Distributed leadership in schools has become a dominant policy focus in Ireland and abroad, as evidenced by significant changes in the literature on distributed leadership and the recent policy changes that have led to the promotion of distributed leadership in the post-primary school sector. A seismic shift in the level of consciousness among the stakeholders regarding the nature and purpose of school leadership at the post-primary level introduced the concept of school leadership teams, commencing a distributed leadership model. The reimagining of school leadership ensures the roles and responsibilities of teachers and school-based stakeholders demand a significant change in how leadership is perceived and how the model functions within the post-primary school system.

This research study seeks to investigate school principals' perspectives at the post-primary level. This study investigates the perspective of voluntary secondary school principals implementing Department of Education (DE) CL003/2018 on Leadership and Management. It examines principals' perspectives to discover how the recent change in leadership policy plays out in Ireland's voluntary secondary school sector.

From an Irish perspective, there is a shortage of empirical evidence concerning post-primary school principals' perspectives on implementing the new model of distributed leadership outlined in the Department of Education (DE) CL003/2018. Yet, the transformation of the role of the principal within an emergent leadership model is essential to the sustainability and development of distributed leadership in schools. According to Redmond (2016), "capturing and synthesising principal perspective has thus become an important tool in uncovering the story of modern school leadership" (p.29). Murphy (2020) recognises that while "policy reforms have influenced the preparation and development of school leaders at all levels in the system, there is little available research on principals' perceptions of their preparation to lead schools in the contemporary policy context" (p.1). 

The research question asks: What is the experience of school principals in implementing distributed leadership in voluntary secondary schools? 

The sub-questions are:

1. Does the implementation of the Department of Education (DE) CL 003/2018 change the principal's role within the school's leadership framework?
2. Does the micropolitics of a school impact the implementation of the Department of Education (DE) CL003/2018?
3. What strategies are used by principals to motivate staff when implementing the Department of Education (DE) CL003/2018?
4. Is there a distribution of accountability and responsibility within the distributed leadership framework per Department of Education (DE)CL003/2018?

The first question seeks to discover if the role of the principal has changed because of the introduction of DE CL003/2018. Does a new model of leadership involve a new model of principalship?

The second research question focuses on the fundamentally political nature of school leadership. 

The third question examines motivating teachers to engage in distributed leadership practice. Changing the model of school leadership requires a whole-school commitment to the process. 

The fourth question explores the concept of accountability and responsibility within distributed leadership. Is distributed leadership possible without distributed responsibility and accountability? How do the legislative responsibilities of the principal correlate with a distributed model of school leadership?

The research study examines distributed leadership practice from the principal's perspective. The research study seeks to discover if the underlying concepts of power, motivation, and accountability fundamentally influence the principal's perspective on implementing distributed leadership. The research question and the sub-questions inform the focus of the literature review and provide the rationale for including selected literature.

The research study is significant as it investigates the experience of principals within their school context and captures their perspectives for the consideration of policymakers and practitioners for the future development of distributed leadership. 

The researcher adopts a pragmatic approach, with a case study methodology in a mixed-method sequential quantitative > qualitative research design. The strength of this design is that the phases build on each other, although it is challenging to conduct as additional time is required to complete each step. All research questions are explored by analysing data strands separately and connecting them appropriately. The qualitative data gathering in Stage 2 of the research occurred to obtain more detailed information from principals after collecting data in Stage 1. Case study boundaries with a clear definition by the researcher are required and assist the researcher in defining the case. A bounded context can contain a person, an organisation, a policy, or any given unit of study. The case study boundary in this research is the voluntary secondary school sector. The case under investigation is the experience of school principals within the sector implementing the Department of Education (DE) CL003/2018 from its introduction in 2018 to the first biennial review. Therefore, the unit of analysis is the school principal in the voluntary secondary school implementing the Department of Education (DE) CL003/2018. The two-stage research design involved gathering quantitative and qualitative data. The emphasis or balance within the mixed-method approach is more on qualitative than quantitative data collection. The study involved a board survey with in-depth interviews. Stage 1 of the study gathered data from a census survey. The quantitative data collected in Stage 1 is through an online survey questionnaire, including 'attitudinal' and 'open' questions, with a Likert scale design generating descriptive statistics. Through online surveys, a researcher can collect data quickly and efficiently. The qualitative data collection involves using Zoom. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with ten voluntary secondary school principals to inform the qualitative research. The results are examined and interpreted within the context of the literature review using Braun & Clarke's (2006) six-step framework for applying thematic analysis. A thematic analysis aims to identify themes, in the data, with patterns emerging used to address the research questions. The methodological approach is systematic and rigorous; the same quantitative and qualitative questions appear. The semi-structured interviews and online survey findings acknowledge the study's implications and limitations.

The research findings confirm the importance of the micropolitical climate of the school when introducing change emanating at a macro-political systemic level. The implementation is contextual to each school sector and, within each sector, contextual to the culture and political dynamic of the school community. The research study findings corroborate the literature. Understanding the process's contextual and relational aspects, knowing and understanding people and the school culture, and managing the change process is a crucial role of the principal and is central to the successful implementation of distributed leadership. The research study uncovers the importance of the motivational strategies deployed by the principals when implementing distributed leadership. The principals seek to empower and encourage staff involvement through intrinsic and extrinsic motivational approaches on an individual and collective level. The extent of distributed responsibility and accountability within a distributed leadership framework is evolving. While opportunities for greater collaboration and an enhanced leadership structure within schools are acknowledged, other challenges hinder the development and sustainability of a genuine distributed leadership model. The research study shows that power, motivation, and accountability fundamentally impact the principal's perspective on implementing distributed leadership. Changes in education policy and practices also require attitudinal change. It is evident in this research that since the introduction of the Department of Education (DE) CL 003/2018, principals have fostered and developed a positive attitude among school staff towards a distributive leadership model. However, the study illustrates the development of distributed leadership requires continuous professional development for principals to develop sustainable leadership capacity within the voluntary secondary school sector. The essential time to hold strategic leadership team meetings and the consideration of a generic leadership title for posts of responsibility emerges with recommendations for further research and policy development.

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