School leaders play a key role in improving school outcomes by influencing teacher motivation and skills, as well as school climate and environment. Effective school leadership is essential to improving the efficiency and equity of schooling.

Many countries have given schools more autonomy while holding them more accountable for results. Schools are under pressure to improve overall student achievement while serving a more diverse student population and using more evidence-based teaching practices.

As a result of these trends, the role of school leadership in OECD countries is increasingly defined by a demanding set of responsibilities, including managing financial and human resources and providing leadership for learning.

In all countries, however, there are concerns that the role of the school leader, as conceived in the past, is no longer appropriate. In many countries, school leaders have heavy workloads; many are retiring, and it is increasingly difficult to replace them. Potential candidates are often reluctant to apply because they are overwhelmed with the role, receive inadequate preparation and training, have limited career prospects, and are inadequately supported and rewarded.

In many countries, school leaders have heavy workloads, many are retiring, and it is increasingly difficult to replace them. Potential candidates are often reluctant to apply because of overloaded duties, inadequate preparation and training, limited career prospects, and inadequate support and rewards.

These trends have made school leadership a priority in education systems around the world.  OECD (2008.)

ESHA, the European School Heads Association, is the leading network for European school heads. ESHA members are national organizations for head teachers and deputy head teachers in (pre) primary, secondary, and vocational education in Europe. Almost all European countries (both EU and non-EU) are represented by one or more organizations. This results in at least 100,000 school leaders being represented in Europe. ESHA is a vibrant membership organization that connects its members, school leaders, teachers, researchers, and policy makers with the common goal of learning from each other and sharing experiences, visions, and views to improve education. ESHA organizes (networking) meetings, has a website, a newsletter, a magazine, a Twitter, and a LinkedIn account, and provides helpful support for school leaders, such as presentations at national conferences, webinars, or our HEAD launch cards.

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ASSOCIATION OF CROATIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

The Association of Croatian Secondary School Principals was founded in 1994 and has been working continuously since then with the aim of improving secondary education and strengthening the position and status of school principals.

The majority of all secondary school principals are members of the association. The members are principals of high schools, vocational schools, artistic secondary schools, private secondary schools, religious secondary schools, and dormitories.

Collegial networking and collegial support are important activities of the association. The Association is organized into 21 district associations, each with its own chairperson. The district associations work at the local level and are in close cooperation with the founding districts. The chairpersons of the district associations form the presidium of the association, which meets several times a year to discuss current issues in secondary education.

At the state level, the association organizes professional conferences for principals on relevant topics in education once or twice a year. Members of the Association participate in various working groups, commissions, and expert teams dealing with the preparation of draft laws, regulations, and educational policy, as well as all areas of educational development. Thank you to the successful cooperation of the Association of Croatian High School Principals with the relevant ministries, authorities, and educators, numerous challenges of the high school system in the Republic of Croatia have been successfully solved together.

Since 2008, the association has been a member of the European umbrella organization of school heads, ESHA (European School Heads Association), and in 2014 it organized as a host the ESHA conference in Dubrovnik on the topic of “Bringing leadership everywhere”, which was attended by numerous participants from 28 European countries. Since 2017, the association has been a member of EFEE (The European Federation of Education Employers) and actively participates in all activities of the organization. The Association of Croatian High School Principals hosted and organized the Peer Learning Visit to Croatia in Zagreb in 2019 with the theme “Supporting teachers, staff, and managers of educational and training institutions”.
As a national consortium, the Association of Croatian High School Principals implemented the highly successful Erasmus project “Improving School Leadership” from 2019 to 2021 with 20 principals from different high schools from all over Croatia. Currently, the new Erasmus project “Effective School Leadership for Sustainable Changes”, in which 17 principals and principals are participating, is running together with the ESF-funded EU project “Digital HR”, in which the association is a partner organization.

Since 2009, the Association of Croatian Secondary School Principals has been led by Suzana Hitrec, the director of the Zagreb School of Administration.