Leadership Skills Training for Teachers as Leaders: The Research Report on the Erasmus+ CBHE Project. Development of Skills and Teachers Training for Leadership/DeSTT

Abstract

The DeSTT concept of teacher training for leadership examines the importance of non-formal education, i.e., training for teachers. The monitoring study revealed the urgent needs of Kazakhstani teachers in training their leadership skills. The paper analyzes two sets of research questions (each consists of 6 sub-questions), which we defined as follows: 1) What are the challenges of teacher training/upskilling for leadership and their involvement in the local community? This group of questions was studied at the stage of preparing the project proposal. 2) What are the impacts of DeSTT training on teachers' leadership skills and experiences? This group of questions was studied during the 2nd year of the project lifetime. The purpose of this paper is to indicate the findings and implementation of the concept of preparing teachers for leadership from the project proposal launch to the execution of pilot trainings. Research methods employed in the study are interviews of universities specialists and analyzes of the State data/reports for the project proposal. Observations of training participants and post-training interviews were used to study the 2nd group of research questions. The findings of the study confirm the data obtained in both groups of interviews and observations. Participants were enthusiastic and interested in the pieces of training, aware and confident of the need to continue learning, share experiences, and develop leadership skills achieved in DeSTT training. The reflection on the central terms of leadership and training has proved to be crucial for teachers. Further research is to survey the implications of the DeSTT project for all its consumers. The dissemination and sustainability perspective of the project is to collaborate with the National Center ORLEU for training leadership skills to the instructors from 17 regional branches who, in turn, will train teachers for leadership.

The authors acknowledge the Erasmus Plus CBHE for funding the DeSTT project.