson, A. (2005). Successful principalship: The Swedish case. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(6), 595-606. doi:10.1108/09578230510625692 (citation 135).
• Tubin, D. (2015). School success as a process of structuration. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(4), 640-674. doi:10.1177/0013161X15569346 (citation 47).
• Klar, H. W., & Brewer, C. A. (2013). Successful leadership in high-needs schools: An examination of core leadership practices enacted in challenging contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 49(5), 768-808. (citation 332).
• Moos, L., Krejsler, J., Kofod, K.K. & Jensen, B.B. (2005) Successful school principalship in Danish Schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(6): 563-572. (citation 69).
• Ylimaki, R. M., Jacobson, S. L., & Drysdale, L. (2007). Making a difference in challenging, high-poverty schools: Successful principals in the USA, England, and Australia. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 18(4), 361–381. doi:10.1080/09243450701712486 (citation 200).
• Wang, L. H., Gurr, D., & Drysdale, L. (2016). Successful school leadership: Case studies of four Singapore primary schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 54(3), 270–287. doi:10.1108/jea-03-2015-0022 (citation 113).
   

Monographs and edited volumes from the ISSPP network.

• Day, C. & Gurr, D. (2014). Leading schools successfully: Stories from the field. Routledge. (citation 173).
• Day, C. & Leithwood, K. (2007). Successful school leadership in times of change. Springer-Kluwer. (citation 298).
• Moos, L., Johansson, O., & Day, C. (2011). How School Principals Sustain Success over Time. International Perspectives. Springer. (citation 147).
• Ylimaki, R.M & Jacobson, S.L. (2011): US and Cross-National Policies, Practices, and Preparation. Implications for Successful Instructional Leadership, Organizational Learning, and Culturally Responsive Practices. Dordrecht, Springer (citation 92).
   

Research reports and key findings.

• Day, C, Sammons, P., & Gorgen, K. (2020). Successful school leadership. (Report: Education Development Trust and School of Education, Nottingham University.) (citation 427).
• Gurr, D. & Moyi, P. (2022). The International Successful School Principalship Project: reflections and possibilities. Journal of Educational Administration, 60(1).
• Jacobson, S. & Johnson, L. (2013). Educational Leadership Development in International Contexts. Journal of Educational Administration, 51(1).
   

• David Gurr, Australia
• Sandra Mariano, Brazil
• Cathy Ping XIE, China
• Petros Pashiardis, Cyprus
• Takumi Yada, Finland
• Ciaran Sugrue, Irland
• Tubin Dorit, Israel
• Hiroshi Sato, Japan
• Carmen Celina Torres Arcadia, Mexico
• Ruth Jensen, Norway
• Jerome T. Buenviaje, Philippines
• Joanna Madalinska-Michalak, Poland
• Nydia Lucca, Puerto Rico
• Javier Murillo, Spain
• Helene Ärlestig, Sweden
• Barbara Kohlstock, Switzerland
• Qing Gu, UK
• Betty Merchant, USA

1. The ISSPP actively develops case studies of successful school leadership worldwide. One of the current featured case studies focuses on Dr Vanessa Ogden, an English headteacher and CEO of Mulberry Schools Trust. Dr Ogden’s leadership is internationally recognized and has recently been highlighted by UNESCO in the 2024 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report Diaries. Her school’s work is closely associated with the ISSPP, the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership, and the Early Career Framework (ECF) and National Professional Qualifications (NPQ) programmes at UCL. See the UNESCO Publication.