LEAD – Leadership in Education: Action & Development
LEAD2027 – Leadership in Education: Action & Development is a seven-day international professional development opportunity for school principals, headteachers, school owners and other education leaders. Discover Finnish school leadership through school visits, discussions with Finnish principals, practical workshops and exchange with fellow leaders from around the world. A dedicated school visit in Estonia offers a valuable comparison of leadership practices in two neighbouring education systems.
What does school leadership look like in a system built on trust, teacher autonomy and collaboration? How do principals make difficult decisions about people, resources and school improvement? LEAD2027 goes beyond a traditional study tour: throughout the week you will discuss real leadership challenges and develop a plan for your own school. Finnish school leadership remains the main focus throughout the event, enriched by an Estonian perspective.
What You’ll Learn:
Explore the practical responsibilities of school leaders, with a special focus on Finland and a comparative perspective from Estonia. Key topics include:
- School governance and autonomy: How responsibilities are shared between education authorities, school boards, principals and teachers, and how accountability works in practice.
- Financial management: School budgets, allocation of staff and other resources, priorities and decision-making when resources are limited.
- Staff leadership: Recruitment, professional development, delegation, staff motivation, collaboration and difficult conversations.
- Strategic decision-making: Setting priorities, leading change, developing school improvement plans and evaluating results.
- School culture and wellbeing: Inclusion, teacher wellbeing, a supportive school climate and responsible use of technology and AI.
- Finnish–Estonian comparison: How principals in the two education systems approach governance, leading staff and developing their schools.
Course Highlights:
- Finnish School Visits: Discover leadership practices in authentic school settings and discuss governance, staff leadership and school improvement with the host principals or leadership teams.
- Estonian School Visit: Meet Estonian school leaders in Tallinn, explore how they manage similar responsibilities and compare their approaches with Finnish practices.
- Leadership Immersion: Look beyond classrooms to the decisions that shape everyday school life.
- Practical Leadership Workshops: Work on governance, budgeting, staff management and strategic choices in both public- and private-school contexts.
- Leadership Challenge Clinics: Bring a real challenge from your institution and explore possible solutions through peer discussion and facilitated case work.
- Finnish Cultural Experiences: Explore the historic sea fortress of Suomenlinna and experience a traditional Finnish smoke sauna and the surrounding nature.
- 90-Day School Leadership Action Plan: Turn observations from Finland and Estonia into realistic priorities and next steps for your own school.
- Free access to Finnish Education Online Courses: Learn more about Finnish education before your visit.
LEAD2027 combines professional learning and international networking with a deeper understanding of Finnish society and culture. Most of the programme takes place in the Helsinki metropolitan area, with one educational day in Tallinn, Estonia.
Upcoming courses
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Tickets
All tickets includes:
- Event materials
- Certificate of attendance
- School visits
- Admission to all sessions
Catering and transportation package includes:
- Two dinners
- Lunches
- Coffee and refreshments
- Ferry tickets
- Entrace fees
- Transportation during the program (no airport transfers)
Course price
For standard registrations / group registrations
Catering and transportation package
Two dinners, lunches and refreshments, ferry tickets, entrance fees, transportation during the program (no airport transfers)
PROGRAM
This is a preliminary program – final schedule will be confirmed before the event.
Sunday 9 May – Welcome to Helsinki
16:00–18:00: Welcome and introduction with Tuovi Ronkainen. Discover the essentials of Finnish education, principal responsibilities and teacher autonomy. Meet international school leaders and prepare questions for your first school visit.
18:30: Welcome dinner and informal networking.
Monday 10 May – Governance and financial leadership
09:00–12:30: Finnish school visit 1: governance, leadership autonomy, responsibilities, accountability and resource decisions.
14:30–17:45: Workshops on budgeting, staffing, strategic choices and real leadership cases.
Tuesday 11 May – Staff leadership and school improvement
09:00–12:30: Finnish school visit 2: staff leadership, collaboration, professional development and school culture.
14:30–17:45: Workshops on recruitment, delegation, managing difficult conversations and implementing change.
Wednesday 12 May – Strategic leadership and Suomenlinna
08:00–14:15: Strategy, leadership decision-making, stakeholder management and the role of trust in Finnish society, with a lunch break.
Afternoon: Guided cultural experience at Suomenlinna Sea Fortress.
Thursday 13 May – Leadership practices in Estonia
Morning: Ferry to Tallinn and introduction to Estonian school governance and principal responsibilities.
13:00–15:30: Estonian school visit, with discussions about staffing, improvement and strategic decisions.
15:45–17:15: Finnish–Estonian leadership comparison and international reflections. Return to Helsinki in the evening, including dinner.
Friday 14 May – Leadership challenges and smoke sauna
08:00–14:15: School culture, wellbeing, inclusion, the impact of AI, leadership case clinics and action planning, with a lunch break.
Afternoon: Finnish smoke sauna and nature experience.
Saturday 15 May – From learning to action
09:00–12:30: Complete and present your 90-Day Leadership Action Plan, receive peer feedback, make plans for further collaboration and close the event with certificates.
By the end of LEAD2027, participants will be able to:
- Explain key responsibilities, governance structures and decision-making practices in Finnish schools.
- Evaluate approaches to school budgets, resource allocation and financial prioritisation.
- Identify practical strategies for staff leadership, collaboration and professional development.
- Apply strategic leadership tools to a real school improvement challenge.
- Compare selected practices discussed with Finnish and Estonian school leaders.
- Develop a realistic 90-day action plan tailored to their own school or education organisation.
LEAD2027 is designed specifically for principals, headteachers, deputy principals, school directors, private school owners, superintendents and members of school leadership teams. Leaders from public and private schools, in Europe and beyond, are welcome. This is a leadership-focused event rather than a general teacher training course.
Tuovi Ronkainen is a former principal of Akaa Secondary School and an experienced biology and geography teacher. She has coordinated European school projects and worked with the European School Heads Association (ESHA) as a Project Ambassador. Her background in educational leadership, international cooperation and futures studies brings a practical and forward-looking perspective to LEAD2027.
A professor at Tallinn University, Estonia, and Head of its R&D Centre for Educational Technology, he has a background as a mathematics and physics teacher and school principal. For over 20 years, he has been active in teacher education and educational technology research, contributing to international projects on mobile technology and social software in education.