Abstract
Although arguments in
scholarly journals claim that leadership is critical in initiating
and sustaining school improvement, ambiguity surrounds the sources
and role of leadership. In addition, little research documents
how educators involved in school improvement perceive who leads,
how, why, and for what purposes leadership is important. This
article reports on a case study of headteachers' and teachers'
perspectives of leadership in an English secondary school involved
in a university-based school improvement program. Specifically,
we present a summary of the research as well as interpretations
and themes constructed from the data analysis. Interpretations
support recent theoretical claims that schools are complex organizations
requiring multiple leaders and a distributed model of leadership
to accomplish improvement goals; and academic writing that urges
a rethinking of school improvement. In concluding we argue that
the development of professional expertise is key to fostering
successful schooling over time and call for a consideration of
emergent perspectives of leadership in addressing issues related
to influence and inclusion of teachers in goal-setting and leadership
in school development.
Copyright © AJER, the Faculty of Education, and the University
of Alberta, 2005.
Last revised: February 14, 2005.
Designed by G.H. Buck