Philip A. Woods

Democratic leadership: drawing distinctions with distributed leadership

This article delineates the distinctiveness of democratic leadership in comparison with distributed leadership. The impetus for the exercise arises from the escalating interest in distributed leadership within the field of leadership and organizational studies. More particularly, this article addresses the danger that the idea of democratic leadership may be eclipsed or colonized by discourses on distributed leadership. A view of democracy is developed in which particular attention is given to critical theoretical roots in Marxs notion of alienation and the pervasive power of Weberian instrumental rationality. The article builds on theoretical modelling by the author (Woods 2003) of a type of governance (organic governance) in which democratic rationalities are an infusing and challenging feature. Two of the rationalities give to democratic agency its distinctiveness – namely, decisional and ethical rationality. The latter is discussed more fully, as it tends to be given least explicit attention in much literature on democracy. Essential to democracy is the recognition – and, today, the reassertion – that advancing truth is worthwhile, social and possible. Ethical rationality, linked in with the other democratic rationalities, requires, inter alia, creative spaces in a dynamic organizational structure that allows for movement between tighter and looser structural frameworks; a recombination of creative human capacities which overcomes the tension between instrumentally‐rational and affective capacities; and open boundaries of participation. Implications for understanding democratic leadership are highlighted in the discussion.

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.

Nurturing Democracy The Contribution of Distributed Leadership to a Democratic Organizational Landscape

This article reviews the comparative merits of distributed leadership and democratic leadership as understandings of, and preferred alternatives to, the leadership of and in organizations. It is particularly concerned that, while distributed leadership may provide a welcome and worthwhile respite from and alternative to the kind of heroic orthodoxy that has been calculated to secure organizational membership control and compliance, distributed leadership entails a democratic deficit. The core components of these two conceptions of leadership, the points of connection and tension between them, the conditions that might facilitate or impede their realization, and the problems and possibilities entailed in their attainment are discussed. Neither the purpose nor the claim of this article is to resolve the complex questions concerned with democracy and leadership in organizations generally, or schools in particular. Its case is that the influential notion of distributed leadership needs to be interrogated critically from the perspective of a concern with building organizations that are more democratic and respectful of the human status of their members and other stakeholders. It concludes by suggesting a multi-stranded approach for educational leaders and policymakers concerned to advance the democratic potential of distributed leadership.

Academy schools and entrepreneurialism in education

The academy schools programme in England is presented by Government as the means by which increased diversity and private participation in the provision of public education can be used to solve educational and wider social problems. The entrepreneurial features of academy schools are examined, through a study of the sponsors and the ethos, values and specialisms of academies. Data on 58 academies (open or in development), gathered from secondary sources, are analysed. Four types of entrepreneurialism are used to review the findings and it is found that business entrepreneurialism strongly features as a normalising presence, with forms of cultural and social entrepreneurialism also apparent. Public entrepreneurialism is represented but is less evident than the other forms. The emerging pattern of participation in the academies programme suggests that existing structural advantages in the fields of business and the church are being replicated and strengthened, and so academies are predominantly being constructed as sites intended to enhance the growing influence of private versions of entrepreneurialism. It is also recognised, however, that academies represent an unfolding programme and that how it develops over time is subject to complex national and local factors, including the agency of groups and individuals differently positioned in their fields.

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.

Rejecting Schools: Towards a Fuller Understanding of the Process of Parental Choice.

In analysing the relationship between the response of secondary schools to the educational marketplace and how and why parents choose schools, this paper focuses on the crucially important but largely unexplored issue of the reasons parents have for not choosing particular schools. In essence it investigates why certain schools are rejected as opposed to selected by parents. The findings broaden the understanding of the choice process - negative reasoning playing a significant role in deciding not only which schools are ultimately chosen but which ones are even considered by parents. In particular, the findings reinforce the fact that the process of school choice is both complex and highly localised and as such has marked implications for school managers seeking to respond in a competitive educational marketplace.

Degrees of distribution: Towards an understanding of variations in the nature of distributed leadership in schools

The research reported on in this article explores how degrees of leadership distribution in schools might be differentiated. Data were collected from ten schools – eight primary and two secondary schools – / which were identified as exhibiting ‘good practice’ with regard to distributed leadership. The conceptual distinctions suggested by the study are discussed and the possible ‘causes’ and consequences of school variations in the degree of distributed leadership considered.

Raising School Performance in the League Tables (Part 1): Disentangling the effects of social disadvantage

The article uses data from a longitudinal study of over 300 secondary schools to investigate differences in the rate at which schools improved General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination results over the period 1991-98 and the reasons for such differences. Two variables found to have the most impact on examination improvement were a low concentration of social disadvantage relative to other local schools and starting from a low base level of GCSE results. Furthermore, schools with high concentrations of social disadvantage were liable to suffer a dual handicap as their relative social disadvantage tended to worsen over time. Schools with better examination improvement slightly increased their budget share per pupil over the period studied while those performing least well experienced a reduction in budget share per pupil.

Collaboration: The big new idea for school improvement?

This paper traces the trajectory of New Labour education policy since the formation of the first New Labour government in 1997. During that time the policy discourse has moved from a position of individualized school improvement through competition, to one where there is an emphasis on ‘partnership’ and ‘collaboration’ as key mechanisms for improvement. We note, however, that ‘specialism’, ‘diversity’ and ‘choice’ are still key components of policy and that ‘partnership’ often denotes a deficit model, with more successful schools supporting (or in some cases taking over) less successful ones. Although there are the beginnings of a recognition that social class and social deprivation are factors which make achievement at school more problematic, generally New Labour policy has not attempted to alleviate the tendency to social polarization which has emerged as a result of school choice policies.

Raising School Performance in the League Tables (Part 2): Barriers to Responsiveness in Three Disadvantaged Schools.

This is the second of two articles drawing from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded Impact of Competition on Secondary Schools study. The first article reported quantitative data concerning the relationship between the rate of school improvement and degree of social disadvantage amongst school student communities. This article examines qualitative data from three case-study schools in order to illuminate the barriers to responsiveness that face socially disadvantaged schools and impede school improvement. Attention is drawn to the cumulative impact of contextual influences, which interact with internal school factors, particularly the influence of local school hierarchies and processes of labelling that affect students and their learning experiences.