Session Information
26 SES 09 A, Same Name, Different Meanings And Practices? Distributed Leadership Across Cultures And Methods
Symposium
Contribution
Distributed leadership has – in a relatively short time – become a popular area of research but also an instrument of leadership development, with some scholars even attributing it a “taken-for-granted status” (Lumby, 2016, p. 161) and others calling it “one of the most influential and well-discussed ideas to emerge in the field of educational leadership” (Harris et al., 2022, p. 438). Since Spillane et al (2001) popularized a shift of perspective towards focusing on leadership as a practice and encouraged the study of interactions (taking into account leaders, followers and the situation) instead of singular leaders, hundreds of thousands if not over a million scholarly works have been published on this topic in the field of educational research (Mifsud, 2023, p. 5).
Yet, despite this enormous amount of publications, there are many theoretical and empirical challenges and “blank spaces”. For example, Tian et al. (2016) in their review found that a commonly accepted definition or conceptualization of distributed leadership could not be identified. More than a decade ago, Crawford (2012) criticized that scholars and practitioners had not sufficiently explored questions of identity and power in the context of distributed leadership; a critique that still seems to apply. The impact and pathways of impact of distributed leadership practices on various inner school factors such as teaching quality or student achievement have so far – at least compared to research on instructional leadership – not quite been mapped out. For Harris et al. (2022), “the black box of distributed leadership practice remains only partially open” (p. 452). Furthermore, the influence of various cultural contexts has not yet been fully explored. Some of the questions prevalent in this context are: what are commonalities and differences in the conceptualization of distributed leadership and in the cultural practices of it across several cultures? What do we know about the cultural and structural fit of distributed leadership in various contexts (for example in societies with a stronger emphasis on low hierarchies vs. a stronger emphasis on marked hierarchies)?
This symposium will try to explore the issues mentioned above. Contributions from Europe, the US and Australia will be used as focal lenses to study different conceptualizations of distributed leadership. Each contribution will present empirical insights into practices and effects of distributed leadership with some additionally presenting insights into methodological approaches and challenges of researching distributed leadership. The selection of countries will enable comparisons focusing on similarities as well as on contrasts. For example, Ireland and Switzerland are comparable in terms of rather strong school boards, while the US and Australia have rather pronounced accountability systems, a stark contrast to Switzerland’s low-accountability approach. Each country also brings unique cultural and school system features like the strong emphasis on direct democracy (for example articulated in lay authorities) or the commitment to standardized testing (US).
The symposium will feature four presentations. In each presentation, the underlying understanding of distributed leadership as a perspective and practice will first be laid out followed by a short overview of the cultural and systemic background before delving into the respective study and results. A discussant will offer a critique of the contributions, but more importantly connect them to the wider discourses, criticisms and “blank spaces” previously mentioned. The discussant has an Irish and US background and will offer commentary from a perspective that includes European as well as (broader) international elements.
References
Crawford, M. (2012). Solo and Distributed Leadership: Definitions and Dilemmas. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 40(5), 610–620. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143212451175 Harris, A., Jones, M., & Ismail, N. (2022). Distributed leadership: Taking a retrospective and contemporary view of the evidence base. School Leadership & Management, 42(5), 438–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2022.2109620 Lumby, J. (2016). Distributed leadership as fashion or fad. Management in Education, 30(4), 161–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020616665065 Mifsud, D. (2023). A systematic review of school distributed leadership: Exploring research purposes, concepts and approaches in the field between 2010 and 2022. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 0(0), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2022.2158181 Spillane, J. P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J. B. (2001). Investigating School Leadership Practice: A Distributed Perspective. Educational Researcher, 30(3), 23–28. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X030003023 Tian, M., Risku, M., & Collin, K. (2016). A meta-analysis of distributed leadership from 2002 to 2013: Theory development, empirical evidence and future research focus. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 44(1), 146–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143214558576
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