Based on the topic of the conference “Educational Leadership”, Mireia Tintoré gave an analysis of the reason why we need to discuss educational leadership in schools today.  “Leadership is- according to Tintoré- the first of the three most urgent strategic areas overall and it seems necessary for organisations of all types to bear this in mind, at all levels, thus developing the worker’s competences; in schools too”.

In the opinion of this Professor from the Faculty of Education, “educational leadership is a key factor in undertaking good quality education and in school efficiency”.  In fact, “after the task of teaching in the classroom- she continued- leadership is the second task that influences learning.  Leadership practices which are used by the main leaders directly influence the different aspects of culture and school conditions, and indirectly influence results”.

For all these reasons, the Director of the Postgraduate Degree in Leadership and School Management believes it best to develop what she described as the four main leadership practices:  “To establish a direction and a vision, to develop people, to design organisation as a form of professional learning community, and to manage teaching and learning by focusing on learning”.

Finally, she concluded by saying:  “All of this cannot be done if we have not created an atmosphere of trust and dialogue beforehand.  It is clear that we need to move towards leadership management without any doubt if we would like to make our educational institutions better, both in terms of schools and universities”.

More than two hundred people attended the event, including professors and executives from the Catalan Federation of Schools.  The closing speech at the event was given by the Minister for Education, Meritxell Ruiz.