Voices from research and practice : leadership, professional development and policy insights for sustainable school improvement in Malta

Abstract

This essay examines leadership, professional development (PD), and sustainable school improvement in Malta. Drawing on 22 selected studies published over two decades in the Malta Review of Educational Research (MRER), alongside the author's professional experience of working with schools, the essay brings research and practice into dialogue to explore how decentralisation, school autonomy, and collaborative professional learning have been conceptualised and enacted. It highlights persistent tensions between policy intentions and school realities, particularly in relation to leadership capacity, teacher agency, and the conditions necessary for meaningful PD. Through a focused discussion of collaborative Lesson Study, the essay illustrates how schools can operate as centres of inquiry and learning when leadership is enacted as shared practice. The analysis concludes by distilling key policy insights, arguing that sustainable improvement depends on trust, coherence, and sustained investment in school-based professional learning communities chat empower educators as agents of change.