Exploring Distributive Leadership in South African Public Primary Schools in the Soweto Region

The increasing expectations of the principalship and the intensification of the challenges facing schools today have resulted in the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools worldwide. These developments prompted research in schools in South Africa, more specifically in the Soweto region, to inquire if distributed leadership had manifested. Soweto is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa that is associated with the historic struggle against the apartheid government (pre-1994). A qualitative approach executed by means of focus group interviews was employed at three schools to explore the views of teachers who did not hold formal leadership positions. It was found that distributive leadership had not transpired in the schools that are largely rooted in classical leadership practices. This chapter provides an account of the study while elucidating the concept of distributive leadership and examines the role of formal leaders within a distributive leadership framework.

Teacher Leadership

This chapter focuses on teacher leadership, an important variable in the classroom and school improvement literature. The concept of teacher leadership has attracted increased attention in the past two decades. Teachers are assuming more responsibility for leadership roles and functions within schools. Despite the considerable amount of scholarly effort and time spent on investigating the teacher leadership concept, less is known about how it flourishes in the school context and how it relates to classroom and school improvement. Therefore, this chapter tries to shed some light on the teacher leadership concept and discusses its meaning, teacher leadership roles, factors influencing teacher leadership, the relationship between teacher leadership and classroom and school improvement, and future research areas on teacher leadership. Offering a framework for teacher leadership, this chapter is expected to contribute well to the guidance of further research on teacher leadership.

Principals' Understandings of Education Based on Research

Principals' responsibilities for quality in schools and preschools have, during recent years, been accentuated in Sweden. The Swedish Education Act of 2010 can be interpreted as an attempt to improve the orientation and effectiveness of teaching in schools, as it states that education should be based mainly on research and proven experience. The purpose of this chapter is to illuminate how principals understand and relate to the Education Act of 2010. The empirical foundation of the chapter consists of examining policy documents and two surveys sent to principals and heads of preschools. The findings reveal that the principals show different understandings of the term research basis. Three significant areas of manifestations emerged from the data: keeping up to date with new knowledge, building a scientific culture, and practicing research-based knowledge. However, a challenge for principals is to foster a critical evaluative approach to research.

Transformational Leadership and Principals' Innovativeness

This chapter presents an empirical investigation on aspects of leadership that may predict a school climate promoting research and innovativeness in Greek primary schools. Specifically, the authors examine principals' innovativeness and dimensions of transformational leadership as possible predictors of innovative school climate and teachers' attitudes towards research. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 190 primary school teachers. The questionnaire included inventories measuring a) principals' innovativeness, b) three dimensions of transformational leadership style (vision building, individual consideration, intellectual stimulation), c) innovative school climate, and d) different aspects of teachers' attitudes towards educational research. Results demonstrate that principals' innovativeness tends to coexist with a leadership style that is transformational. Moreover, an innovative school climate is very likely to be established if the school principal not only provides stimulation and personalized care for teachers but also s/he acts as a model of innovativeness in school. Nevertheless, principals' innovativeness and a transformative leadership does not also ensure a research orientation in school.

New Methods Exploring Facial Expressions in the Context of Leadership Perception

The aim of this chapter is to add to our knowledge of the contribution of facial expression to educational leadership perception. Although there is a considerable amount of studies investigating leaders' emotional displays, the majority of this research does not use the sophisticated facial expression coding methods available in other psychological settings. However, research using such sophisticated methods shows that even subtle facial actions can result in significantly different impressions, indicating that credibility of facial expression interpretation might depend on the accuracy of facial expression description (see Rosenberg, 2005). In this chapter, the few leadership studies that have used sophisticated facial expression coding methods are reviewed. On the basis of these studies, it is recommended that educational organizations should be aware of the added value of these methods in order increase research credibility and provide educational leaders with specialized knowledge and skills that could eventually increase their effectiveness.

Qatar's Educational Reform

Launched in 2004, Qatar's massive educational reform, Education for a New Era, has introduced numerous changes to the K-12 educational system forcing school leaders to face challenges and issues in their role of leading and managing the school community. This chapter reports the results of a qualitative research study that examines the critical issues K-12 principals face as they implement educational reform. Using semi-structured interviews, the voices of 20 principals are presented centering on the critical issues that have evolved during the reform and the skills and leadership styles necessary to address these issues that have shaped the Qatari educational reform. Discussion and recommendations are provided to assist educational leaders in similar contexts.

Considering Latin American School Management from a Skills-Based Perspective

Management has an ever-greater need to surpass its mere organisational function. This chapter reviews the current situation in the competency-based training of 10 Latin American countries with two objectives: a) to understand the legislative situations and perspectives of the school management and b) to analyse the activity of the management from the perspective of competencies. This study identifies competencies as personal characteristics linked to successful activity in the workplace. School principals must display personal and procedural competencies, as well as the achievement of actions, objectives, and results. The results allow us to identify the persistence of bureaucratic and administrative model of management, and the emerging roles and competencies that would lead us to a model more focused on people and the community. School principals, as agents of change, would fit into this last perspective, which links us with the most current focus of school management.

Reinventing Principal Preparation in Illinois

Educational reforms are challenging and difficult with high-stakes political, economic, and societal consequences. A few years ago, the State of Illinois changed its specifications for principal preparation programs so as to better equip its school leaders to meet the contemporary learning needs of children in Illinois. In this chapter, the authors describe and analyze how the revision took place. They look for evidence of constructs presented in theories of change in complex organizations. The findings show that the complexity lens—with a focus on structures, interactions, relationships, and connectedness—contributes to an enriched appreciation of change in complex organizations like universities.

Analysis of the Tasks of School Principals in Secondary Education in Catalonia

School principals have important jobs. To achieve a better understanding of their working lives, this chapter uses the professional diary and timetabling data of all the secondary School Principals, from schools in the Sant Cugat area of Catalonia, Spain. It begins by describing the context of the Catalonian educational system, its leadership and managerial model from a double perspective: on the one hand, the normative requirements; and on the other, the “day-to-day” tasks. The authors adopt a qualitative methodology. The analysis of the school principals' diaries and timetables was conducted over the course of one month (November 2013). The results permit us to relate the day-to-day tasks of the school principal to those tasks identified in the local and national school regulations and in the Education Law. This examination will lead to a better understanding of how the distribution of their activities and their time management is related to these requirements.

The Relationship between Emotional Competence and Instructional Leadership and Their Association with Learner Achievement

The mandated approach to school leadership in South Africa has not produced any significant improvement in learner achievement during the last decade. A new approach to leadership with greater emphasis on the ideographic dimension of school leadership is necessary. This chapter investigates how principals' can utilize emotional competence and instructional leadership to influence learner achievement. The structures of emotional competence and instructional leadership are investigated using factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. These constructs are linked to learner achievement data. Intrapersonal emotional competence impacted directly on interpersonal emotional competence, which in turn, impacted directly and indirectly on all the components of instructional leadership. The postulated pathways in the model were statistically significant and substantively meaningful. The model suggested by this research indicates that learner achievement can be influenced in a collaborative way by school leaders via utilization of emotional competence and the four components of instructional leadership.