Teacher Leadership: principles and practice

Abstract

Effective leadership is widely accepted as being a key constituent in achieving school improvement. The evidence from the international literature demonstrates that effective leaders exercise an indirect but powerful influence on the effectiveness of the school and on the achievement of students (Leithwood et al, 1999). Whilst the quality of teaching strongly influences levels of pupil motivation and achievement, it has been consistently argued that the quality of leadership matters in determining the motivation of teachers and the quality of teaching in the classroom (Fullan, 2001; Segiovanni, 2001). A preliminary glance at the leadership research literature however reveals that it is largely premised upon individual impetus rather than collective action and offers a singular view of leadership predominantly bound up with headship. As Murphy (2000) notes that the ‘great man’ theory of leadership prevails in spite of a groundswell towards leadership as empowerment, transformation and community building. Possibly, this is because schools as organisational structures remain largely unchanged equating leadership with status, authority and position. One of the most congruent findings from recent studies of effective leadership is that authority to lead need not be located in the person of the leader but can be dispersed within the school in between and among people (MacBeath,

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