System leaders and system leadership: exploring the contemporary evidence base

Abstract

This article outlines the findings from a contemporary review of the evidence base on system leaders and system leadership. This article provides analysis, commentary, and insights about system leaders and system leadership based on a review of the current evidence. The review also includes insights from country experts and offers countryspecific examples of system leaders and leadership in action. This is not a systematic review of the literature but rather an overview of findings from a contemporary exploration of the evidence base, over a specified period (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020). The review encompasses peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters, and the grey literature. It focuses on the roles, responsibilities, actions, functions, and outcomes of system leaders and highlights the origin of the system leadership concept.

Systemically oriented leadership: Leading multi-school organisations in England

“…The development that has prompted this concept was championed by the OECD in 2008 based on the narrative of a global governance trend away from hierarchical central control towards self-regulation of a complex adaptive system (Hopkins, 2009;Pont et al, 2008). In a contemporary review of the evidence base on system leaders and leadership, Harris et al (2021) provided country-specific examples of this loosely defined concept of leadership. They concluded that the practices of system leaders/ship remain ubiquitous and context-specific subject to each country's educational reform agenda.…”

“…Although the literature summarises scholarly attempts to give different yet interconnected meanings to the conceptual development of system leadership, there remains a need for examining and fielding systemic, practice-oriented strategies that refine and extend capabilities at multiple levels in response to local needs and environments. The preceding framework elaborates, refines, and extends the conceptualisations within the international evidence base (see Harris et al, 2021) to ground it more specifically in the leadership of English multi-school organisations.…”

Employing Exploratory and Pooled-Confirmatory Factor-Analysis for the Reliability and the Validity of a Peer-Led Fun-Inspired Inquisitive Scale

“…The PeLFII model was developed to enhance peer leaders' major role in guiding peers for improved fun-inspired pedagogy. The PeLFII model serves as an essential initiative in guiding peer leaders in leading their peers to mobilize funinspired pedagogy in the new horizon (Harris et al, 2021). In other words, the PeLFII model was developed with the initiative to connect pre-school teachers in the 'PeLFII Digi-Community' [PeLFIIDCy], in order to enable them to lead each other in designing and implementing various fun-inspired inquiries in virtual classrooms, which are also flexible and adaptable in blended-learning environments.…”

Endogenous systems leadership for education in crises: A framework for inclusive and equitable quality education in low- and middle-income countries

“…not replace, national and local systems" (UNGA 2016).While acknowledging the key role of MoEs in education service delivery during crises, this working paper draws on recent work on systems leadership and UNESCO's Futures of Education Initiative (International Commission on the Futures of Education [ICFE] 2021), to argue for a view of educational leadership which extends beyond traditional bureaucratic boundaries. Leadership is best conceived as a practice rather than a position: it is a process of social influence which emerges through the relationships and interactions of diverse stakeholder groups, including those without positional authority within a civil service hierarchy(Uhl-Bien 2006;Harris et al 2021). The UN's International Commission on the Futures of Education also highlights these distributed, social aspects of educational leadership:…”