In the week of the 12-16th of February, the Educational Leadership Network Europe (ELNE) organized the first annual Webinar week. 

The week, filled with talks, workshops and research about transforming schools into learning communities, was organised by European partners representing 5 major stakeholders in education: employers, school leaders, teachers, students and parents. What a great way to meet and exchange perspectives on a European level! During the Opening Ceremony, we had the honour to be joined by European Commission Director – General, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, who stressed the priority of education and importance of collaborative leadership in education. Learn how this network can support you here.

Annual Conference

Were you there? Did you miss it? In April we will be hosting our annual Conference in Brussels. Reach out to ESHA (myrthe.stienstra@esha.org) if you would like to join. Later in the year the Research department of the ELNE will publish a journal including presented research. Next year we will be back with Webinars. All these events will be shared through the ESHA and ELNE channels.

Read more about the Educational Leadership Network Europe on elnenetwork.org

 

How can we build a safe space as a team? How do we have the right conversation with each other? Check out our latest Headstart by Loes van Wessum: the 11th issue helps head teachers provide a code of conduct.

Download HEADstart #11

 

Read about the future international plans of ESHA member NAHT, the trade union and professional association representing more than 49,000 members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as presented by Dave Woods, committee chair.

Four pillars have been determined as the most important activities:

• The first international pillar is about enabling NAHT to take a global perspective on education, trade union rights and international law and policy.
• The second pillar emphasising and promoting NAHT’s role as an international trade union.
• The third pillar of activity is promoting international activism, especially around climate change and global heating.
• The fourth pillar is about learning exchange and sharing of pedagogy internationally.

Read more about NAHT’s four priority pillars of domestic activity.

 

The Leadership for Diversity project, that started a year ago and fosters diversity in schools through professional development programs for leadership roles, is now starting to grow fruits and show results!

Last October, over a 100 school leaders and national school leader representatives were involved in the Leadership for Diversity (Erasmus+ project) workshops during the ESHA biannual Conference in Dubrovnik. These workshops, together with those executed by our project partners, have led to valuable input and improvements for the workshops. The coming months these improvements will be integrated, and the final product will be presented later in the year.

Diversity and inclusion in school

For those who have not heard about Leadership for Diversity (L4D) before, L4D is a project addressing the need for understanding diversity needs in a school- and classroom setting. We are supporting school heads, head teachers and those in other leadership roles in education in developing their diversity and inclusion skills.

No time for an in-person training? An online eHub with interactive training activities is currently under construction and will be finalized at the end of the year! What would you like to learn? Let us know!

The project just launched its first newsletter and website. Want to stay up to date on the L4D activities? Register for the newsletter, follow the Leadership for Diversity socials (LinkedIn & Instagram) or check out the website.

Register for the L4D Newsletter

Visit leadershipfordiversity.eu for more information.

 

ESHA again offers you the opportunity to talk to other school leaders throughout Europe. In the monthly ‘one-hour digital café’ we meet to discuss a topic in an informal way.

After a 10-minute expert introduction, the participants meet in breakout rooms for open discussions, to share knowledge and experiences and to exchange information or materials.

In January we talked about artificial intelligence, on February 28th we will discuss what school leaders can do to address increased teacher workload and how technology can help us take up some of the challenges.

You're invited

A growing group is joining every month because it proves to be a pleasant experience to talk informally with colleagues from other countries about our profession and what we do in our leadership role.

If you want to join to the digital cafés, please register to get the invitation with the links. By accepting the invitation, you register to join. The upcoming cafes will be on Wednesdays: 28 February, 27 March, 24 April, 29 May, and 26 June each time from 14.30–15.30 hours (CET).

You can register for getting the invitations here:

Register

 

 

The recently started SYNAPSES Teacher and School Leader Academy, a project that includes head teacher professionalization activities, is establishing an Academy for Sustainability Citizenship around a Community of Practitioners (CoP).

The project aims to support teachers and (deputy) head teachers in integrating sustainability practices and ideas in their everyday education, by being role models, to organize relevant activities and to incorporate these in the existing and developing curriculum. Find more information on our website.

Join the Summer School

This summer, the first yearly Summer School organized by the Academy will be held in Athens (Marathon), Greece. Over the course of a week, participants from partner countries will delve into the concept of sustainability citizenship, explore strategies for integrating sustainable practices into their daily lives, and share ideas and inspiring practices. 

Would you like to join? The training and accommodation costs fall within the possibilities of the Erasmus+ program for KA1 mobility actions. The summer school runs from the 7th till the 12th of July.

Give your input

Currently the summer school and other SYNAPSES training activities are being developed while using input from target groups on their expectations and needs. For example, during the ESHA General Assembly in London on January 23rd, we asked members what kind of professional development they consider to be important for school leaders on the topic of sustainability citizenship. The needs turned out to be diverse throughout Europe, however it was indicated that the lack of awareness and knowledge is still an issue in many countries and that a step-by-step plan would be welcome. Do you agree? What support would you consider relevant and important? You can give your input here.

Stay up to date on the project and go to the website to register to the newsletter. The SYNAPSES newsletter is sent out every 6 months. See the first issue here.

Read more about SYNAPSES on synapses-academies.eu.

 

 

Our colleagues, their teams and students endure the war that is has been going on for 2 years. Despite the difficult situation, with regional differences, but always with the threats of air raids and missile attacks schools stay open and people are doing what they can to keep the education going. All secondary schools work using various possibilities of face-to-face and distance learning. 

On September 1, 2023, the academic year began and the education program for the 1st semester was completed. On January 8, 2024, the second semester began as planned. Considering all the existing realities of the war and open education in all schools, the RGU Association continued its work, mainly in Western Ukraine. There was continuous attention for leaderships development and professionalization.

Conferences

On October 2–6, 2023, the 31st annual conference of RGU was held in Volyn, the board of RGU took part in the European ESHA congress in Dubrovnik, on October 24–26, a RGU delegation, consisting of 50 colleagues, visited Rome and Venice from 14–17 November, and took part in the 6th annual conference of the ANP Association, our Italian ESHA member. From 29 January to 2 February the winter Forum "Truskavets – 2024" was held on the study of AI applications, with the participation of colleagues from Rome, and on February 16–17, the first AI training was held in Odesa. 

RGU plans to hold a second training in Dnipro at the end of February, and a third AI training in Volyn at the beginning of April. The 2nd major conference and trainings on AI will take place in Kyiv from April 29 to May 1.

Support

ESHA believes that all children have the right to education and to live in safety. There are many places in our world where this is not the case. This is an ongoing concern for us all. We want to do what we can to achieve this objective. As a strong European Leaderships network, we support school leaders where possible, and members support each other. Leadership matters and therefore a continuous professional development is admirable. We express solidarity with our colleagues and our thoughts are with them.

On the 21st of February, the first webinar in the ESHA–Apple Leaderships series took place. About 180 participants were taken on a 90-minute leadership journey by Tobias Schnitter and Fons van den Berg. The goal of the series is to bring about a sustainable whole-school change. Participants showed engagement and involvement, for example by responding to Slido questionnaires, using the chat and by using multiple emoticons.

The ESHA Leadership series targets school leaders across Europe. It gives opportunity to work on your leadership with a practical approach. The series has been specifically designed for the members of the European School Heads Association and is facilitated by experienced Apple Professional Learning Specialists. The series consists of six virtual workshops that take participants on a journey of dealing with various topics from how to lead change all the way to how to measure the impact of your actions.

Strong leadership

All around the world, the most innovative schools we know have something in common – strong leadership. Their leaders are deeply committed to exploring all possibilities and bridging the gap between the current lives of students and the future they’ll graduate into.

Each session is different and is focused on a specific topic and can be booked independently. For this semester there are 5 more opportunities to join.

Register here

For any specific questions, please reach out to apl_emeia@apple.com.

 

In today’s fast-paced educational landscape, fostering environments where every voice is heard and valued has never been more important. Dialogic gatherings, rooted in the principles of dialogic learning, offer a powerful approach to enriching the educational experience in elementary and high school settings. By prioritizing open, egalitarian dialogue, these gatherings not only enhance learning outcomes but also nurture essential life skills in young learners.

This blog by our Dive-in-Dialogue partner RIC Novo mesto explores the significance of dialogic gatherings and their foundational principles, illustrating their transformative potential in schools.

Read more: 'The crucial role of dialogic gatherings in elementary and high school education'