Strategic human resource management in schools: a sustainable professional development initiative for schoolleaders

Quality of education mainly depends on the competence and work of teachers. At the same time schools face teacher shortages and high attrition of beginning teachers. Therefor, schools must be aware of the imortance of good Human Resource Management (HRM). Between 2016 and 2020, the research group Bellon (UGent) performed a study on strategic HRM in education for the Flemish Ministry of education. This study led to several research reports with scientif insights related to the role of school leaders, school characteristisc, teacher characteristis for SHRM and outcomes of SHRM. The implementation of SHRM in schools involves a complex combination of factors. The research also demonstrated the opportunities that stil need to be grasped in schools to make HRM more strategic. For this reason we want to aim for societal value creation through a sustainable professional development initiative for school leaders to stimulate the implemenation of SHRM in their school.