Session Information
26 SES 17 A, Perspectives of Educational Leadership
Paper Session
Contribution
Research on educational leadership signifies its importance regarding school success, such as prosperous professional development and lucrative student’s outcome and wellbeing (Hargreaves and Shirley, 2022; Leithwood et al., 2019; Leithwood & Louis, 2012). They also manifest the importance of leadership practices of districts and municipalities. They highlight the importance of both political (municipal council, school boards) and professional actors (superintendents, other specialists), accentuating that all those parties need to build up a governance mindset for the enhancement of coherence and leadership of all (Campbell & Fullan, 2019). At the same time, it is argued that leadership development needs to be sensitive to environmental and cultural factors as well as to focus on distributed leadership and instructional leadership (Harris & Jones, 2021). Such desirable leadership practices at the local level have been described by Louis et al. (2010) as focusing on setting directions, developing people, refining and aligning the organisation, and improving teaching and learning programmes.
As a Nordic country in Europe that despite certain New Public Management tendencies has a tradition of “strong state and local authorities, clinging to comprehensive education, collaborative and deliberative leadership and cohesive schools” (Moos, 2013, pp. 222), Iceland provides an interesting case for exploring such local level leadership. In Iceland, municipalities are responsible for the operation of the compulsory schools and are in 98% instances also the schools’ owners. Alongside, they are responsible for ensuring the schools with appropriate school support services. The services must provide various support for children in preschools and compulsory schools and their parents. In line with international research emphasises (see Leithwood and Louis, 2012) the services must also "focus on promoting schools as professional organizations that can solve most of the issues that arise in schoolwork and provide school staff with guidance and assistance in their work as appropriate" (Reglugerð um skólaþjónustu sveitarfélaga við leik- og grunnskóla og nemendaverndarráð í grunnskólum No. 444/2019, Article 2).
Little research has focused on municipal educational leadership in Iceland, including that of the school support services. However, in a national survey research (Sigurðardóttir et al., 2022) on school support services educational leadership practices, this leadership was measured against desirable leadership practices at the local level (see Leithwood et al., 2008, 2020; Louis et al., 2010). The results indicate limited leadership and sparse initiatives on the municipal’s school support services behalf, especially regarding school improvement and staff development (Sigurðardóttir et al., 2022).
Although that survey provides important information on the leadership at the local governance level, it lacks deeper insights on those leadership activities and the way that they play out in the different municipal contexts. Thus, the study presented in this paper describes what characterizes municipal leadership practices in different Icelandic contexts by using the organization and leadership of school support services as a frame and reference.
Method
Seven municipalities of different size, structure and geographical location were chosen as cases for analyses. The data was gathered in three steps. First, documents were attained from the municipalities and their schools’ homepages regarding policy and leadership emphasis concerning school support services. Second, superintendents were interviewed who run school offices that provide school support services, as well as school office department heads and/or other specialists in five municipalities; in total 19 people. The interviews were taken in March and May 2019. Third, compulsory school principals in those seven municipalities were interviewed, as well as principals in two other municipalities that did not have access to a school office. Those interviews were taken in December 2020. A cross-case analysis (Stake, 2006) was used to identify patterns and shapes of the leadership practices.
Expected Outcomes
The preliminary findings indicate common characteristics, such as limited leadership at the local level, regarding professional development by principals and teachers. However, a strong motive to do better was apparent. A lack of long-term policy, effective communication, lack of common vision between actors, and a lack of relevant human resources, seem the major hindrances that need to be overcome. The municipality that stood out as having the most developed leadership practices was also the only one that claimed to be systematically developing their practices towards a professional learning community. In other municipalities where a political agent or a professional agent was in charge, leadership capacity was nominal, and a systemic approach to leadership barely visible. Also, generally leadership concerning school support was to a large extent limited to clinical support to students. The paper concludes with discussions about the importance of municipal context when examining municipal leadership practices and establishing foundations for the development of leadership capacity. This is of utmost importance regarding access to appropriate human resources. The findings provide a valuable insight into the complexity of educational leadership at a local level, and the importance of coherence in that regard. The study is limited to one educational system and seven cases, and therefore cannot be used for generalizations about municipal educational leadership in other contexts. However, due to the small population of most Icelandic municipalities, this study can be useful for reflection in other European and non-European countries that face challenges when developing educational leadership in their rural environments.
References
Campbell, D., & Fullan, M. (2019). The governance core. School boards, superintendents, and schools working together. Corvin. Hargreaves, A., & Shirley, D. (2022). Well-being in schools: Three forces that will uplift your students in a volatile world. ASCD. Harris, A., & Jones, J. (2021). Exploring the leadership knowledge base: Evidence, implications, and challenges for educational leadership in Wales. School Leadership & Management, 41(1–2), 41–53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2020.1789856 Leithwood, K. & Louis, K. S. (eds) (2012) Linking leadership to student learning. Jossey-Bass. Leithwood, K., Sun, J., & McCullough, C. (2019) How school districts influence student achievement. Journal of Educational Administration, 57(5): 519–539. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-09-2018-0175 Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K. L., & Anderson, S. E. (2010). Learning from leadership: Investigating the links to improved student learning. Final report of research to the Wallace Foundation. http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/key-research/Documents/Investigating-the-Links-to-Improved-Student-Learning.pdf Moos, L. (2013). Wrap up of the argument. In L. Moos (Ed.), Transnational influences on values and practices in Nordic educational leadership: Is there a Nordic model? (pp. 213–223). Dordrecht: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6226-8 Reglugerð um skólaþjónustu sveitarfélaga við leik- og grunnskóla og nemendaverndarráð í grunnskólum No. 444/2019 Stake, R. E. (2006). Multiple case study analysis. The Guilford Press.
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