Columba 1400 Headteachers’ Leadership Academy: Final Evaluation Report of a Values-Based Leadership Initiative

The Columba 1400 Headteachers’ Leadership Academy (HTLA) is a values-based leadership programme that aims to develop participants’ capacity to lead effectively. It is premised on the notion that leaders are motivated by values, and that a deep exploration of these values will enable change in school leaders' beliefs, values, and behaviours, and consequently their school, staff and pupils. Multiple cohorts of headteachers, deputy headteachers and other school leaders have taken part in the HTLA, comprising over 1600 participants in total since its inception. The HTLA is run by Columba 1400, a charitable social enterprise in Scotland funded by the Scottish Government and The Hunter Foundation.

The University of Strathclyde was commissioned to undertake a retrospective evaluation of the structure and impact of the HTLA. The evaluation was designed to investigate:

(1) the key components that make up the leadership academy structure, including content principles, methodology and theory of change;

(2) school leaders’ experiences of participating in the academy;

(3) school leaders’ perceptions of how this has influenced their beliefs, practice and school context.

The evaluation adopted a sequential mixed methods approach. In Phase 1, data were drawn from a) interviews with Columba 1400 HTLA programme tutors and tutors (n=5); and b) interviews with a self-selected sample of school leaders (n=21). Analysis of Phase 1 data informed the development of a survey in Phase 2 with a larger sample of headteachers (n=200) who took part in the programme. The report presents findings from the interview data from programme tutors and school leaders, as well as analysis of the questionnaire data from school leaders.