Leadership of learning

The role of a leader becomes more critical and important as organisations continuously improve and evolve.  An extensive research base supports the view that leadership is the most important element of effective schools (Elmore, 2000; Stoll, 2004).

Leadership is the essential ingredient that binds all of the separate parts of the learning organisation together. School leaders have a vital role in establishing a learning culture, and promoting and facilitating organisational learning. Staff are encouraged to participate in decision making. Distributed leadership develops, grows and is sustained through collaboration team work, and participation in professional learning communities and networks. School leaders have a vital role in establishing a learning culture, and promoting and facilitating organisational learning. They are responsible for shaping the work and administrative structures to facilitate professional dialogue, collaboration and knowledge exchange, all of which are crucial for promoting organisational learning in schools. They have to create a safe and trusting environment in which people can change their behaviour, take initiative, experiment and understand that it is expected that they challenge the status quo. This means that school leaders too need to develop the capacity to challenge their own habits and current ways of thinking and operating. 

There is substantial research on distributed leadership in general (e.g. Spillane, 2005; Harris, 2008), highlighting the advantages of a broad distribution of leadership across the whole school.

Teacher leadership contributes directly to school effectiveness, improvement and development. It is powerful because it recognises that all teachers can be leaders and that their ability to lead has a significant influence upon the quality of relationships and teaching within the school. It leads to better professional learning for teachers as individuals and other school colleagues (MacBeath & Dempster, 2011). Teacher leaders occupy unique positions where they can make change happen in schools, primarily because they act “close to the ground” and have the knowledge and ability to control the conditions for teaching and learning in classrooms (Lieberman & Miller, 2004, p.12).

References

Harris, A. (2008) Distributed School Leadership, Abingdon: Routledge.

Lieberman, A. & Miller, L. (2004) Teacher leadership. New York: Teachers College Press

MacBeath, J. (2011) No lack of principles: leadership development in England and Scotland. School Leadershipand Management, 31(2), pp.105–22.

Spillane, J. (2005) Distributed Leadership, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Stoll, L. (2004) Leadership learning: Designing a connected strategy’, IARTV Seminar Series Paper, no. 135, August, IARTV.