Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

Doing qualitative research: a practical handbook, by David Silverman, Los Angeles, Sage, 2010, 456 pp., AU$65.00, ISBN 978-1-84860-033-1, ISBN 978-1-94960-034-8. Available in Australia and New Zeal...

Doing qualitative research: a practical handbook

International evidence suggests that educational reform’s progress
depends on teachers’ individual and collective capacity and its link with schoolwide
capacity for promoting pupils’ learning. Building capacity is therefore
critical. Capacity is a complex blend of motivation, skill, positive learning,
organisational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support. Put together,
it gives individuals, groups, whole school communities and school systems the
power to get involved in and sustain learning over time. Developing professional
learning communities appears to hold considerable promise for capacity building
for sustainable improvement. As such, it has become a ‘hot topic’ in many
countries.

Professional Learning Communities: A Review of the Literature

This article argues for a reconceptualization of leadership. Possible substitutes for leadership are reviewed along with a number of existing dualisms. These are rejected in favour of the claim that the leadership of organizations is most appropriately understood as a distributed, rather thanas a focused, phenomenon. Various attributes, dimensions and applications of distribution are then considered, and a revised approach to action and influence in organizations centred on conjointly performed activities is thenproposed. For this new formulation a summary is provided of the core concepts of, and recent developments in, activity theory. It is shown that two particular advantages of this approach include the helpful model it provides for contextual analysis—an aspect sorely neglected by the field of leadership—and its focus on the evolving division of labour in organizations, the prime mover for tracking emerging patterns of distributed leadership.

Distributed Properties A New Architecture for Leadership

This article considers the relationship between distributed leadership and school improvement. Drawing upon empirical evidence from two contemporary studies of successful school leadership and recent studies of school improvement, it explores the extent to which distributed forms of leadership can contribute to school improvement. The article argues that the distributed perspective offers a new and important theoretical lens through which leadership practice in school can be reconfigured and reconceptualized. It concludes by suggesting that, while evidence would suggest that distributed forms of leadership can assist capacity building within schools which contributes to school improvement, further research is needed to confirm a relationship between distributed forms of leadership and improved student learning outcomes.

Distributed Leadership and School Improvement: Leading or Misleading?.

Distributed leadership is the most popular leadership model, judging by the number of submissions on this theme received by EMAL, and by the growing interest expressed by academics, policymakers and practitioners. It is in the vanguard of an emerging recognition that solo, heroic, leadership is inadequate to address the complex issues facing education systems in an increasingly globalised world. However, the main focus, conceptually and empirically, has been on distributed school leadership. The first paper in this issue, by Sandra Jones, Marina Harvey, Geraldine Lefoe and Kevin Ryland, provides a welcome contribution to the more limited literature on distributed leadership in higher education. These authors argue that a new approach is required, which goes beyond individual control and management bureaucracy, and they explore whether distributed leadership provides this alternative model. Through an action research approach, building on four earlier projects in Australian universities, they conclude that a prescriptive definition of distributed leadership that fits all contexts is not possible, and claim that a more fluid description is required. It is difficult to imagine distributed leadership working well without the involvement of middle leaders. In the second article, Annette Thomas-Gregory examines the role of middle managers in a university department of health and social care. She points to the developing literature on middle management in higher education and explores the professional identities assumed by middle managers in her case study university. She notes that professional identity is formed during initial socialisation and concludes that there is a complex relationship between self and role. Leadership is strongly aligned with values, the focus of the third paper, by Robin Mueller. She stresses the complexity of organisational values and addresses this concept in the domain of university administration. She examines how values have been depicted, drawing on a literature review and unstructured interviews with administrators. She concludes that values may be seen as both structural and phenomenological and that objective and subjective variables may exist simultaneously. Cheri Minkler examines the relationship between school leadership and teacher social capital. She defines social capital as the resources used by teachers by virtue of their membership of social networks. She conducted a survey of teachers in Louisiana, United States, to establish if teacher social capital was prevalent in their schools. The study found high-moderate positive correlations between transformational leadership and aspects of teacher social capital. The fifth paper, by Stelios Orphanos and Margaret Terry Orr, also focuses on leadership preparation. They report a study of 175 teachers whose principals were prepared in an innovative ‘exemplary’ leadership programme, and of 589 teachers whose principals were prepared in more traditional ways. The findings show that the more innovative programme, focused on instructional strategies, has a small but discernible influence on teacher outcomes. The authors conclude that effective leadership practices are influenced by the nature and quality of leadership preparation. Educational Management Administration & Leadership 2014, Vol. 42(5) 601–602 a The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1741143214541369 emal.sagepub.com

Applying distributed leadership across contexts

The Changing Context of Management in Education

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1741143218782316

Professional learning communities and school leadership: Empowering teachers

Editorial: Educational Leadership and Management: Scope and Diversity

http://ema.sagepub.com/content/40/3/287.full.pdf+html?frame=sidebar

Tony Bush

Papers

Applying distributed leadership across contexts

The Changing Context of Management in Education

Professional learning communities and school leadership: Empowering teachers

Editorial: Educational Leadership and Management: Scope and Diversity

Leadership in the Early Years: Making a Difference