Distributed leadership with the aim of 'reculturing': a departmental case study

• Published in: School leadership & management Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 237 - 254
• Main Authors: Melville, Wayne, Jones, Doug, Campbell, Todd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 27.05.2014; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Administrators; Capacity Building; Case Studies; Departments; distributed leadership; Educational leadership; Ethnography; Foreign Countries; Instructional Leadership; Learning; Longitudinal Studies; Ontario; Participative Decision Making; Professional Development; professional learning; Science Education; Science Teachers; Secondary School Science; Secondary School Teachers; subject departments; Teachers; Canada
• ISSN: 1363-2434; 1364-2626
• DOI: 10.1080/13632434.2013.849681

This article considers a secondary science department that has, since 2000, developed distributed leadership as a form of human capacity building. Using a longitudinal ethnographic case study allowed us to consider how distributed leadership can be nurtured and developed in a department. Our analysis centres on two key issues: the nature and pattern of distributed leadership practices and the continuity that provides coherence to those practices. From our analysis, there appear to be two major conclusions. The first of these is the need for administrators to be purposeful in the appointments that they make to formal leadership positions. To enact distributed leadership practices requires leaders who can exercise both formal power and influence. The second conclusion relates to the time required for continuity of leadership practices to give rise to changes that lead to teachers managing the teaching and learning programme.