ENIRDELM 2010 – Szeged, Hungary. September 16th-18th
Conference Invitation

Dear ENIRDELM friends, colleagues and newcomers
It is a great pleasure to invite you to this year’s conference - the nineteenth annual meeting - to be held in Szeged, called the city of sunlight in Hungary, September 16th-18th 2010.

Over the past three years the discussion at ENIRDELM conferences has focussed on fundamental  education leadership issues such as: the leaders’ moral responsibility for sustainable development and the world (Uppsala - 2007), exploring the link between learning leading and leading learning (Bergen - 2008) and a new type of professionalism required in a turbulent and complex world (Antwerp - 2009).

This year, the 2010 conference, to be held in Szeged, Hungary, aims to broaden our deliberation on these themes and in particular to give an in-depth exploration of the impact of leadership on learning in its broadest sense. Therefore the theme of this year’s conference - Does leadership matter?;  Implications for Leadership Development and the School as a Learning Organisation  - intends to focus on the connection between learning and school leadership, including the impact of leadership on both qualitative and measureable learning outcomes. 

Education has an increasing and crucial role in forming a more sustainable, equitable and prosperous society. The speed of change around the world, especially the dramatic acceleration of knowledge, demands continuous new learning. The meaning of learning itself has changed. Leadership has a key role in responding to these changes, particularly in schools, by enhancing people’s competence and efficacy and helping them to share their knowledge with each other. Transforming personal and group competence and efficacy into organizational learning, culture and performance is the leaders’ challenge.
Over the past three years the discussion at ENIRDELM conferences has focused on fundamental  education leadership issues such as: the leaders’ moral responsibility for sustainable development and the world (Uppsala - 2007), exploring the link between learning leading and leading learning (Bergen - 2008) and a new type of professionalism required in a turbulent and complex world (Antwerp - 2009).
The ENIRDELM Board agreed upon the theme of the relation between leadership and students’ performance and, more broadly, the quality of schooling. This theme provides continuity and further in-depth exploration of the impact of leadership on learning in its broadest sense:
“Does leadership matter? Implications for Leadership Development and the School as a Learning Organisation”

We will focus on the connection between learning and school leadership, including the impact of leadership on both qualitative and measurable learning outcomes. Questions to be addressed are:

School leaders

1. Who are the school leaders? How are they selected? Is there a ‘best way’ to select leaders? How attractive is the career of leader and how does this affect recruitment and selection? Who can become a good leader - is it a good teacher or someone who has proven themselves successful in another sector or both?  
2. What competences should leaders have? How should educational management and leadership profession respond to the EU specification of key competences necessary for an effective school leader? How do perceptions of the school and of learning influence perceptions of effective leadership?
3. What form of Leadership Development Programme best assists actual leaders and leaders-to-be to perform effectively and successfully?

 

The impact of school leaders on learning

1. Can we assume that leaders have a significant impact on the process and the outcomes of learning in the school? Is there an evidence-base?
2. Are learning organisations and leadership adapting to today’s rapidly changing world? What role, if any, do leaders play in this?
3. How do internal and external issues and support systems influence the work of leadership? How do qualification systems transform the process of learning and the work of leaders?

 

We seek answers, relating to specific systems and institutions, to these and other questions with a particular focus on educational leadership practice.

ENIRDELM is collaborative network, a place for open discussion, for sharing new approaches to educational leadership and quality. The self-help spirit of ENIRDELM has always made the outcomes of the annual conference dependent on the contributions of its members and participants. We therefore hope that the issues raised will awaken your interest, and encourage you to join to the conference and contribute your knowledge and experiences about these topics. Researchers, principals, consultants, trainers and policy makers will together present, discuss and share ideas for improving leadership, schools and educational research. The board would especially like to welcome new participants as well as to invite former ENIRDELM members who have not been able to participate in recent years.

Although this conference information will be e-mailed to all the participants on last year’s delegate list, these details can rapidly become out of date. We would like to win new members over ENIRDELM and hope that former members who lost contacts with the network will find the way back to us Please be active and by forwarding the link to the conference home page to anyone you know who may be interested in the work and spirit of ENIRDELM, or the theme of this year’s conference. Help us to reach as wide an audience as possible. All participants, old and new, will receive a very warm welcome in South-East of Hungary, in the country’s sunniest city. We look forward to seeing you and your colleagues in Szeged in September 2010 where you will enjoy the warmth of traditional Hungarian hospitality and the sunny weather!

With very warm regards,
Tibor Barath
Chairperson of ENIRDELM

 

 

 

ENIRDELM 2009, in Antwerpen Belgium

(link to website)

Dear ENIRDELM friends, colleagues and newcomers It was the eighteenth annual meeting that were held in Antwerp, September 17th-20th 2009. The theme for the conference was " In education, a more turbulent, competitive environment may stimulate innovation as networks are widened and strengthened. (OECD: Knowledge management in the learning society. Centre for Educational Research and Education, 2000) Leading Educational Institutions in times of turbulence and complexity. Implications for new professionalism will be the central theme of this Enirdelm conference in Antwerp. Under this heading topics as school culture, professionalism, new public management, evidence based school development , networking in changing contexts, can be discussed. The general theme will continue the interesting ideas and processes of former conferences (Glamorgan 2006: “Leading a learning organization”; Uppsala 2007: “Education with a moral Purpose”; Bergen 2008: “Leading to learn together and learning to lead together”). This year the conference focus on the new opportunities and threats that school management and leadership are facing as a result of changes in society.  Antwerp can be seen as an “experimental garden” (the metaphor comes from the Flemish Minister of Education) on how schools confront these changes. With 162 registered nationalities (in primary schools one third of the pupils doesn’t speak Dutch at home) schools have to experiment with new target groups, educational methods and human resources management. The city has also invests a lot in data management in order to keep track of these changes. Enirdelm is a unique network of researchers, trainers, policy makers and school leaders, who try to “bridge” theory and practice. In the September conference this tradition will be stimulated by linking key note speeches, paper sessions, practical workshops and field visits.

Mission
Bringing researchers, school leaders and policy makers together. Key note speeches, paper presentations and workshops will be alternated by “field visits” and a cultural programme that will allow the participants to experience the multicultural and hospitable character of the city.

If you are interested in presenting your research/experiences regarding this year’s topic and relevant issues such as
- culture
- professionalism
- new public management
- evidence based school development in a learning society
- schools and networking in changing contexts?

 

See flyer

 

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ENIRDELM2008, in Bergen Norway

Last conference - the seventeenth annual meeting - was held in Bergen, Norway, September 25th-28th 2008. The theme for the conference was;

Leading to Learn together and Learning to Lead together

The theme for the 2008 ENIRDELM Conference linked two key issues which were at the centre of international education discourse: Educational Leadership and Lifelong Learning. The reality of an expanding and shifting knowledge-base for educational leaders and also the ever-changing education context in which they seek to achieve their goals, makes inescapable a commitment to lifelong professional learning by all those involved in education and educational leadership.

The conference theme for 2008 offered a backdrop for discussion and debate on -

• The role of educational leadership in enabling personal, professional and organisational learning?
• What are ‘best ways’ of learning to lead in a collaborative way?

It also offered an opportunity for presenters and participants to explore the interdependence of these two processes and the significance of ‘relationships’ and the affective dimension of leading and learning to both.

During the conference we explored fundamental questions which the facilitation of these processes poses for policymakers, researchers, leaders in education including school leaders and classroom practitioners:

• What are the key enabling / inhibiting factors for ‘learning leadership’ and ‘leading learning’ at institutional and at national level?
• What are the main tensions? 
• Who are the key players?
• Does organisational / school culture play a role?
• How significant are organisational relationship / power issues?
• What is best practice with regard to the management and co-ordination of enabling resources and structures?
• Do networks / partnerships have a role?
• Are there implications for educational development and teacher continuing professional development?

This conference intended to put more weight on workshops than in recent years. The idea was to create an environment for discussion, so that people would get feedback on ideas, practice, research projects, educational policy, leadership experience, school leadership training programmes, etc.
The workshop groups had each a two 90 minutes sessions. The leader of the workshop saw to that an introduction to the theme of the workshop was given. It was limited to 15 minutes at the most. A written presentation was submitted to the participants electronically beforehand. This workshop procedure facilitated creativity and partipation and will be integrated in the next conference.

ENIRDELM CONFERENCE sept 2010

in Szeged Hungary

 

Types of contributions:

(Deadline for submission of abstract: June 30th 2010)

 

 

Workshop

Archive

 

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