The Relationship of Distributed Leadership and Professional Learning Community

Mohd Izham Mohd Hamzah,Mohd Fadzil Jamil

doi:10.4236/ce.2019.1012199

Abstract

Distributed leadership offers a new thinking in transforming school’s leadership. Professional learning community has been identified to have a strong influence on the teaching quality of teachers. This article examines the relationship of distributed leadership of secondary school administrators with professional learning community. The literatures suggest that distributed leadership perspective is a good alternative strategy to improve the quality of educational institutions, but empirical evidence shows the relationship of distributed leadership and professional learning community is limited. Data were collected from 592 teachers working in secondary schools in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Data analysis was done based on Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS software. The study found that distributed leadership (DL) has a positive and strong correlation relationship with professional learning community (PLC), r = 0.844, p 0.001. Regression weight analysis for DL -> PLC shows that regression coefficient value, β = 1.182. This explains that when distributed leadership variable (DL) goes up by 1 unit, the professional learning community variable (PLC) will also go up by 1182 units. The distributed leadership (DL) exogenous variable in the regression model can significantly predict the change in the professional learning community (PLC) endogenous variable. The results show the value of variance in professional learning community (PLC) endogenous variable predicted by distributed leadership (DL) exogenous variable for DL -> PLC pathway. Estimated value = 0.835 (C.R. = 6.174,p In conclusion, a strong positive relationship was revealed between distributed leadership of secondary school administrators and professional learning community. Distributed leadership of secondary school administrators was also a significant predictor of professional learning community. Therefore, the findings of the study indicate that distributed leadership practiced by school administrators is a critical factor in establishing professional learning community at school level.

Highlights

Challenges of the current globalization era and the challenges of making schools as a future learning organization as embedded in the Malaysia Education Development Plan 2013-2025 have urged school leaders and administrators to look for ways to make their organizations more flexible
This explains that when distributed leadership variable (DL) goes up by 1 unit, the professional learning community variable (PLC) will go up by 1182 units
Conclusion on Ho1 testing Based on the results of the covariance analysis and the correlation coefficients (r = 0.884, p < 0.001), the researcher accepted Ho1 and reporting that distributed leadership (DL) construct has a significant positive relationship with professional learning community (PLC)

Summary

Introduction

Challenges of the current globalization era and the challenges of making schools as a future learning organization as embedded in the Malaysia Education Development Plan 2013-2025 have urged school leaders and administrators to look for ways to make their organizations more flexible. For the reformation of the system as a whole, the leadership aspect should be viewed as a collective rather than an individual leader’s capacity (Fullan, 2010). One type of school leadership that researchers focus on today is distributed leadership. There are various definitions for the term distributed leadership given by researchers. Distributed leadership is defined as a dynamic interaction between several leaders and their followers in performing their duties and responsibilities (Timperley, 2005). The main focus of distributed leadership is to mobilize leadership at all levels of the organization and not rely solely on a single top leadership (Harris, 2008) and distributed leadership is understood as a collective social process resulting from interactions involving multiple leaders (Uhl-Bien, 2006)

Methods

Results

Conclusion