Distributed Leadership in Schools: Leading or misleading?

Contemporary educational reform places a great premium upon the relationshipbetween leadership and schoolimprovement. The dominant message from the research base is unequivocal - effective leadersexercise an indirect but powerful influence on the effectiveness of the school and on the achievement of students (Leithwood and Jantzi 2000). It is for this reason that ’leadership’ has generated an enormous amount of interest among researchers andpractitioners. A vast literature on school leadership and leadership theory exists (see Hallinger and Heck 1996). Yet, despite a substantial research base, a singular, overarching theory of leadership has provedto be elusive. While researchers in many countries continue to produce a steady stream of empirical evidence about school leadership this endless accumulation of findings still has not produced a consensus around effective leadership practice. The sheer proliferation of leadership theories, styles or approaches presented in the literature undoubtedly contributes to the confusion. There appear to be as many perspectives on school leadership as those whoresearch and write about it. Furthermore, it is difficult to discern exactly how alternative theoretical positions differ.