The conference at St Mary’s University College in October was a big event for me. It brought home the significance I felt about embarking on a Masters course and going back to university after fourteen years away. No-one had asked me to do it. I am not certain it will bring financial reward or move

(Read on…)

Schools are complicated places pulling together swathes of people, old and young, in an ever-changing stasis. Distributed leadership provides a theoretical framework which aspires to channel this change toward school improvement. It is like a riverbed steering water to its destination, seemingly in charge, and yet shaped by every passing drop. In this critical reflection

(Read on…)

Harris argues that leadership is indirectly linked to learning by influencing the context in which teachers operate. The argument concedes that, if we accept distributed leadership ‘can positively impact on these organisational conditions’ (p44) then we need to examine the evidence about the direct relationship between distributed leadership and learning outcomes. Harris sees this as

(Read on…)

Harris is calling for further ‘fine-grained’ research into the positive influence of distributed leadership as a model for sustained school improvement. The author joins many educational theorists in claiming standardisation of practice is an inadequate means to improve performance in response to accountability driven by league tables and fails to produce sustained improvement in schools

(Read on…)