Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools

This paper examines the enactment of instructional leadership (IL) in high-performing secondary schools (HPSS), and the relationship between leadership and learning in raising student outcomes and encouraging teachers’ professional learning in the highly centralised context of Greece. It reports par...

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Main Authors: Kaparou, Mary, Bush, Tony
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32566/
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author Kaparou, Mary
Bush, Tony
author_facet Kaparou, Mary
Bush, Tony
author_sort Kaparou, Mary
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper examines the enactment of instructional leadership (IL) in high-performing secondary schools (HPSS), and the relationship between leadership and learning in raising student outcomes and encouraging teachers’ professional learning in the highly centralised context of Greece. It reports part of a comparative research study focused on whether, and to what extent, IL has been embraced by Greek school leaders. The study is exploratory, using a qualitative multiple case design to examine two HPSS in Athens. The research design involved a qualitative approach using several different methods, including semi-structured interviews with school principals, deputy heads, subject teachers and subject advisers, plus observation of leadership practice and meetings and scrutiny of relevant policy documents. The findings show that IL is conceptualised as an informal collaborative leadership practice, interwoven with the official multi-dimension role of Greek principals and their ‘semi-IL’ role. In the absence of official IL ‘actors’, teachers’ leadership has been expanding.
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spelling nottingham-325662020-05-04T17:11:05Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32566/ Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools Kaparou, Mary Bush, Tony This paper examines the enactment of instructional leadership (IL) in high-performing secondary schools (HPSS), and the relationship between leadership and learning in raising student outcomes and encouraging teachers’ professional learning in the highly centralised context of Greece. It reports part of a comparative research study focused on whether, and to what extent, IL has been embraced by Greek school leaders. The study is exploratory, using a qualitative multiple case design to examine two HPSS in Athens. The research design involved a qualitative approach using several different methods, including semi-structured interviews with school principals, deputy heads, subject teachers and subject advisers, plus observation of leadership practice and meetings and scrutiny of relevant policy documents. The findings show that IL is conceptualised as an informal collaborative leadership practice, interwoven with the official multi-dimension role of Greek principals and their ‘semi-IL’ role. In the absence of official IL ‘actors’, teachers’ leadership has been expanding. Taylor & Francis 2015-06-10 Article PeerReviewed Kaparou, Mary and Bush, Tony (2015) Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools. School Leadership & Management, 35 (3). pp. 321-345. ISSN 1364-2626 instructional leadership leadership for learning high-performing secondary schools school improvement centralised systems Greece http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632434.2015.1041489 doi:10.1080/13632434.2015.1041489 doi:10.1080/13632434.2015.1041489
spellingShingle instructional leadership
leadership for learning
high-performing secondary schools
school improvement
centralised systems
Greece
Kaparou, Mary
Bush, Tony
Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools
title Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools
title_full Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools
title_fullStr Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools
title_full_unstemmed Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools
title_short Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools
title_sort instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from greek high-performing secondary schools
topic instructional leadership
leadership for learning
high-performing secondary schools
school improvement
centralised systems
Greece
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32566/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32566/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32566/