Empirical studies have focused on how school leaders manage policies and tensions (Flores & Derrington, 2017) and relationships with different kinds of stakeholders in the school context (Paletta et al., 2017). Tensions and dilemmas resulting from economic, political and technocratic powers impact, whether direct or indirectly, the work of teachers and school leaders (Flores & Ferreira, 2019) as well as students’ outcomes (Day et al., 2009).

Existing literature has highlighted the importance of leadership, including the role of principals who, through a combination of transformational or instructional leadership strategies, may foster school improvement (Day, Gu & Sammons, 2016). Although the literature has focused on the extent to which classroom and school conditions influence student learning, less attention has been paid to how leadership can positively influence those conditions (Leithwood & Day, 2007; Cruickshank, 2017).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure on school leaders has increased. Leaders had to deal with a wide array of unpredictable and changing scenarios with limited options and resources leading to a 'perfect storm with imperfect leadership answers' (Harris & Jones, 2020, p.244). Given these circumstances, it is important to look at leadership practices, particularly in such challenging circumstances in which the ability to lead differently to create pathways to manage change is of paramount importance (Harris & Jones, 2020).

Drawing on the work by Leithwood et al., (2006) and Day, Gu & Sammons (2016), this paper reports on findings from a 3-year research project aimed at investigating the impact of school leadership on teachers’ work and on pupils’ outcomes. In this paper, the following questions are addressed: i) What characterises leadership practices in Portuguese public schools? ii) What kinds of factors influence school principals’ internal states? iii) To what extent is leadership distributed and how?

This paper presents findings from a wider 3-year research project funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology entitled “IMPACT - Investigating the Impact of School leadership on Pupil Outcomes" (PTDC/CED-EDG/28570/2017) aimed at examining leadership practices and their impact on teachers' work and students' academic outcomes. The research project was approved by the Committee of Ethics for Research in Social and Human Sciences at the University of Minho (CEICSH 009/2020) and by the DGE/Ministry of Education (Ref.ª 0555900002). Data were collected according to three phases: i) exploratory interviews with school principals: ii) national survey with school principals and key staff; iii) case studies. This paper reports on findings arising from the national survey with school principals (n=379). Data were collected between March 2019 and September 2021. The participants come from all regions of mainland Portugal. Most of them are male (56.2%), aged over 51 years (77.3%) and holding a Master's degree (45.4%). 27.7% of the participants have more than 15 years of experience as principals, 26,9% have between 8 and 15 years of experience, and 45.4% have less than 8 years of experience as principals. Data were analysed using SPSS (version 26) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed.

The results of the CFA supported a five-factor structure for the section of leadership practice, a four-factor structure for the section of leaders’ internal states and a six-factor structure for the section of leadership distribution. Regarding leadership practices, school principals coming from school clusters obtained higher scores in leadership practices related to collaborative work and reported more use of classroom observation. Female principals reported more practices associated with setting expectations, collaborative work, redesigning the organisation and use of data than their male counterparts. Principals who submitted an Innovation Plan reported more practices of collaborative work and redesigning the organisation than those who did not. Principals who had done a course on leadership reported using more practices of setting expectations, redesigning the organisation, use of data and use of observations than principals who did not. Regarding the principals’ internal states, principals leading school clusters reported more trust in teachers than leaders in single schools. Female principals reported more openness to discuss feelings with teachers than male principals. Principals who had done a course on leadership reported more openness to discuss feelings with teachers and higher levels of ability to sustain their own motivation and commitment. Male principals reported more distributed leadership, whereas female principals point to more senior leadership team impact on policies in relation to homework and lesson planning. Principals who did a course on leadership reported less distributed leadership than those who did not. These and other results are analysed in the paper and implications are discussed.

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