Nigel Bennett

Variabilities and Dualities in Distributed Leadership Findings from a Systematic Literature Review

This article examines the concept of distributed leadership, drawing from a systematic review of relevant literature commissioned by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) and jointly funded by NCSL and the Open University’s Centre for Educational Policy, Leadership and Lifelong Learning (CEPoLL). The concept attracts a range of meanings and is associated with a variety of practices, with varying implications for organizational processes and values. The article highlights key variables that emerged from the literature review. It then elaborates one of the emergent themes—the distinction between structure and agency—and seeks to utilize this further as a means of illuminating the concept and practice of distributed leadership. In conclusion, areas for future research are identified.

Understandings of middle leadership in secondary schools: a review of empirical research

School middle leadership has become an important focus of attention for research and development. This paper reports on two reviews of empirical research into the nature of posts of responsibility held by teachers in secondary schools who are not regarded as part of the senior school management team. Empirical studies in the English language published between 1988 and 2005 were systematically reviewed. The authors found that two key tensions were identified repeatedly in the literature: between expectations that the middle leader role had a whole-school focus and their loyalty to their department, and between a growing culture of line management within a hierachical framework and a professional rhetoric of collegiality. Three key issues ran through these tensions: issues associated with the concept of collegiality; questions around the concepts of professionality, authority and monitoring; and questions of authority and expertise. A range of factors influencing middle leaders’ attitudes to their role are discussed, and the possibility of analysing these through institutional theory and structure-agency duality is discussed.

The Reality of School Development Planning in the Effective Primary School: technicist or guiding plan?

This paper examines the extent to which the technicist-rational approach to school development planning, advocated by OfSTED inspection guidelines, is appropriate for primary schools. The issue is investigated through case studies of nine primary schools, deemed by OfSTED to be educationally effective and efficient. The external pressures on schools to adopt a technicist-rational approach to management have been intensified by application of the OfSTED inspection guidelines. The school development plan and its implementation now form a crucial part of the evidence which inspectors use to judge the management and efficiency of the school. Schools that are deemed educationally effective and efficient by OfSTED inspectors may therefore be expected to show high levels of technicist-rational planning. This was not found to be the case, and a more sophisticated typology of planning approaches, drawing on distinctions between strategic and development planning, and between technicist and guiding plan, is develop...This paper examines the extent to which the technicist-rational approach to school development planning, advocated by OfSTED inspection guidelines, is appropriate for primary schools. The issue is investigated through case studies of nine primary schools, deemed by OfSTED to be educationally effective and efficient. The external pressures on schools to adopt a technicist-rational approach to management have been intensified by application of the OfSTED inspection guidelines. The school development plan and its implementation now form a crucial part of the evidence which inspectors use to judge the management and efficiency of the school. Schools that are deemed educationally effective and efficient by OfSTED inspectors may therefore be expected to show high levels of technicist-rational planning. This was not found to be the case, and a more sophisticated typology of planning approaches, drawing on distinctions between strategic and development planning, and between technicist and guiding plan, is developed to accommodate the findings.

Control, Autonomy and Partnership in Local Education Views from Six Chief Education Officers

In the light of central government rhetoric of partnerships in educational provision, and the recent redefinition of schools’ relationships with local authorities, this article explores the perceptions of six chief education officers of the formal relationships that currently exist between them. The CEOs interviewed were drawn from different types of LEAs, some of which had seen high levels of ‘opting out’ by their secondary schools and some of which had had very low levels. They saw the concept of partnership as problematic, raising significant questions about the extent to which their organizations, constrained by formal accountability relationships and externally created codes of practice, could discharge their responsibilities as partnerships. It is suggested that the concept of partnership needs further clarification and precision if it is to be used in describing relationships between schools and their LEAs.

Leadership, Planning and Resource Management in Four Very Effective Schools. Part II: Planning and Performance.

ABSTRACT This article concludes the earlier one in School Organisation, Volume 16, Number 2 on the differing ways in which four secondary schools which were commended overall in their OFSTED reports implement a rational approach to resource management. The ‘official’ view recommends a highly rational approach in which school aims are achieved through formal processes of strategic and developmental planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Our case studies were conducted in order to attempt an assessment of whether effective schools do actually adopt such a rational approach to school development planning and resource management. This article summarises our findings and suggests that there is a continuum between the systems‐based and the integrative culture forms of school development planning and resource allocation. We conclude that where the integrative culture is maintained with strongly shared values and flexibility of approach it can promote schools which are as effective as those followin...

Distributed Leadership and IT

This chapter examines the possibilities for information technology specialists to provide leadership within schools, particularly in circumstances where senior staff resist or are unaware of the opportunities provided by technological development. It identifies three key elements of leadership: power/compliance, legitimacy, and how we define “good” leadership. Working from the starting point that power is a form of resource in a particular situation, the chapter examines the implications of these elements for interpersonal relationships and then explores the possibilities for developing leadership roles that they provide. The concepts of distributed leadership and teacher leadership are explored, and the relationship between these views of leadership and school structure and culture is discussed. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for how information technology specialists can develop leadership roles within schools and influence classroom policy and school practice, even when they may not hold formal leadership positions.

Judging the Impact of Leadership-Development Activities on School Practice

The nature and effectiveness of professional-development activities should be judged in a way that takes account of both the achievement of intended outcomes and the unintended consequences that may result. Our research project set out to create a robust approach that school staff members could use to assess the impact of professional-development programs on leadership and management practice without being constrained in this judgment by the stated aims of the program. In the process, we identified a number of factors and requirements relevant to a wider audience than that concerned with the development of leadership and management in England. Such an assessment has to rest upon a clear understanding of educational leadership,a clearly articulated model of practice, and a clear model of potential forms of impact. Such foundations, suitably adapted to the subject being addressed, are appropriate for assessing all teacher professional development.

Democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya: cultural and historical challenges

In this article we discuss students’, teachers’ and school principals’ perceptions of democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya. The article is based on a study that was conducted in two phases. In phase one (conducted between September and December 2007), interviews were undertaken with 12 school principals in which understandings of democratic school leadership were explored. These data were then used to develop a rationale for selecting the case schools. The second phase (conducted between January and April 2008) was an in‐depth case study of two schools. The findings reveal that school principals have made efforts to inculcate democratic school leadership by involving teachers in decision making on school matters. The principals also allow students to participate in matters such as election of prefects and holding class and house meetings. However, most teachers and principals do not support what they referred to as ‘full democracy’ for students and instead prefer what they called ‘partial democracy’ based on historical and cultural factors.

Strategic and Resource Management in Primary Schools: Evidence from OfSTED inspection reports

ABSTRACT This paper reports an analysis of the extent to which practice, as recorded in the OfSTED reports for 120 primary schools, matched the criteria for rational management and development outlined in official guidance to schools. It shows that primary schools have been slower than the secondary sector to embrace the principles of strategic and long term development planning. Consideration of the basis for judgements made also shows that there is some inconsistency in the application of criteria by inspectors especially in matters of resource management. However, those schools which have good curriculum planning processes also seem to have good resource planning to match.

Assessing the Impact of Professional Development in Educational Leadership and Management: The IMPPEL project

Professional Qualification for Headteachers, and as LEAs, higher education and private enterprise sought to meet a need expressed by the teachers themselves. However, almost nothing has been done to establish if all this training, and the money it has absorbed, has actually made any difference to the quality of leadership and management provided in educational organisations. We believe it has, but we don’t know that it has. Is it