Distributed leadership in Finnish and Shanghai schools
The present research employed mixed-methods approach to further theorise distributed leadership and to investigate its manifestations in Finnish and Shanghai schools. The whole research comprised two phases. The first phase contained a meta-analysis (Sub-study I), which systematically reviewed 85 key distributed leadership articles published between 2002 and 2013. The meta-analysis identified two main research paradigms: the descriptive-analytical paradigm and the prescriptive-normative paradigm. It also yielded a resource–agency duality model of distributed leadership. In this model, distributed leadership is seen as a process with both organisational and individual perspectives. From the …
Shanghai Teachers’ Perceptions of Distributed Leadership: Resources and Agency
Purpose:Drawing on distributed leadership and motivation theories, this study investigates teachers’ perceptions of resource and agency distributions and identifies the key factors motivating leadership among teachers.Design/Approach/Methods:This quantitative study collected data from 327 teachers in nine schools in Shanghai. Chi-square tests of independence were conducted to examine the associations between leadership structures and power distance, while Spearman’s correlation tests were used to identify changes in leadership resource impact. A nonparametric Friedman’s test was applied to detect discrepancies between the agency of principals, team leaders, and teachers. Finally, Chi-square…
A meta-analysis of distributed leadership from 2002 to 2013 : Theory development, empirical evidence and future research focus
This article provides a meta-analysis of research conducted on distributed leadership from 2002 to 2013. It continues the review of distributed leadership commissioned by the English National College for School Leadership (NCSL) ( Distributed Leadership: A Desk Study, Bennett et al., 2003), which identified two gaps in the research during the 1996–2002 period. The review found that the studies had been unable to conceptualise distributed leadership or empirically outline its application. The two research gaps identified by Bennett et al. (2003) constitute the focus of the present review, which attempts to determine whether recent research has been able to fill these gaps. Based on the find…
Distributed leadership and teacher’ self-efficacy : the case studies of three Chinese schools in Shanghai
This study looks into the distributed leadership and its influence on teachers’ self-efficacy in three Chinese schools in Shanghai. Against the background of the eighth national curriculum reform launched in 2002, the Chinese schools are seeking for the new way to enhance the school-based curriculum. On top of that, the trend of decentralization also encourages the school principals to involve the teachers in the school leadership practice. The relationship between distributed leadership and teachers’ self-efficacy in this study is examined from the angle of principals’ empowerment strategies. A mixed methods approach is applied to collect both qualitative and quantitative data from the thr…
A distributed leadership perspective on the Finnish curriculum reform 2014
Bridging curriculum research with educational leadership, we examined the 2014 Finnish curriculum reform compilation and enactment process through the lens of distributed leadership.As a tool for t...
Finland: Changing Operational Environment Changing Finnish Educational Governance
The main purpose of this chapter is to examine how Finland is developing its educational governance to meet the challenges of its changing operational environment. For our examination, we applied two theoretical frameworks on education policy development. The one constructed in the Comparative Analysis of Dynamics in Education Politics Project (CADEP) by Simola, Kauko, Varjo, Kalalahti and Sahlstrom (Dynamics in education politics. Understanding and explaining the Finnish case. Routledge, Oxon and New York, 2017) provided us with the theoretical lenses of political situations, political possibilities and politicking, as well as with valuable contextual information. The one for the Policy En…