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Distributed leadership

Margaret O’Donovan

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• Core of schooling is teaching and learning

Leadership is second only to teaching and learning in its impact on student learning (Leithwood et al, 2007).

Leadership for transformation is distributed and lateral (Harris, 2008)

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“A Job Too Big for One”

Individuals who single-handedly try to lead complex organisations like schools set themselves up for failure. Getting beyond the heroic plot is imperative ........... It is unrealistic to expect any school principal to know everything about leading complex organisations like schools. This is all too much for one person.

(Spillane, 2006: 87 – 88).

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ie“A Job Too Big for One” (Grubb & Flessa,

2006)

• In a knowledge-intensive enterprise like teaching and learning, there is no way to perform the complex tasks involved without distributing the responsibilities for leadership and creating a common culture that makes this distributed leadership coherent. (Elmore, 2005:5)

• The challenge for the system lies in the need to give a clearer definition of leadership; to define distributed leadership and to determine the role of the Principal in developing a culture that supports distributed leadership. (OECD, 2007).

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• The evidence increasingly points towards a positive relationship between distributed leadership, organisational improvement and student achievement (Hallinger & Heck, 2009; Leithwood & Mascall, 2008).

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• Your understanding of Distributed Leadership?

Activity 1

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Leadership of Schools

• Leadership is a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon• Leadership is about change• Significant school-wide change is impossible without

effective school leadership (Hargreaves et al, 2001)• Leader-follower roles• Concept of instructional leadership – multi-level leadership

– pedagogic change – improvement of student learning• Issue of teacher leadership is central to the debate –

capacity-building• Exploration of the not alone the what but the how and why

of leadership in Irish schools.

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Research proposes that:

In the increasingly complex world of education the work of leadership will require diverse types of expertise and forms of leadership flexible enough to meet changing challenges and new demands. There is a growing recognition that old organisational structures of schooling do not fit the requirements of learning in the twenty-first century.

(Harris & Spillane, 2008: 31)

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• James Spillane – relies on Distributed Cognition• 4 central ideas

(i) leader-plus aspect – multiple leaders – reciprocal interdependency(ii) practice aspect – generated in the interactions of leaders, followers & their situations(iii) situation ≈ socio-cultural context(iv) routines and tools

What is Distributed Leadership?Conceptual Frame 1

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• Peter Gronn • Theoretical basis lies in Activity Theory –

emphasis is on the division of labour(i) synergistic relations(ii) leadership is dynamic, additive, fluid & emergent – rather than being a fixed phenomenon(iii) a participant, emergent approach

What is Distributed Leadership?Conceptual Frame 2

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• Go beyond the heroics of leadership paradigm

• Leadership in the plural v leadership in the singular (Spillane & Harris, 2015)

• Distributed leadership doesn’t mean everyone leads but has the potential to lead under the right conditions (Harris,

What is Distributed Leadership?

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ieDistributed Leadership – essential components

extracted from the literature

• Focus moves from the principal to include other potential leaders (formal & informal).

• Primarily about leadership practice

• Synergistic relations• Leadership is a relational

process – interactive and dialogical

• Trust is a central component.

• Trust, power & influence are closely related – requires a change in power structures.

• Mutual influence• Interdependency rather

than dependency.• Leadership is additive &

holistic – boundary spanning as activities are stretched over people.

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ieAn Exploration of Leadership in Irish Post-

Primary Schools

• (1) Constructions of leadership

• (2) Emotional identities

Transformational Moral Teacher leadership

Building relationshipsNurturing capital/ethos of careInclusionTrustVocationRisk-takingShared practice

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Research in Irish Post-Primary Schools

• (3) Socio-cultural context Spiritual intelligenceAdaptive challenges HistoricitySocietal challenges &

expectationsConstructing meaning and

identityTensionsResistance

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Research – Irish Post-primary Schools

• (4) Managerial leadership Middle management structure

Post of responsibility structure

VolunteerismTeam-buildingNetworksSubject department

coordinatorsYear HeadsClass tutors

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Research – Irish Post-Primary Schools

• (5) Instructional Leadership (Pedagogical)

Staff meetingsTeam-teachingAnalysis of resultsReflective practiceManaging the instructional

programmeTeacher learning &

professional developmentSharing expertiseManaging teaching and

learning in the school.

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School leaders:▪ critique their practice as leaders and develop their

understanding of effective & sustainable leadership▪ empower staff to take on and carry out leadership roles▪ promote and facilitate the development of student voice and

student leadership▪ build professional networks with other school leaders

Domain 4 Developing Leadership Capacity

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What is the leadership potential within our school organisations?

Examples:

Activity 2

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Where to from here?

Key questions on which to reflect:1. How is leadership distributed in your school?

2. How can you create the internal conditions in which distributed leadership can function?

3. What are the constraints & challenges to distributing leadership in your school

4. How might they be overcome? Enablers & opportunities?