Configurations of Instructional Leadership Enactments That Promote the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in a New Zealand Elementary School

Abstract

Purpose: This article examines how and why four leadership functions are enacted in an elementary school, with a focus on hierarchical and "heterarchical" configurations of leadership. Research Design: The data were collected using an exploratory 2-year case study approach, and the data set comprises one-on-one interviews and relevant school documentation from school leaders and numeracy lead teachers engaged in reforming their mathematics teaching at an urban elementary school in a large New Zealand city.

Leadership Hybridity: Examining Teachers’ Perceptions of Standards-Based Reform

“…The complexity of reform calls for leaders with different capacities, and configurations that diffuse leadership can access these capacities. In concert with other recent research on change and school improvement, our study suggests leadership enactments that are inclusive in design are most often identified with improved implementation (Higgins & Bonne, 2011; Hulpia et al, 2011; Urick, 2016).…”

“…Results elucidate what Higgins and Bonne (2011) called hybrid patterns of leadership, “a mixture of concentrated and dispersed types that coexist or comingle dynamically” (p. 798). Results suggest how the construct of leadership hybridity might be useful in promoting positive teacher perceptions of educational reform.…”

“…In education, hierarchical leadership emphasizes the role of individuals holding formal leadership positions, such as principals and other administrative leaders, who typically have authority for staffing and budgetary decisions and influence in establishing vision and culture within the school. Heterarchical leadership is a collection of unranked interactions through which leadership is exchanged based on capability rather than position, taking a horizontal rather than vertical structure (Higgins & Bonne, 2011). Heterarchies enlarge the range of actors within a system.…”

“…In their study of math reform in an elementary school in New Zealand, Higgins and Bonne (2011) considered how leadership was enacted through hybridized roles. They found those in hierarchical leadership positions played an important role in direction setting and organizational redesign, while instructional management and people development were well-served through heterarchical patterns.…”

“…The work of Higgins and Bonne (2011) provides insight about leadership patterns during educational change such as math reform at the school they studied. However, their study does not provide specificity about how effective leadership activities identified in other research are enacted in hybrid patterns.…”