From Leadership to Learning: Building Stronger School Systems for Lasting Impact

In India’s vast and diverse education system, the quality of teaching and student learning outcomes often hinges on the strength of leadership and support structures in schools. While much attention has been given to improving teaching practices, the backbone of sustainable change lies in empowering those who lead and support our educators. At Leadership For Equity, we are addressing this challenge through two innovative programs: Teach and LEAD. 

Reimagining Leadership in Public Education

Educational reform is not just about fixing schools in isolation, it is about empowering the leadership ecosystem surrounding them. For children to thrive in their classrooms, teachers must be equipped, supported, and empowered. And for that to happen, school leaders and education officers at every level, headmasters, cluster coordinators, block officers, and district officials must themselves be trained and mentored.

But what does leadership in public education look like at scale?

Through years of experience and collaboration with state governments, LFE has identified three critical shifts necessary to drive system-wide transformation:

From Individual Behaviour to Shared Characteristics

Effective leadership traits should not remain isolated within a few individuals. Instead, they need to be nurtured as shared skills across the education system, skills like strategic planning, stakeholder management, and instructional observation.

From Standalone Schools to a Neural Network of Support

Over 50% of public schools in India lack a dedicated headmaster. Leadership must move beyond isolated roles to a distributed model where support flows seamlessly through school complexes and clusters, creating a neural network that bolsters each teacher.

From Intuition to Data-Driven Decision-Making

Without structured systems for classroom observation and feedback, teacher development often relies on gut feeling rather than data. This is where structured tools can make all the difference.

TEACH: A Tool to Observe, Reflect, and Transform

The Teach Classroom Observation Tool was developed by the World Bank and is being implemented at scale by LFE. Designed to assess teaching practices systematically, Teach provides school leaders with the skills to observe, analyse, and offer constructive feedback to teachers.

Through intensive training programs, headmasters and Cluster Resource Coordinators (CRCs) learn how to use the tool effectively. The process is rigorous, participants must pass a post-training test with a benchmark of 80-85%. Each trained school leader then conducts at least 45 classroom observations, generating valuable data on classroom culture and teaching techniques.

However, the Teach Tool is not just about monitoring, it is about mentorship. The data generated helps school leaders tailor their feedback, making support to teachers more targeted, evidence-based, and actionable. Teachers gain clearer insights into how to improve their practice, leading to more engaged students and better learning outcomes. 

LEAD: Developing Leaders Who Support, Not Just Supervise

While Teach equips school-level leaders to mentor teachers, LFE’s Leadership Enhancement and Academic Development (LEAD) program addresses a deeper systemic need, the professional development of education officers at block, district, and state levels.

In most government schools, leadership training is minimal or non-existent. LEAD fills this gap by building the capacities of Block and Cluster Heads, SCERT & DIET officials, and District & Block Education Officers (DEOs and BEOs). The goal is to turn these officers into enablers of change, leaders who actively support school management, instructional development, and teacher wellbeing.

By focusing on structured mentorship, LEAD ensures that leadership is not about control but about care. Education officers trained through LEAD learn how to provide meaningful feedback, create environments of trust, and align school goals with larger systemic aspirations. And most importantly, LEAD shifts the education system from a fragmented one to a cohesive, scalable model. Rather than isolated success stories, the program aims for district-wide improvement and long-term, sustainable change.

A Cascade of Impact

Both the Teach and LEAD programs are rooted in the cascade model of systemic reform. Instead of delivering change in pockets, these programs empower education leaders at every level, who then go on to support the teachers in their care, who in turn better serve their students. It is a simple but powerful logic: Empowered leaders → supported teachers → thriving students.

The early results from these initiatives have been promising. Schools are beginning to adopt structured leadership approaches. Teachers are receiving more focused mentorship. And data, not intuition, is driving important decisions that shape student learning.

Closing Thoughts 

Sustainable change in education is less about isolated interventions and more about interconnected systems. It is about equipping not just the people in the classrooms but the ones who support them behind the scenes. It is about building networks, sharing skills, and most of all, believing in the capacity of our public education system to improve when the right support structures are in place.

In the journey from leadership to learning, every teacher matters, every student counts, and every leader, when trained and trusted, has the power to transform the system.