On April 13-17, 2019, representatives from the Center for School Leadership in Albania had a study visit to the Avney Rosha Institute, Israel.

Avney Rosha, the Israel Institute for School Leadership, established in 2007 as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Education and “Yad HaNadiv” (Rothchild Foundation), is the main collaborator of the Center for School Leadership in Albania. The mandate of the institute was in creating a prestigious Institute that would enforce a harsh pipeline in selecting the right individuals that would become principals. It is not only the training component a purpose per se, but the whole process, from the admission process to the hiring of new trained principals.

Since the very beginning AR has used the best experts from USA and UK, but what helped a lot were the local context with local expertise, partnerships with schools, universities, local districts, engaging current or retired school principals in every component of the program.

During their visit, the representatives from Albania had the opportunity to get familiar with the aspiring principal’s admission process and criteria upon the selection, the role of principals on institutional development and their expectations at the start of their career and the new approach to principal preparation through practice in addition to literature and auditorium classes.

This experience will serve for the qualitative implementation of the compulsory certification training program in Albania, tailored to the needs and standards of the PUEI principals in our country.