Thesis advisor: Diana Pullin / Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / This dissertation of practice utilized a multiple case-study approach to examine distributed leadership within five school districts that were attempting to gain acceptance of a large-scale 1:1 technology initiative. Using frame theory and distributed leadership theory as theoretical frameworks, this study interviewed each district's superintendent and members of the technology leadership team and assessed how they interacted with the superintendent and each other. Using these theoretical frameworks, this study made several findings relevant to scholarship around technology leadership at the school district level. One finding related to frame theory was that superintendents achieved acceptance of these large-scale 1:1 technology initiatives using the prognostic and motivational frames. Furthermore, superintendents considered constraints and developed strategic processes for implementation of technology initiatives. With respect to distributed leadership theory, this study found that the technology leadership teams included a primary leader and secondary leaders. Furthermore, superintendents interacted with the technology leadership team through institutional practices and took on tasks that fell within their job responsibilities. Typically, these institutional practices were regularly scheduled meetings, such as a district leadership team meeting. Lastly, the technology leadership team interacted through institutional practices, intuitive working relations, spontaneous collaboration and coordinated tasks that fell both in and outside of their typical job responsibilities. Many of the technology teams' interactions that fell within spontaneous collaboration and intuitive working relations were to problem solve issues with the technology implementation, such as members meeting with the technology director to troubleshoot infrastructure challenges. This dissertation of practice is beneficial for educational and organizational scholars and practitioners interested in how large-scale initiatives are accepted within a school district. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

In this study, the role of the deputy-principal is examined. An attempt is made to gain a better understanding on how distributed leadership manifests in the role of the primary school deputy-principal by focusing on the deputy-principal’s activities and interactions with, among others, the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the principal, educators, the School Governing Body (SGB) and the community. A deputyprincipal is in the unique position of being not only the assistant to the principal and deputising for the principal during his or her absence, but also a teaching staff member. Education leadership literature shows that little attention has been given to the specific duties and responsibilities of South African deputy-principals in comparison to other leadership and management positions in schools. Due to the vaguely defined position of deputy-principals, their role and responsibilities remain largely undetermined. By posing the central research question to the study: “How is distributed leadership manifested in the role of the primary school deputy-principals?” the aim was to determine what primary school deputy-principals do on a daily basis at school, what the different perspectives are on the role and responsibilities of the deputy-principal with regard to school management and leadership, and also who determines what the primary school deputy-principal does and what criteria are used to determine these duties. Purposive sampling was used, selecting five large primary schools in the Tshwane South District of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

The International Baccalaureate (IB) organization promotes distributed leadership as the ideal leadership model for implementation of all of its 4 programs, and researchers have noted that this leadership model in private international schools with multiple IB programs has been vital to school wide success. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how distributed leadership influenced the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (IBMYP) in a public middle school that has been successful in meeting academic goals. Spillane's distributed leadership model served as the basis for identifying the organizational structures, routines, and tools that influenced the implementation of the IBMYP and improvement in students' academic achievement. Data included interviews with 2 administrators, 3 teachers, 2 support staff, and 1 coordinator, and documents collected from participants, a district leader, and the school's website. Data analysis entailed coding to identify emerging patterns and themes. Findings from this study indicated that distributed leadership had a positive influence in the implementation of the IBMYP. Major themes included effective distributed leadership practices of positional and informal leaders; collaboration amongst faculty members; positive relationships between administrators and others; shared academic vision; effective organizational structures, routines, and tools; shared learning; and students' behavioral challenges. Positive social change may come from providing leaders in the IB organization, as well as district leaders, strategies for distributing leadership that were found in this study that may increase successful implementation of the IBMYP in public schools and improvement in student academic achievement.

This study investigates the role that principals play in leading and managing teaching and learning through the alternative approach of ‘distributed leadership’ in order to promote quality education. As a qualitative case study of two ‘township’ Gauteng primary schools, data was collected by means of questionnaires and interview schedules. Perceptions of principals, heads of departments (HODs) and teachers on ‘distributed leadership’ were examined, as well as how the concept was applied in the day-to-day running of the school. It was found that the principals interviewed, despite their extensive teaching and managing experience, were not fully aware of the implications of principalship within the new dispensation, vaguely referring to their roles as leaders and managers without specifying how and what they were leading and managing in their respective schools. Recommendations are that distributed leadership strategies could be found in both schools to optimise the leadership and management of teaching and learning, and that time should be allowed for HODs and principals to implement instructional leadership and management.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the perceptions of distributed leadership held by 15 administrators of special education and 15 special education teacher leaders invited to perform a Q-sort, rank ordering 40 statements representing distributed leadership attributes. The research questions that guided this investigation included: 1) Are there any clusters of participants who ranked the leadership statements similarly and differently; 2) Are the clusters related to demographic or personal characteristics associated with the participants; 3) Were there similarities as to how the items were ranked by the participants among the clusters; 4) Are there themes depicting the clusters based on the statement rankings; and 5) To what extent is there a relationship between the cluster composition, demographic and district variables? Results revealed two factors of participants who sorted their cards similarly, the priority given to each statement representing distributed leadership traits, and the preferred attributes associated with each factor. Each factor was further examined to determine how the demographics of the participants contributed to the similar sorts. This study demonstrates the importance of special education leaders developing an understanding of both the organization's purpose as well as the staff members' needs, personalities, strengths, and skill sets. As special education leaders move across the continuum of distributed leadership, their leadership practices transition from distributing leadership tasks from a top-down model to creating a truly collaborative environment embedded into the organization as it becomes action oriented through continuous improvements in programming and instruction with students with special needs. This research will contribute to expanding the understanding of distributed leadership practices in the field of special education. Future research should be devoted to better understanding the relationship between special education and distributed leadership, and the influence special education leadership has on an organization's culture, student programming, and student achievement in relationship to state accountability measures.

In an effort to address diverse needs in K-12 education, policymakers have proposed initiatives to increase the leadership opportunities for classroom teachers. Although teachers have undertaken leadership roles in schools throughout history, the notion of teacher leadership spurred by policy is in the emergent stages. As educators and leaders in various roles implement teacher leadership policy, learning must ensue at both an individual and collective level to adapt schools to a new model of leadership. This study examined how district-level teacher leader coordinators in one Iowa region came to understand their role as leaders. A case study approach illuminated the experience of these individuals as Iowa teacher leadership policy was initially implemented. Data were collected through the use of interviews, observations, and document reviews. Participants included district-level teacher leader coordinators and regional leaders supporting teacher leadership to gain insights from multiple levels of policy implementation. The findings of this study identified themes for sensemaking and leading within the teacher leader coordinator’s role. The study revealed that coordinators were guided in learning their new teacher leadership roles through both formal policy guidance and informal interactions with leaders and peers. Coordinators enacted their leadership roles in a bridge building capacity, linking other teacher leaders to resources and modeling leadership processes and actions.

This thesis outlines a personal attempt to explore leadership in a holistic manner that recognises the contribution of both individuals and the collective whilst remaining sensitive to contextual factors. It endeavours to do this through presentation, analysis and discussion of two empirical studies of leadership, informed by distributed and practice perspectives, which regard leadership as a shared and contextually situated social process. The thesis begins with an overview of leadership theory and research, proposing that the time is right for a reframing of the field of leadership studies in order to redress the balance accorded to individual and collective accounts of leadership; review how we recognise, reward and develop leadership; and revisit our methodologies and approaches to leadership enquiry. The first empirical study investigates perceptions and experiences of leadership in the UK higher education sector, proposing that whilst leadership may be considered as widely dispersed, the notion of ‘distributed leadership’ also carries a powerful rhetorical function that may mask an uneven distribution of power, resources and rewards. The second empirical study explores the notion of ‘leadership-as-practice’ in three large, complex organisations outside the HE sector, and reveals the significant impact of discourse and sensemaking in shaping perceptions, experiences and the accomplishment of leadership for middle-senior level operational managers. The discussion chapter draws together the various themes explored in the thesis, in particular demonstrating the significance of issues of discourse, identity and purpose in making sense of the elusive nature of leadership practice. It is argued that a holistic representation of leadership remains difficult to achieve because of the manner in which grand Discourses and micro-level discourses of leadership interact to attribute the social process of leadership to the actions of individual leaders. The thesis concludes with a series of recommendations that highlight the value of a somewhat eclectic approach to leadership theory, research, practice and development that facilitates the emergence and recognition of contextually-appropriate ‘hybrid configurations’ of leadership.

M.Ed. / In current times, the increasing demands of principalship and the complex challenges facing schools have led to the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools. The dissatisfaction with traditional models of leadership has resulted in a paradigm shift where leadership focus on the position of individuals in the hierarchy has been rejected in favour of collective leadership practices. In an era of democracy, distributive leadership continues to attract attention as a relevant model for the twenty-first century school. This study investigated teacher experiences and perceptions of the practice of distributive leadership in South African public primary schools in the Soweto region. The study was framed within a pragmatic paradigm using a mixed methods research design. An exploratory sequential strategy was used where the qualitative phase of data collection and analysis preceded the quantitative phase. The sample comprised teachers who were not formally appointed as leaders and did not belong to the school management teams. In the qualitative phase focus group interviews were conducted in three schools. Document analysis was conducted to support the interview findings. The quantitative phase tested the findings from the qualitative phase using a standardised questionnaire. Various themes and sub-themes emerged from the qualitative study. The first theme, leadership styles, revealed that principals practiced autocratic rather than participative styles of leadership. The autocratic style restricted principals from redistributing power to teachers and excluded teachers from decision-making processes. The second theme, school climate, indicated that the present leadership style led to a negative school climate which in turn had an adverse impact on staff relationships, teacher morale and motivation, job satisfaction as well as teaching and learning. The third theme that emerged was communication with teachers expressing the need for openness and transparency in decision-making. The fourth theme identified was barriers to teacher leadership. This was supported by sub-themes which pointed to the lack of opportunities for teacher leadership, teacher isolation in lesson planning, a heavy teacher workload, the need for power sharing and the need for the professional development of teacher leaders. Finally, the benefits of distributive leadership were identified as the fifth theme and teachers perceived that distributive leadership would have a positive impact on job satisfaction, encourage delegation and give them a voice in decision-making.

Focusing on relations between principals, other School Management Team (SMT) members and teachers, this study examines the potential of their active collaboration around instructional matters to enhance the quality of teaching and student achievement. The analysis is grounded in the theory of instructional leadership- and the conceptual framework locates instructional leadership within the context of the instructional core and the role of the school principal and SMT exercise in the learning context. The main question that drove this research was: How does the work of the school principal influence classroom practice of teachers? My study investigated the following three sub questions: i)Does leadership contribute to the ultimate success of schools?; ii) What are the three successful schools doing? and iii)How do the principals of these schools recognise, implement and bring about change that contributes to their success? The main aims were to examine how the primary school principal leads and influences classroom practice to encourage improved academic performance and how the principal and other senior management team members work together to communicate with, monitor and evaluate teachers. In addition, it investigated how teachers perceive and interpret the actions of the school leadership around their own classroom practice. It looked into the particular behaviours, relationships and interactions between the principals and SMT members and educators that influenced or hampered the delivery of quality education in the classroom. The sample comprised of three case studies of primary schools in Gauteng, South Africa. The methodology used was structured interviews of the principals and senior management members, focus group interviews with teachers, observations and documentary evidence. Data was collected, coded and analysed under themes that emerged from examining the data and literature around instructional leadership. The research objective was to understand the role that primary school principals play in instructional leadership and how instructional leadership can lead to effective teaching and learning. My goals were to characterize “best practice” for instructional iii leadership; and to identify strategies used by the school principals that show how their work influences classroom practice. The study found that effective instructional leadership is central to enhancing teaching and learning in a primary school to improve student academic outcomes and that the instructional leadership behaviours of school principals were significantly related to teacher's commitment, professional involvement and innovativeness and to the overall improvement of student results. This study demonstrated that instructional leadership success is not based on a one size fit all model for instructional enactment of success.

The principal’s roles as manager and instructional leader are complementary terms for explaining what s/he does daily in the school to direct the mission towards its fulfilment. However, these roles are often in tension, especially in the context of school self-management. This scenario has led to an overemphasis on routine (administrative) tasks by school managers, leaving them over-worked and with little time to devote their efforts to the core technology of schooling, the most critical and essential responsibility of school management namely, instructional leadership. Employing a qualitative case study approach, this report explored the day-to-day instructional tasks of leaders in two primary schools in the Johannesburg East District in the Gauteng Province. It is argued, in the study, that it is necessary for school principals to distribute, collaborate and involve other SMT members in executing their instructional leadership responsibilities to enhance quality delivery of C2005. The deputy principal and school level HoDs, it is argued, should be the immediate arbiters of the tension between the principal’s functions as manager and instructional leader. They should be enabled and encouraged to create a balance between meeting the school’s educative goals and sharing in the instructional duties of principals. The lack of time and commitment to instructional improvement on the part of principals seriously hampers and compromises their effectiveness, teaching and learning, and student achievement. Consistent with the Department of Education’s policy framework on instructional leadership practices in schools (DoE, 2000), the findings in this study reveal that the effective implementation and reaping the benefits of Curriculum 2005 (C2005) requires collaborative practices among the SMT members (the principal, deputy principal and the heads of departments). This study also found that instructional improvement should be regarded as core to everybody’s job and not as a specialised function for an individual, the principal. This is consistent with Alvarado (in Elmore & Burney, 1997), who asserts that anyone with staff responsibility has the duty to support others directly involved in staff development. The deputy principal, the heads of department and subject heads in primary schools as formal leaders, all have an instructional responsibility to assist the principal in meeting the school’s instructional goals.