System Leadership for School Transformation

System leaders are principals who take on responsibility to improve other schools as well as their own. And system leadership practice could be a key driver for system reform, writes Professor David Hopkins.

It takes a certain combination of behaviours, skills and motivations to be a system leader. Hopkins’ model for system leadership describes leaders driven by a moral purpose, focused on personal development and with a strategic capability to translate their vision into action.

System leadership can also have a powerful impact on segmentation in the school system. Hopkins’ framework for system improvement considers where schools are in the performance cycle and outlines collaborative strategies to reduce variation.

Discover how system improvement based on segmentation and driven by system leadership can transform the education system in Victoria.

This article was prepared for Horizon: Thought Leadership, a publication of the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership, Department of Education and Training, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.