Global Leaders

Globally Competent Educational Leadership: A Framework for Leading Schools in a Diverse, Interconnected World

by Jennifer Manise, Longview Foundation and Ariel Tichnor-Wagner, PhD, ASCD

 

School Leaders Report

Educational leaders play a crucial role in creating and cultivating the environments that facilitate deep, sustainable implementation of global teaching and learning. By educational leaders, we include all of those whose work pertains to leading schools: principals, assistant principals, and those holding other formal and informal school and district leadership positions such teacher leaders, instructional coaches, school coordinators, and curriculum specialists. When leaders take actions such as building collaborative organizational structures, distributing leadership across school personnel, setting a vision that emphasizes high expectations for success, creating a range of learning opportunities for all staff and students, using data for improvement efforts, and building trust and respect across the organization, they positively affect student learning and success (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006; Tichnor-Wagner, Harrison, & Cohen-Vogel, 2016). Yet, educational leadership preparation programs and professional development rarely address global competence as a critical aspect of 21st-century learning (Brooks & Normore, 2010; Jean-Marie, Normore, & Brooks, 2010).

The Global Competencies for Educational Leaders Framework responds to the need for educational leaders to receive guidance and professional learning on what it takes to lead global learning in their schools. It explains how educational leaders can cultivate global competence in students and school staff so that each child is prepared for college, career, and citizenship in our diverse, interconnected world. We believe that if educational leaders create an environment that facilitates student learning and builds globally competent teaching capacity in staff, students will develop the academic, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes that lead to individual success and a peaceful, prosperous future for all.