Session Information
26 SES 16 A, School Leadership Success amidst Contemporary Complexities and Layers of Influence on Education (Part 2)
Symposium continued from 26 SES 14 A
Contribution
Overview:
Contemporary principals lead schools for success amidst rapidly changing and complex national, state, district/municipality and community contexts with success defined by wellbeing and equity as well as academic outcomes. Complexities in a rapidly changing society require a multi-layered perspective (Author, 2020a) where schools are complex adaptive systems and societal institutions (Author, 2020b; Morrison, 2010). The theoretical framework for the International Successful School Principalship Project features complexity theory and ecological systems theory.
Complexity theory (e.g., Byrne & Callaghan, 2013) recognizes that organizations operate in a rapidly changing, globalized world. Closely related, ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) posits that individuals (children) typically find themselves in various ecosystems from the most intimate (home) system to the larger school system and then to the most expansive system, including society and culture. Together, our framing considers schools as adaptive organizations that work within contexts of multiple, evolving changes and nested influences that are culturally and historically situated. Drawing on this framing and ISSPP findings, we constructed an analytical framework to inform new research questions and a comparative, mixed methods case study methodology. The analytical framework provides a systems-oriented approach to investigating successful leadership, including contexts from local to transnational levels that influence leadership values, efficacy and practices mediating areas of change and ultimately, primary (academics, wellbeing) and intermediate outcomes (e.g., organizational capacity).
Research Questions
RQ1: To what extent, and in what ways, is ‘success’ in schools perceived and measured [similarly and/or differently within and across different countries]?
RQ2: What are the key enablers and constraints for achieving school ‘success’ in different contexts?
RQ3: To what extent, and in what ways, do diverse socioeconomic, cultural, political, and professional contexts at different levels of the education system influence systems in which schools operate?
RQ4: Are there similar and/or different personal dispositions and professional knowledge, qualities and capabilities needed in enabling leaders to be(come) successful in different contexts [within and across different countries]?
RQ5: What similarities and differences can be identified in the values, beliefs, and behaviors of successful school principals across different schools in the same country, [and across national cultures and policy contexts]?
RQ6: How do different key stakeholders within and outside the school community and at different levels of the education system define successful school leadership practices [within and across different countries]?
RQ7: Is each leadership practice identified by different key stakeholders within and outside the school community and at different levels of the education system truly essential for achieving and sustaining ‘success’ [across different schools within each country and across different countries; and over time]? In what ways?
RQ8: [How do different education systems support school principals to learn to become successful, and to sustain their success over time?]
RQ9: To what extent, and in what ways, do school principals contribute to the ‘success’ of their schools (and/or groups of schools) similarly or differently [ within and across different countries]?
Methodology
ISSPP utilizes a comparative mixed methods design, in which researchers draw upon different data sources and design elements in order to bring multiple perspectives to bear in the inquiry (Creswell & Creswell, 2017; Patton, 2002). Data sources include semi-structured qualitative interviews with the district/municipality, governors, principal, teachers, parents, and students and a teacher survey. A comparative analytical process (Authors, 2021) provides a coherent but contextually sensitive data analysis approach that supports triangulation and trustworthiness (Denzin, 2012).
The first paper presents the new theoretical framing as well as an analytical framework developed from empirical knowledge about successful leadership, and the methodology. The next three papers present cases that draw upon the theoretical framing, analytical framework, and comparative mixed methods in Spain
References
Authors, 2021. Author, 2020a Author, 2020b Author (2018). Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard university press. Byrne, D., & Callaghan, G. (2013). Complexity theory and the social sciences: The state of the art. Routledge. Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications. Denzin, N. K. (2012). Triangulation 2.0. Journal of mixed methods research, 6(2), 80-88. Haggis, T. (2008). ‘Knowledge Must Be Contextual’: Some possible implications of complexity and dynamic systems theories for educational research. Educational philosophy and theory, 40(1), 158-176. Morrison, K. (2010). Complexity theory, school leadership and management: Questions for theory and practice. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 38(3), 374- 393. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods. Sage. Spillane, J. P. (2006). Towards a theory of leadership practice: A distributed perspective. In Rethinking schooling (pp. 208-242). Routledge.
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