Leading and Managing Schools

O’Sullivan, Helen; West‐Burnham, John

doi:10.4135/9781446288870

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…These principals led by ensuring that they were punctual in arriving for all school activities. This bears testimony to O’Sullivan and West-Burnham’s statement that learner-centred leaders lead by example (2011: 46). Busisiwe emerged as being very stern but she indicated that her teachers and staff are welcome to discuss any issue with her: ‘Always when you need my assistance my office door is open, come and ask’.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Female principals leading at disadvantaged schools in Johannesburg, South Africa

Naidoo¹,

Perumal²

2014

Educational Management Administration & Leadership

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South African democracy precipitated many changes and excavated many dormant issues, one of which was equity in the workplace. This extended into the sphere of education -a sector in which women were rarely seen in leadership positions. Following the implementation of several redress policies, women have managed to penetrate the gender equity barrier and assume leadership positions in schools. This article reports on a study that investigated how female principals experience leadership at schools in disadvantaged communities in the Gauteng East District, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Nesting itself within a qualitative research paradigm, the study explored ways in which women principals navigate gender and cultural challenges and highlights how stereotypes shape their leadership styles. Observations, field notes and semi-structured interviews were used to elicit data. These findings provide insight into the following themes: leadership styles; the principal as a curriculum leader; socio-economic profile of the school community and its impact on curriculum; balancing family and school responsibilities; and stakeholder participation and support.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Female principals leading at disadvantaged schools in Johannesburg, South Africa

Naidoo¹,

Perumal²

2014

Educational Management Administration & Leadership

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“…In order to relate to teachers' professional learning it is important firstly to understand the term professional. One approach to identifying a claim to being a professional is to identify occupational groups that have a claim to specialist knowledge and have the capacity and trustworthiness to use it to provide a continually improving service for society (Forde et al, 2009: 12;O'Sullivan & West-Burnham, 2011). However, this concept of professionalism is increasingly being contested with Kennedy (2007) identifying two distinct models: democratic professionalism and managerial professionalism.…”

Section: Teachers' Professional Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the debates about effective PD it is possible to argue that a consensus has emerged relating to a number of central features of such provision. There is, for example, a recognition that effective PD should be activity focused with opportunities for application in practice, be evidence-based and allow for critical reflection (Bell & Bolam, 2010;O'Sullivan & West-Burnham, 2011) where teachers have opportunities to learn and reflect together through collaborative PD (Ainscow et al, 2000). Collaborative PD is 'where there are specific plans to encourage and enable shared learning and support between at least two teacher colleagues on a sustained basis' (Cordingley et al, 2004: 2).…”

Section: Teachers' Professional Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of leadership in developing and sustaining teachers' professional learning

King¹

2011

Management in Education

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A prominent feature of education discourse relating to teachers' practice has been the call for increased emphasis on professional development (PD). This paper is part of a wider project which explored the impact of a collaborative PD initiative on teachers' teaching and learning in five urban disadvantaged schools in Ireland. It focused on the impact of PD and critically on sustainability from which emerged important issues of leadership. This article focuses on the specific contribution that leadership made to the sustainability of the practices in the schools. It aims to identify three key features of how principals contribute to sustaining PD practices.

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“…How principals carry out their role in the ROI depends on the context in which they work as two thirds of primary school principals are teaching principals with a maximum of 22 days administrative leave (Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN), 2014). Noteworthy is that this study took place in large urban schools with non-teaching principals in a prevailing culture where isolated privatism is more valued than collective responsibility (O’Sullivan, 2011). Since the 1990s there has been “an explosion of related administrative and managerial tasks without any real change in the resource capacity of schools” (IPPN, 2014, p. 9).…”

Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a globalised world where knowledge is seen as central to securing competitive advantage then strong performance in internationally bench-marked assessments has become a key objective of policy. However these policy changes are taking place in a time of austerity and a culture of isolated privatism (O’Sullivan, 2011) which may make implementation difficult. Central to the implementation process is the pivotal role of leadership (Day et al , 2009) in managing change with much analysis about what leaders can do to progress the school improvement agenda.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generating change from below: what role for leadership from above?

King

Stevenson

2017

JEA

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Purpose In recent years the benefits of distributed leadership have often assumed the status of an unchallengeable orthodoxy. There is a general acceptance that leadership is best when it is dispersed. In reality this is often little more than a form of “licensed leadership” in which those working in subordinate roles can only exercise their leadership in tightly prescribed contexts. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of teacher professional development to promoting a more optimistic vision of teacher leadership and, ultimately, organisational change. It explores the role of leadership “from above” in supporting classroom teachers to engage with and sustain change. Design/methodology/approach The study, which was situated in the Republic of Ireland, employed a case study approach with 20 participants in five urban disadvantaged schools. Findings The paper seeks to demonstrate how a professional development initiative was used to promote significant and sustained change in four of the five case study schools. Research limitations/implications It argues that in order to understand sustained change in schools it is necessary to better understand the complex ways in which leadership from above can generate change agency from below. Originality/value This paper offers a critical perspective in relation to mainstream distributed leadership theory and practice.

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Leading and Managing Schools

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Female principals leading at disadvantaged schools in Johannesburg, South Africa

Female principals leading at disadvantaged schools in Johannesburg, South Africa

The role of leadership in developing and sustaining teachers' professional learning

Generating change from below: what role for leadership from above?

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