Institute of Education London

Young Global City Leaders: Building an evidence base in London, New York and Toronto to support the next generation of school leadership innovation

Introduction

Global Cities are internationally important sites of migration, diversity and innovation.London and other Global Cities are experiencing leadership shortages due to headteacher retirements and teacher disinterest in leadership roles. As a result, younger than ever-leaders are taking up deputy and headteacher positions in city centres. This shift marks the entrance of a new generation of school leaders most of whom are from GenerationX (GenX), born between 1960-80. While GenXers are often described as flexible, globally engaged, technologically savvy, accepting of diversity and collaborative, there is little previous research related to age and leadership.

Our new ESRC-funded 3-year study explores the experience and expertise of this next generation of leaders. We will be working with city-based Advisory Groups policy/practice experts and cohorts of 35-45 GenX leaders in each city for our annual Networking events. Annual leader interviews will examine career development; challenges and opportunities; relationships between age, experience, gender, ethnicity, nationality and leadership; and, school-level leadership practices.

Summary of activities

To understand more about GenX school leaders, this study asks: 1) How have young leaders' careers developed? 2) What opportunities and challenges do young leaders face in leading their schools? 3) Do young leaders perceive an intersection between their age, experience, gender, ethnicity, nationality and their leadership work? 4) How are young leaders leading their schools? This data will provide new evidence on this new generation of leaders to support policy-makers, programme leaders and the leaders themselves in creating the best possible student outcomes. In each city, the research will also include:

• City-based demographic leadership profiles. In each city, to understand who is leading schools, including their age, gender and ethnicity, we will work with partners to develop a demographic profile of leaders.
• City-based policy and programme profiles. In each City, we will also develop local, state/province and national policies and programmes that influence and support young leaders each city.
• Young Global City Leader (YGCL) Networks. Young leaders often work on their own and do not have chances to learn from other young leaders. Our participating young leaders will be invited to network with each other and share their experiences at our annual network events. We have opportunities for 35–40 young leaders to join the network in each city.
• Young Global City Leaders Interviews. Each year, we will interview a cohort of young leaders from our Networks.
  

We will share our findings via annual research reports, papers and resources for Local Authorities, support organisations, leaders and academics on our website. At the end of the project, we will host a conference in each city for interested policy makers, programme leaders, Local Authorities and other interested parties.