Distributed Leadership In Schools Research Articles

Enactment of Transformational School Leadership—Insights from Primary School and System Leaders

Transformational leadership has been proposed as an approach that can inspire effective change. How this is manifest in schools is understudied in Irish primary schools, which have undergone significant change in recent years. The focus of this qualitative research study was primary school and system leaders’ knowledge of transformational school leadership, perceived benefits, limitations, and feasibility, and how transformational school leadership actually manifests in practice. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were carried out with principals, deputy and assistant principals, and former school inspectors, with the interviews aligned to the following research questions: (1) How can we characterize school and system leaders’ knowledge, understanding and perceptions regarding the feasibility of transformational school leadership? (2) How do transformational school-leadership behaviours manifest in primary-school settings? Data analysis yielded the following themes and sub-themes: (1) Understanding of transformational school leadership: (i) transformation, change and growth, (ii) relationships, (iii) vision, mission, and goals, (iv) leading; (2) Perceptions of feasibility of transformational school leadership: (i) realism, (ii) people and relationships, (iii) practical challenges; (3) Benefits of transformational school leadership: (i) aspiration, (ii) culture, (iii) motivation and modelling, (iv) school community, (v) delivering quality learning; (4) Limitations of transformational school leadership: (i) personality, (ii) pressure, (iii) slow process, (iv) unexpected variables; (5) Manifestations of transformational school-leadership: (i) idealised influence, (ii) inspirational motivation, (iii) individualised consideration, (iv) intellectual stimulation, (v) school development, (vi) improving curricular offerings. Participants’ positive disposition to transformational school leadership was encouraging and suggests the need for further research, specifically to examine potential synergies between transformational and distributed school leadership.

The Chain Mediating Role of Teachers' Job Stress in the Influence of Distributed School Leadership on Job Satisfaction: Evidence from China, the United States, England, and Australia.

Distributed leadership has been shown to improve teacher job satisfaction and reduce teacher job stress. However, few studies have thoroughly explored the indirect effects of distributed leadership on increasing the teachers' burden in school administration and management, thereby increasing work stress, and decreasing job satisfaction. Data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey were analyzed to investigate the relationships among distributed school leadership, teachers' job stress, and job satisfaction. A total of 3976 teachers from 198 junior high schools in Shanghai, 2560 teachers from 166 junior high schools in the United States, 2376 teachers from 157 junior high schools in England, and 3573 teachers from 238 junior high schools in Australia were selected and examined using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that distributed school leadership directly predicted teachers' job satisfaction; teachers' job stress had an independent mediating effect on distributed leadership and teachers' job satisfaction, whereas teachers' time spent participating in school leadership had no mediating effect. We discuss the benefits of distributed school leadership on teachers' job satisfaction and the possible mechanisms for promoting it in practice.

Exploring Distributed Leadership Practice in Nigerian Secondary Schools

A growing body of research on distributed leadership shows that it effectively improves school effectiveness in developed economies. However, due to centralized education systems, the full benefits of distributed school leadership have not been fully appropriated in developing economies. This study investigates the realities of distributed leadership practices as applicable in selected Nigerian secondary schools. Lensed with Distributed Leadership Theory, the study is located in the qualitative strand of the interpretivist paradigm. In a case study research design, a combination of purposeful and snowballing sampling techniques was adopted in selecting twelve participants comprising three school administrators and nine classroom teachers who participated in semi-structured interviews. The results show that distributed leadership is perceived and practised as delegation and distribution of roles by the superordinate to the subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the principles of distributed leadership theory. It was also revealed that teachers with no formal portfolio were assigned leadership responsibilities. Lastly, the findings showed that participants acknowledged the existence of the School Management Team in their school. Still, most are unaware of their roles in school leadership and how they impacted their jobs. Recommendations were made based on the findings.
 
 Received: 21 September 2022 / Accepted: 17 February 2022 / Published: 5 March 2023

Understanding the Intellectual Structure and Evolution of Distributed Leadership in Schools: A Science Mapping-Based Bibliometric Analysis

Distributed leadership (DL) has currently generated significant interest among researchers considering that schools have become too complex to be led by a single leader, and school leadership activity is already distributed in nature. Numerous studies have contributed to this knowledge base through empirical and conceptual investigations. Our study aims to demonstrate the bibliometric performance, intellectual architecture, and strategic themes of this field, with a particular focus on DL in schools. Our dataset includes 221 articles published between 2002 and 2021 on the Web of Science (WoS) database. Science mapping analysis was conducted using SciMAT to map the conceptual structure and thematic evolution of the research field, and applied for three consecutive periods so as to be able to compare/contrast the changing thematic trends. Bibliometric performance analysis was also employed in order to determine the distribution of related publications by years, the number of accumulated publications, the average number of citations per article, and the most productive/cited authors and journals. The results indicated that research on DL in schools has grown substantially over the past decade, and that the thematic structure has fundamentally evolved from school improvement/effectiveness and commitment to teachers and instructional leadership, innovation, and capacity-building in schools.

Distributed school leadership: Making sense of the educational infrastructure

Distributed leadership focuses on what teachers and school leaders do together, but also on how the situation mediates that interaction. This paper focuses on the importance and function of the situational dimension of practice. By framing situational aspects in terms of local educational infrastructure, it explores organizational components in the educational infrastructure and how they condition teachers’ sensemaking about their instructional practice. Two schools in the same school district in Sweden were purposively chosen to reflect significant variation in student outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, in addition to observations of meetings. The results show that an important function of the infrastructure is to facilitate and guide teachers’ sensemaking about their instructional practice and that these processes are influenced by the clarity of the school’s vision and the principal’s use of the infrastructure for sensegiving purposes. The outcome is an argument for studying school leadership through the lens of organizational components in the educational infrastructure

Combining Institutional and Distributed Frameworks in Studies of School Leadership

ABSTRACT The premise of this article is that studies of distributed leadership could benefit from further incorporation of institutional approaches to better understand complex reform demands facing school leaders working for instructional improvement. We begin by articulating the core components of a distributed perspective on leadership and of an institutional perspective on organizational change. We next describe our methods for reviewing a purposeful sample of 28 highly cited empirical articles on distributed school leadership in K-12 settings. We argue that studies that fully integrate institutional and distributed perspectives can contribute important insights on how school leaders manage the pressures of complex policy environments and the role of collective structuration in defining and legitimating distributed leadership practice.

Distributed School Leadership and Teachers’ Organizational Commitment: The Case of Primary Schools of Hawassa City Administration

The objective of the study is to investigate effects of distributive school leadership style on primary schools teachers’ organizational commitment of Hawassa city Administration. To achieve this objective, the cross sectional survey method was used. Moreover, quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to obtain relevant information pertinent to the basic questions. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used. Teachers were taken by simple random sampling techniques where leaders were taken by using purposive sampling techniques. Questionnaire and interview were used to collect data. The findings of the study were school culture has strong positive relationship with teachers organizational commitment and it is determinant factor for teachers commitment. Moreover, study revealed that academic status of teachers has positive relationship with teachers’ commitment. Distributed leadership inadequately practiced and affected by teachers and principals related factors, resources, lack of guidelines and manuals. As school culture is major determinant of teachers’ commitment, principals and supervisors should work to develop school common culture. To empower teachers and principals’ capacity, short and long term trainings were recommended. Further research in the area in broad and in depth was suggested. Keywords : distributive leadership style, primary school, organizational commitment, school culture DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-13-03 Publication date: May 31 st 2020

The ‘Push and Pull’ Factors of Distributed Leadership: Exploring Views of Headteachers across Two Countries

Governments and other stakeholders in education are beginning to recognize the important roles school leaders can play in school development and efforts are being made to allow them to become more involved in managing schools. However, despite these efforts, head teachers are challenged with the perfect leadership style to improve schools. Many scholars have lauded the positives of distributed leadership as one if not the best leadership for school improvement. This study sought to explore distributed leadership across primary schools in Accra-Ghana and Northampton-UK. The study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed method design. In this design, face-to-face interviews and non-participants observations were employed while closed ended questionnaires were given to 65 head teachers and 10 out of the 65 head teachers were sampled and interviewed. Two schools were purposive sampled and observed. The findings of the study revealed that head teachers from both countries understood the concept of distributed leadership as giving leadership opportunity to other teachers to meaningfully accept and take full responsibility for their leadership roles. Despite these findings, head teachers from the two countries have their own style of distributing leadership in the school. Admittedly, head teachers echoed that team work and trust is a necessity for effective and successful distributed leadership in schools. Notwithstanding these benefits of distributed leadership, head teachers from both Northampton and Accra are confronted with some challenges such as who should be involved and to what extent. The researchers recommend that head teachers should find ways of giving freedom to teachers who have the requisite expertise and ready to lead particular areas of the school even if it is for a shorter time. Additionally, a well-structured programme of high quality in-service training should be developed and offered to every head teacher and teacher in order for every school to develop appropriately.

Distributed leadership and school effectiveness in Egypt and Oman: an exploratory study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine teachers’ perceptions of the levels of distributed leadership (DL) practices and the indicators of school effectiveness (SE) in Egypt and Oman. It also investigated the role of accreditation on these perceptions.Design/methodology/approachThe study sampled 635 teachers in Egypt and Oman using the SE index (Hoy, 2009) and the DL scale (Özer and Beycioğlu, 2013).FindingsThe average score of the perceived level of DL practices of school principal and SE indicators showed was below the agreeableness level. DL was shown to be a positive and significant predictor of SE. The Omani teachers had a significantly higher perception of the availability of DL in their schools and of their schools’ effectiveness than the Egyptian teachers. The results also gave support to the belief that the school accreditation process is a way to increase DL in schools and also to increase the indicators of SE.Practical implicationsOne implication of the findings is the need for training school principals on DL practices that can potentially enhance SE. Another implication is a wider adoption of accreditation practices.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence about teachers’ perceptions of the availability of SE and DL in schools in two Middle Eastern countries, Egypt and Oman. It also adds support to the belief in the importance of the role of accreditation in increasing SE and DL practices.

Distributed leadership in South Africa: yet another passing fad or a robust theoretical tool for investigating school leadership practice?

ABSTRACTDistributed leadership, while an established concept in the international literature on education leadership, is slowly gaining prominence in post-apartheid South Africa. This is primarily due to its normative and representational appeal. However, of concern is that the concept has become a catch-all phrase to describe any form of devolved or shared leadership and is being espoused as ‘the answer’ to the country’s educational leadership woes. Drawing on a South African publications-based doctoral study of distributed teacher leadership (Grant 2010. “Distributed Teacher Leadership: Troubling the Terrain.” Unpublished PhD diss., University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg) for its evidence, this article argues for a theoretically robust form of distributed leadership conceptualised as socio-cultural practice and framed as a product of the joint interactions of school leaders, followers and aspects of their situation (Gronn 2000. “Distributed Properties: A New Architecture for Leadership.” Educational Management and Administration 28 (3): 317–338; Spillane, Halverson and Diamond 2004. “Towards a Theory of Leadership Practice: A Distributed Perspective.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 36 (1): 3–34; Spillane 2006. Distributed Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass). It endorses a sequential distributed leadership framing for the South African context and calls for further empirical studies which interrogate the complex practices of distributed school leadership. For without this theoretically robust work, the article argues, distributed leadership is likely to be relegated to the large pile of redundant leadership theories and become a passing fad.

Teachers’ Perceptions of the Relationship between Inclusive Education and Distributed Leadership in two Primary Schools in Slovakia and New South Wales (Australia)

Abstract The academic literature on the practice of inclusive education presents diverse and at times contradictory perspectives in how it is connected to practices of distributed leadership. Depending on the approach, on the one hand, inclusive educational practice may enable distributed school leadership, while on the other hand, it may allow for hierarchical management styles if staff members do not implement inclusive practices. This paper explores how school staff members perceive and understand the relationship between practices of inclusive education and distributed leadership in two public primary schools: one in New South Wales (Australia) and one in Slovakia. These two schools were identified by external informants as good practice examples of inclusive education. Using qualitative research methods based on interviews, this paper identifies two main understandings of this relationship. First, although distributed leadership may encourage the goals of inclusive education, it may in some circumstances also hinder their achievement. Second, distributed leadership can be constructed as an indispensable component of inclusive education, and this has implications for how the target groups of inclusive education are conceptualised. This paper also discusses the wider social and political contexts of the two primary schools and how in each case context significantly constrained and shaped understandings and practices of inclusion and distributed leadership in the practice of teachers and principals.

Applying distributed leadership across contexts

Distributed leadership is the most popular leadership model, judging by the number of submissions on this theme received by EMAL, and by the growing interest expressed by academics, policymakers and practitioners. It is in the vanguard of an emerging recognition that solo, heroic, leadership is inadequate to address the complex issues facing education systems in an increasingly globalised world. However, the main focus, conceptually and empirically, has been on distributed school leadership. The first paper in this issue, by Sandra Jones, Marina Harvey, Geraldine Lefoe and Kevin Ryland, provides a welcome contribution to the more limited literature on distributed leadership in higher education. These authors argue that a new approach is required, which goes beyond individual control and management bureaucracy, and they explore whether distributed leadership provides this alternative model. Through an action research approach, building on four earlier projects in Australian universities, they conclude that a prescriptive definition of distributed leadership that fits all contexts is not possible, and claim that a more fluid description is required. It is difficult to imagine distributed leadership working well without the involvement of middle leaders. In the second article, Annette Thomas-Gregory examines the role of middle managers in a university department of health and social care. She points to the developing literature on middle management in higher education and explores the professional identities assumed by middle managers in her case study university. She notes that professional identity is formed during initial socialisation and concludes that there is a complex relationship between self and role. Leadership is strongly aligned with values, the focus of the third paper, by Robin Mueller. She stresses the complexity of organisational values and addresses this concept in the domain of university administration. She examines how values have been depicted, drawing on a literature review and unstructured interviews with administrators. She concludes that values may be seen as both structural and phenomenological and that objective and subjective variables may exist simultaneously. Cheri Minkler examines the relationship between school leadership and teacher social capital. She defines social capital as the resources used by teachers by virtue of their membership of social networks. She conducted a survey of teachers in Louisiana, United States, to establish if teacher social capital was prevalent in their schools. The study found high-moderate positive correlations between transformational leadership and aspects of teacher social capital. The fifth paper, by Stelios Orphanos and Margaret Terry Orr, also focuses on leadership preparation. They report a study of 175 teachers whose principals were prepared in an innovative ‘exemplary’ leadership programme, and of 589 teachers whose principals were prepared in more traditional ways. The findings show that the more innovative programme, focused on instructional strategies, has a small but discernible influence on teacher outcomes. The authors conclude that effective leadership practices are influenced by the nature and quality of leadership preparation. Educational Management Administration & Leadership 2014, Vol. 42(5) 601–602 a The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1741143214541369 emal.sagepub.com

Book Review: Distributed School Leadership: Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders

Book Review: Distributed School Leadership: Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders

Tomorrow’s Teacher Leaders: Nurturing a Disposition of Leadership

Until recently, the terms teacher and leadership were not often mentioned in the same sentence.Educational leadership was synonymous with school administration, and teachers viewed themselvesas followers rather than leaders. Over the past fifteen years, this perception has changed. Due tofederal mandates such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Response to Intervention (RtI), teacherroles and responsibilities have expanded (Le Cornu, 1999) and distributed school leadership hasbecome the norm (Danielson, 2006; Harrison & Killion, 2007).

Effective Curriculum Implementation: Some Promising New Insights

nearly a whole school year!" As change researchers, we hear this lament repeatedly from school practitioners-principals, curriculum coordinators, superintendents, and staff developers. It is clear to us and to others that implementation does not equal delivery of an innovation (new curriculum, programs, processes, etc.), as has been widely assumed in the past (Fullan & Pomfret, 1977). In fact, as simple and straightforward as the process of implementing a new curriculum might seem, when it comes to actual practice, recent research shows that at least