SCHOOL LEADERS' COMPETENCIES TO BUILD LEARNING COMMUNITIES

At the 2000 European Council meeting in Lisbon, education was presented as one of the main instruments in the challenge to make Europe the most competitive knowledge economy in the world. Education systems must respond to the requirements of the knowledge economy in order to promote a high quality of education, using an approach of inclusion and equal opportunities for all (European Conference of Poitiers, 2008). The increasing complexity and autonomy of schools call for educational leaders with skills in both school management and leadership. New leadership figures in the European school systems, whether principals, headmasters or teachers in charge of special projects, are the starting point for a more inclusive society, transforming schools into "learning communities" where individuals share common goals, collaborate and actively promote lifelong learning opportunities (Watkins & Marsik 1999, Wenger et al. 2002, Kilpatrick, Barret & Jones 2005). This paper aims to answer the following question: considering the different school governance models in different European countries, what could the competencies of European leaders be to assume a school governance model promoting learning communities. The research was carried out with the focus groups technique (Kitzinger 1994, Morgan 1997) in several European countries (Greece, The Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Italy) and involved the main stakeholders of schools: principals, teachers, pupils, parents and others (politicians and educational workers in public administration, workers in vocational guidance and counselling services, associations, enterprises, universities, etc.). In particular, the question addressed to all categories of stakeholders was: "What abilities should a principal have in order to give a positive contribution to school life in general and, in particular, to create, develop and maintain an effective learning community?" From the combined analysis of focus groups and literature, a training path model was developed, which was then tested on a group of educational leaders in the above-mentioned countries in order to define a common training model (as a mix of lessons based on active didactics, inductive methods, concrete cases, project work and at-distance training provided through learning platforms), usable by European countries and, at the same time, differentiable on the basis of each country's particular needs. This paper is part of a two-year project funded by the European Union (Culture and Education General Directorate) in October 2010 "School Governance to build a Learning Community" with the involvement of Greece, The Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Italy. The final purpose of the project is to design, test, improve and disseminate a European training model for school leaders towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the growth strategy of the EU for the coming decade ("Europe 2020", European Commission 2010).