Session Information
26 SES 09 A, Same Name, Different Meanings And Practices? Distributed Leadership Across Cultures And Methods
Symposium
Contribution
Like in most educational jurisdictions around the world, successful Australian principals have embraced the notion of distributed leadership. Yet its application in practice is highly variable mainly because practitioners have different understandings of the concept. The term ‘distributed leadership’ is associated with concepts such as shared, collaborative, participatory and collective leadership. What is being distributed is still uncertain. For example, is it delegated tasks, shared responsibilities, leadership activities or leadership practices? The purpose of distributed leadership also varied and include alleviating pressures on the school leadership (Harris, 2007), broadening the scope of responsibility and decision making, succession planning ((Gunter and Rayner 2007); building capacity for leadership (Day, 2009), and creating greater involvement and ownership (Hallinger and Heck 2009). While there is confusion among practitioners, researchers are clearer in their conceptualisation of distributed leadership: reciprocal interdependences (Harris, 2009; Spillane, 2006)); a way of thinking about leadership practice (Spillane, 2006); involving the teachers in leadership of the school (Hallinger and Heck, 2009). There also appears to be some consensus that the principals are pivotal in creating the conditions, culture and structure that promotes distributed leadership whether it is seen as a form of work redesign (Gunter, 2008, 2012; Harris, 2009) or different formations or patterns of leadership distribution that emerge that impact on outcomes (Leithwood et al., 2009; Spillane, 2006). This presentation summarises the research from Australia case studies of successful school (International Successful School Principals Project, ISSPP) that show that for successful school principals distributing leadership is multi-faceted, takes on different forms, is implemented for different purposes and different motivations. Context was important in shaping the distributed leadership model. For some principals it is a deliberate intervention to include informal and formal leaders. The main thrust of this proposal is to also share the findings from the case study of one secondary school principal that centres on his experience in three schools over 30 years in successfully developing a distributed leadership model focussed on building leadership capacity. The findings from the case study of the principal were based on extensive interviews with the principal and current and former staff members who have or have had leadership formal positions in the school. This principal deliberately sought to identify talent and build the leadership capacity and capabilities of leaders in order for them to move to higher levels of leadership not only in the school but in the system.
References
Day, C. 2009. ‘‘Capacity Building Through Layered Leadership: Sustaining the Turnaround.’’ In Distributed School Leadership: Different Perspectives, edited by A. Harris, 121137. London: Springer. Gunter, H., and Rayner, S. 2007. ‘‘Modernizing the School Workforce in England: Challenging Transformation and Leadership?’’ Leadership 3 (1): 4764. doi:10.1177/1742715007073066. Gunter, H. M. 2012. Leadership and the Reform of Education. Bristol: Policy Press. Hallinger, P., and Heck. H.H. 2009. ‘‘Distributed Leadership in Schools: Does System Policy Make a Difference?’’ In Distributed School Leadership: Different Perspectives, edited by A. Harris, 101117. London: Springer. Harris, A. 2009. ‘‘Distributed Leadership: What We Know.’’ In Distributed School Leadership: Different Perspectives, edited by A. Harris, 1121. London: Springer. Harris, A. 2007. Distributed Leadership and School Transformation. Presentation at the 2007 Scottish International Summer School on Leadership. Edinburgh, UK: Scottish Government. Leithwood, K., Mascall, B., and Strauss. T. 2009. ‘‘What We Have Learned and Where We Go From Here.’’ In Distributed Leadership According to the Evidence, edited by K. Leithwood, B. Mascall, and T. Strauss, 269281. London: Routledge. Spillane, J. P. 2006. Distributed Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Torrance, D.(1913) Distributed leadership: challenging five generally held assumptions, School Leadership and Management, 33(4), 354-372, http://dx.doi.org?10.1080/13632434.2013.813463
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