Successful Leadership in Rural Schools: Cultivating Collaboration

Jane Preston,Kristopher E R Barnes

doi:10.35608/ruraled.v38i1.231

Abstract

This article is a literature review of the professional competencies and personal qualities commonly associated with successful leadership in rural schools. Multiple definitions of the term rural are provided. A delimitation of this research is that findings reflect literature published from 2005–2015, positioning this document as a current analysis of rural leadership. A limitation of the article is that the research predominantly emanates from rural American, Canadian, and Australian settings, restricting a global application of results. The findings are represented via two overarching themes. Successful rural principals promote people focused relationships with staff, students, parents, and community members. Second, rural principals have the opportunity to be agents of change through balancing local and district policies and through enacting instructional leadership. At the root, both of these themes reveal the importance of rich collaboration with members of the school community. This research is pertinent to researchers, government leaders, policymakers, school leaders, teachers, parents, and community members interested in understanding and responding to the demands of rural schools.

Highlights

This article is a literature review of the professional competencies and personal qualities commonly associated with successful leadership in rural schools
School leadership is informed by the particulars of the school community and its geographical setting; yet, literature about successful school leadership is often unrelated to situational realities and geography (Clark & Stevens, 2009; Starr & White, 2008)
The context of rural school leadership demands differentiated attention, there is paucity of research on this specialized focus. Another reason why attention to rural leadership is important is that, across the globe, rural students represent a large percentage of school enrollment numbers

Summary

University of Prince Edward Island

This article is a literature review of the professional competencies and personal qualities commonly associated with successful leadership in rural schools. In further contemplating this point, one way to promote student achievement and wellbeing is, first, to recognize what successful rural principals do and use that information to capitalize on those constructive leadership actions and behaviors Under these premises, we write this literature review, which documents effective school leadership within rural communities.. The first step of the research involved a literature search using the University of Prince Edward Island's (UPEI) (Canada) library database system Through this system, we accessed books, chapters in books, textbooks, journal articles, dissertations, conference papers, newspapers, magazines, governmental policy documents, and other Internet accessible documents related to rural principalship. During the last couple of face-to-face discussions, we made minor adjustments to themes and did a final search for any remaining articles potentially missed

Findings

Principal as Change Agent

Implications and Future Research