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Editorial article, editorial: insights in leadership in education: 2022.

• Attallah College of Educational Studies, Chapman University, Orange, CA, United States

Editorial on the Research Topic Insights in leadership in education: 2022

This collection of articles provides an overview of educational leadership as we emerge from the pandemic crisis into a divisive era characterized by political unrest, social and cultural upheaval, and persistent economic hardship. Across the globe, leaders in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions are faced with the challenges of making up for student learning loss during the pandemic, educator burn out, parental and community concerns about curriculum content, mental health issues and the impact of artificial intelligence on education. Education leaders are taxed with meeting these challenges with scant resources in a conservative policy climate that favors traditionalism at the expense of a liberal progressive outlook.

The nine articles included in this Research Topic offer a variety of perspectives on issues pertaining to education leadership. Orr's overview of leader preparation in “ Reflections on leadership preparation research and current directions ,” reinforces the importance of leadership outcomes – particularly those related to improvement of student learning. Now recognized as a field of its own, the study of leadership preparation has developed over the past 20 to 30 years. Yet we know little about the relationship of preparation to leadership effectiveness in facilitating marginalized and under-represented students' academic achievement. Orr identifies partnerships between schools and universities as a key element of quality preparation programs in the U.S. echoing a more general commitment to collaborative approaches to leadership development and institutional effectiveness.

For instance, Pashmforoosh et al.'s study of 40 school leaders who participated in virtual professional learning communities (VPLC) found these communities of practice across schools in Texas were instrumental in building principals and assistant principals instructional leadership capacity. “ Building school leaders' instructional leadership capacity through virtual professional learning communities,” highlights the effectiveness of community building through collaboration. Participants worked with each other to identify creative solutions to problems of practice in their high-needs schools.

In another example of collaboration, Washington and Johnson , in their article, “ Toward culturally sustaining/revitalizing indigenous family-school-community leadership ,” identify promising leadership models that are more respectful of indigenous communities' self-determination over education. The collaborative partnerships advocated in this review are focused on learning from the indigenous communities' ways of knowing, being and doing to craft education policies and practices to benefit indigenous students and their families.

Fahrenwald et al. also focus on collaborative partnerships between higher education institutions and the civil society in Austria. “ Taking the lead for campus-community-partnerships” is a brief research report, which raises questions about how these CCPs are led, managed, and sustained. Their research findings indicate that despite the importance attached to the potential of CCPs to foster social innovation through collective action, there is little institutional support for them. Most are initiated voluntarily by mid-career women faculty members. To realize the potential of these partnerships, the authors recommend greater institutional commitment and maintenance of support.

Another article that focuses on higher education discusses the results of a PhD program evaluation. In “ Leadership in PhD (LeaP): a longitudinal leadership skill building program for underrepresented biomedical research trainees ,” Doles et al. found the program effective in helping underrepresented biomedical research trainees build community and develop new leadership skills. The positive feedback from students suggests possibilities for the LeaP model to be adapted for other health professional programs designed to increase diversity in the field.

Klinck et al. studied School Management Teams (SMT) in South Africa to understand better the necessary competencies, abilities and attitudes that lead to improved service delivery. Findings reported in “ Creating a high-performing school management: bringing talent to the table for effective service delivery ” include a set of desirable interpersonal skills, managerial skills, emotional intelligence, effective communication, and team building skills. The authors recommend that the SMTs are provided training and development to strengthen these skills in order to provide better social justice education and increased academic achievement.

Finally, three articles consider different approaches to leadership including transformational leadership, caring leadership, and servant leadership. In “ Transformational educational leaders inspire school educators' commitment ,” Kareem et al. studied the effect of leader's transformational style on teacher commitment in India. They found that the positive effect of this kind of leadership encouraged a culture of collaboration and self-development. Steilen and Stone-Johnson report on a study of elementary principals' caring leadership during the pandemic. In “ “There wasn't a guidebook for this”: caring leadership during a crisis,” the authors advocate for in-service and pre-service leadership development to help leaders prioritize care as central to their work not only for others but also for themselves. And Dami et al. discuss the results of a study of Christian higher education lecturers in Indonesia in their article “ Servant leadership and job satisfaction: the mediating role of trust and leader-member exchange .” They found that servant leadership positively influences trust, leader-member exchange and job satisfaction.

At the heart of most of these articles is an interest in understanding better how education leaders work impacts others – students, community members and other educators. They illustrate the primary focus of leadership research over the past 20 years, which has been on the relationship between leadership and student learning. These articles contribute to this important agenda by offering different theoretical and conceptual approaches to leadership, global perspectives, and a variety of education settings. Moving forward, as the negative effects of racism, sexism, ableism, homo-and transphobia, and anti-migrant policies and practices place increasing numbers of our communities in jeopardy, courageous education leadership is imperative for the wellbeing of future generations. My hope is that in the next decade, education scholars and researchers commit to generating new knowledge of how leadership matters in the lives of those served. Leadership is fundamentally about prioritization and decision-making that has the power to elevate human potential or stifle it. To ensure the former, we will need a concerted global effort on the part of the academic community partnering with education practitioners, community members and students themselves.

Author contributions

MG: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Keywords: leadership, collaboration, student learning, education, courage

Citation: Grogan M (2024) Editorial: Insights in leadership in education: 2022. Front. Educ. 9:1372208. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1372208

Received: 17 January 2024; Accepted: 29 January 2024; Published: 15 February 2024.

Edited and reviewed by: Ekkarin Sungtong , Prince of Songkla University, Thailand

Copyright © 2024 Grogan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Margaret Grogan, grogan@chapman.edu

This article is part of the Research Topic

Insights in Leadership in Education: 2022

Reframing Educational Leadership Research in the Twenty-First Century

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• First Online: 16 June 2021

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• David NG 7  

Part of the book series: Accountability and Educational Improvement ((ACED))

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For the last three decades, reviews on instructional leadership have pointed to studies that predominantly adopted conventional social science research methodologies, specifically analytical tools, such as descriptive, causal factor, correlational and advanced modelling. These methods have constraints and limitations, which include that variable-based linear models measures are treated as ‘rigorously real’ measures of social reality, that individuals use rational deduction (ignoring the value premise of decision-making), and that individuals are treated as independent and individualized. This paper proposes and illustrates how research approaches of complexity science can be applied within the social system to address complex instructional leadership questions. Consequently, reframing instructional leadership research through the lens of complexity science provides the most viable approach to understand the adaptive processes and the dynamic system of schools.

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Educational Theory: The Specific Case of Social Justice as an Educational Leadership Construct

Instructional Leadership

7.1 introduction.

Educational leadership research has come of age. From its fledgling start in 1960s under the overarching research agenda of educational administration for school improvement, the focus shifted to leadership research from the early 1990s (Boyan, 1981 ; Day et al., 2010 ; Griffiths, 1959 , 1979 ; Gronn, 2002 ; MacBeath & Cheng, 2008 ; Mulford & Silins, 2003 ; Southworth, 2002 ; Witziers, Bosker, & Kruger, 2003 ). Since then, educational leadership as a respected field began to flourish by the early 2000s (Hallinger, 2013 ; Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008 ; Walker & Dimmock, 2000 ). From the 1980s up to the present time, the body of knowledge on educational leadership has grown tremendously to produce three distinctive educational leadership theories: Instructional leadership, transformational leadership, and distributed leadership. While it is undisputed that educational leadership research has indeed been productive, there is a sense that a narrowing labyrinth of researchable questions is approaching in particular to the first two educational leadership research theories. The evidence of this is implied in the concerted call to expand and situate educational leadership research in non-Western societies (Dimmock, 2000 ; Dimmock & Walker, 2005 ; Hallinger, 2011 ; Hallinger, Walker, & Bajunid, 2005 ). This call is valid in that there is still limited contribution to substantive theory building from non-Western societies. However, it also implies that Western societies’ focus on educational leadership has reached an optimum stage in publications and knowledge building. A more pertinent reason to rethink educational leadership research could be based on epistemological questions about the social science research paradigm that has been the foundation of educational leadership research. These questions will be expanded as the discussion proceeds on current approaches of educational leadership research.

This chapter has three goals: The first one is to map the data-analytical methods used in educational leadership research over the last thirty years (1980–2016). This investigation covers the research methodologies used in instructional leadership, transformational leadership, and distributed leadership.

Educational leadership studies are conducted in the social context of the school. This context involves complex social interactions between and among leaders, staff, parents, communities, partners, and students. In the last decade, there has been a consensus among scholars that schools have evolved to become more complex. Furthermore, there is a consensus among scholars to view complexity through increases in the number of actors and the interactions between them. The complexity of schools is evident in the rise in accountability and involvement from an expanding number of stakeholders involved, such as politicians, clinical professionals (who diagnose learning disabilities of students), communities, and educational resource providers (training and certifying institutions). The relations between stakeholders are non-linear and discontinuous, so even small changes in variables can have a significant impact on the whole system. Therefore, the second goal is to determine whether methodologies that are adequate for the assessment of complex interaction patterns, influences, interdependencies, and behavioural outcomes that are associated with the social context of the school, have been adopted over the past three decades.

The third goal is to explore potential methodologies in the study of educational leadership. These alternative methodologies are taken from more recent developments of research methodologies used in other fields. These fields, such as health, development of society, among others, have similarities with the study of educational leadership. The common link is the social contexts and the system’s influence involving the spectrum of interactions, change, and emergence. We will examine published empirical research and associated theories that look at influence, interdependencies, change, and emergence. Adopting these alternative methodologies will enable reframing educational leadership so it can move forward. Three questions guide the presentation of this paper:

What are the data sources and analytical methods adopted in educational leadership research?

What is the current landscape of schooling and how does it challenge current educational leadership research methodologies?

What are some possible alternative research methodologies and how can they complement current methodologies in educational leadership research?

This chapter proposes to reframe educational leadership studies in view of new knowledge and understanding of alternative research data and analytical methods. It is not the intent of the paper to suggest that current research methodologies are no longer valid. On the contrary, the corpus knowledge of current social science research methodologies practiced, taught, and learned through the past three decades cannot be dismissed lightly. Instead of proposing to reframe educational leadership studies, the main purpose of this paper is to explore and propose complementary research methodologies that will open up greater opportunities for research investigation. These opportunities are linked to the functions of adopting alternate analytical research tools.

7.2 What Are the Dominant Methodologies Adopted in Educational Leadership Research?

Educational leadership research adopts a spectrum of methods that conform to the characteristics of disciplined inquiry. Cronbach and Suppes ( 1969 ) defined disciplined inquiry as “conducted and reported in such a way that the argument can be painstakingly examined” (p. 15). What this means is that any data collected and interpreted through reasoning and arguments must be capable of withstanding careful scrutiny by another research member in the field.

This section looks at the disciplined inquiry methods adopted and implemented in the last thirty years that have contributed to the current body of knowledge on educational leadership and management. The pragmatic rationale to impose a time frame for the review is that instructional leadership was conceptualized in the 1980s, followed by transformational leadership and in recent years, distributed leadership. The purpose of this review is to identify, if possible, all quantitative and qualitative methods adopted. The next section provides a broad overview of the three educational leadership theories/models. This will anchor the discussion on alternate research methodologies that will reframe and expand the research on these theories/models.

7.2.1 Instructional, Transformational, and Distributed Leadership

Instructional leadership became popular during the early 1980s. There are two general concepts of instructional leadership – one is narrow while the other is broad (Sheppard, 1996 ). The narrow concept defines instructional leadership as actions that are directly related to teaching and learning, such as conducting classroom observations. This was the earlier conceptualization of instructional leadership in the 1980s, and it was normally applied within the context of small, poor urban primary schools (Hallinger, 2003 ; Meyer & Macmillan, 2001 ). The broad concept of instructional leadership includes all leadership activities that indirectly affect student learning, including school culture, and time-tabling procedures by impacting the quality of curriculum and instruction delivered to students. This conceptualization acknowledges that principals, as instructional leaders, have a positive impact on students’ learning, but that this influence is mediated (Goldring & Greenfield, 2002 ; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000 ; Southworth, 2002 ). A comprehensive model of instructional leadership was developed by Hallinger and Murphy ( 1985 , 1986 ). This dominant model proposes three dimensions of the instructional leadership construct: defining the school’s mission, managing the instructional program, and promoting a positive school-learning climate. Hallinger and Heck ( 1996 ), in their comprehensive review of research on school leadership, concluded that instructional leadership was the most commonly researched. The authors’ focused review found that over 125 empirical studies employed this construct between 1980 and 2000 (Hallinger, 2003 ). In the last decade, instructional leadership has regained prominence and attention in part because of the lack of empirical studies in non-Western societies. This can also be inferred from the notion that leadership in curriculum and instruction still matters and remains the core business of schools.

Transformational leadership was introduced as a theory in the general leadership literature during the 1970s and 1980s (e.g. Bass, 1997 ; Howell & Avolio, 1993 ). Transformational leadership focuses on developing the organisation’s capacity and commitment to innovate (Leithwood & Duke, 1999 ). Correspondingly, transformational leadership is supposed to enable change to occur (Leithwood, Tomlinson, & Genge, 1996 ). Amongst the leadership models, transformational leadership is the one most explicitly linked to the implementation of change. It quickly gained popularity among educational leadership researchers during the 1990s in part because of reports of underperforming schools as a result of top-down policy driven changes in the 1980s. Sustained interest during the 1990s was also fuelled by the perception that the instructional leadership model is a directive model (Hallinger & Heck, 1996 ). In a pointed statement of the extent of instructional leadership research, Hallinger ( 2003 , p. 343) emphatically notes that “The days of the lone instructional leader are over. We no longer believe that one administrator can serve as the instructional leader for the entire school without the substantial participation of other educators.” From the beginning of the 2000s, a series of review studies comparing the effects of transformational leadership and instructional leadership, the ‘over-prescriptivity’ of findings, the limited methodologies adopted, and a lack of international research contributed to the waning interest in transformational leadership (Robinson et al., 2008 , Robinson, 2010 ).

Interest in distributed leadership took off at around 2000. Gronn ( 2002 ), and Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond ( 2004 ) are leading the current debate on distributed leadership as observed by Harris ( 2005 ). Gronn’s concept of distributed leadership is a “purely theoretical exploration” (p. 258) while Spillane’s and his various colleagues’ work is based on empirical studies that are still ongoing. When Gronn and Spillane first proposed their concepts of distributed leadership, what was revolutionary was a shift from focusing on the leadership actions of an individual as a sole agent to analyzing the ‘concertive’ or ‘conjoint’ actions of multiple individuals interacting and leading within a specific social and cultural context (Bennett, Wise, Woods, & Harvey, 2003 ; Gronn, 2002 , 2009 ; Spillane, 2005 ; Woods, 2004 ). In addition, Spillane, Diamond, and Jita ( 2003 ) explicitly relate their concept of distributed leadership to instructional improvement, which, therefore, catalyzes the interest among researchers to explore the constructs in school improvement and effectiveness. From 2000 to 2016, a focused search for empirical studies that employed the constructs of distributed leadership yielded over 97 studies.

7.2.2 Assessment of the Dominant Methodologies in Educational Leadership Research and Courses

The purpose of this review is to identify, if possible, all the quantitative and qualitative methods adopted. This review is based on a combined search for the three educational leadership theories in schools using the following search parameters:

Keywords in database search: “instructional leadership” OR “transformational leadership” OR “distributed leadership”

Limiters: Full Text; Scholarly (Peer-reviewed) Journals; Published Date: 1980–2016

Narrow by Methodology: quantitative study

Narrow by Methodology: qualitative study

Search modes: Find all search terms

Interface: EBSCOhost Research Databases

Database: Academic Search Premier; British Education Index; Education Source; ERIC

The search yielded over 672 empirical studies employing the constructs of instructional leadership, transformational leadership, and distributed leadership. As the purpose of the review is to identify all quantitative and qualitative methods adopted, only that information was extracted. The researchers carefully read the relevant sections of the 672 studies pertaining to methodologies and extracted that information. An overview of the results is given in Tables 7.1 and 7.2 .

The range of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and analytical tools found in the review was categorized as follows:

Quantitative Analyses:

Univariate Analysis:

The analysis refers to a single variable represented by frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation.

Bivariate Analysis:

This type of analysis examines how two variables are related to each other, represented by ANOVA, Pearson product moment correlations, correlation and regression.

Multivariate Analysis:

These are statistical procedures that are used to reach conclusions about associations between two or more variables. Representations of inferential statistics include regression coefficients, MANOVA, MANCOVA, two-group comparison (t-test), factor analysis, path analysis, hierarchical linear modelling, and others.

Qualitative Analyses:

Content Analysis:

Content analysis is the systematic analysis of the text by adopting rules that can separate the text into units of analysis, such as assumptions, effects, enablers and barriers. The text is obtained through document search, artifacts, interviews, field notes, or observations. The transcribed data are converted into protocols followed by categories. Coding schemes are then applied to determine themes and their relations.

Hermeneutic Analysis:

With this type of analysis, researchers interpret the subjective meaning of a given text within its socio-historic context. Methods adopted extend beyond texts to encompass all forms of communication, verbal and non-verbal. An iterative analyses method between interpretation of text and holistic understanding of the context is adopted in order to develop a fuller understanding of the phenomenon.

Grounded-theory Analysis:

This is an inductive technique of interpreting recorded data about a social phenomenon. Data acquired through participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups, narratives of audio/video recordings, and documents are interpreted based on empirical data. A systematic coding technique involving open coding, axial coding, and selective coding is rigorously applied. These coding techniques aim to identify key ideas, categories, and causal relations among categories, finally arriving at a theoretical saturation where additional data and analyses do not yield any marginal change within the core categories.

On the one hand, these results show that a wide range of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are applied and that the field is open to a lot of diversity in methodologies, but, on the other hand, the results also show that complexity methodology is missing completely.

One of the purposes of this paper is to identify current research methodologies that have been adopted for the past decades. The following review is to ascertain whether current research methodologies adopted are also reinforced and transmitted by the research courses offered by top universities. A search was conducted that specifically looked at graduate research courses taught in educational leadership and management. The following search parameters were used:

Identify the top 20 universities that offer graduate courses in educational leadership and management.

QS ranking of universities is chosen over Times ranking because QS ranking is sorted by subject: Education and searchable by educational leadership.

Representation of Western and Eastern universities in order to provide a representation of universities globally.

The findings are presented in Table 7.3 . This table is remarkably similar to Tables 7.1 and 7.2 but with more details of the topics in educational leadership research methodologies. The previously presented findings of the methodologies used in educational leadership research strongly suggest that the research methodologies currently adopted in educational leadership studies are reinforced by research courses taught at the top universities. Indeed, the transmission and application of research skills is a critical and essential component of graduate programmes. This transmission of knowledge and practice is strengthened by the enshrined supervisor-supervisee relationship where cognitive modelling takes place through discourse, reflection, guidance, and inquiry. The one-to-one supervision has the very powerful effect of instilling expectations, cultivating habits, and shaping practices that contribute to a competent researcher identity. It is noteworthy that the transmission-based form has emanated from and is continued in the paradigm of social science. Table 7.3 presents the research courses that are currently taught at the top 20 universities offering educational leadership research.

7.3 Limitations of the Dominant Methodologies in Educational Leadership Research and Courses

The range of methodologies and analytical tools reviewed above are disciplined inquiry methods in social science. Social sciences are the science of people or collections of people, such as groups, firms, societies, or economies, and their individual or collective behaviours; social sciences can be classified into different disciplines, such as psychology (the science of human behaviours), sociology (the science of social groups), and economics (the science of firms, markets, and economies). This section is not intended to wade into epistemological and ontological debates within the social sciences. It is also not possible to have an in-depth discussion on social science methodologies within the constraints of this paper. To highlight ongoing discussions about limitations of social science research is the focus of this paper.

Educational leadership is not a discipline by itself, but a field of study that involves events, factors, phenomena, organizations, topics, issues, people, and processes related to leadership in educational settings. This field of study adopts social science inquiry methods. The review of research methodologies, as depicted in Tables 7.1 and 7.2 , strongly suggests that educational leadership research subscribed to the functionalist paradigm (Bhattacherjee, 2012 ). The functionalist paradigm suggests that social order or patterns can be understood in terms of their functional components. Therefore, the logical steps will involve breaking down a problem into small components and studying one or more components in detail using objectivist techniques, such as surveys and experimental research. It also encompasses an in-depth investigation of the phenomenon in order to uncover themes, categories, and sub-categories.

Educational leadership studies, using quantitative methods, aim to minimize subjectivity. Hence, the constant advocacy of good sampling techniques and a large sample size in order to represent a population where the sample is reported by mean, standard deviation, and normal distribution, among others. Qualitative methods rest upon the assumption that there is no single reality for events, phenomena, and meaning in the social world. Adopting a disciplined analytical method based on dense contextualized data in order to arrive at an acceptable interpretation of complex social phenomena is advocated. The following section will discuss several common limitations of social science research.

7.3.1 Population, Sampling, and Normal Distributions

Based on the review, quantitative and qualitative methods of social science in educational leadership research can be inferred to subscribe to the goals of identifying and analyzing data that can inform about a population. Researchers aim to collect data that either maximize generalization to the population in the case of quantitative methods or provide explanation and interpretation of a phenomenon that represents a population in the case of qualitative methods. In most cases, definitive conclusions of a population are rarely possible in social sciences because data collection of an entire population is seldom achieved.

Therefore, researchers apply sampling procedures where the mean of the sampling distribution will approximate the mean of the true population distribution, which has come to be known as normal distribution. This concept has set the parameters as to how data has been collected and analyzed over many years. It has become widely accepted that most data ought to be near an average value, with a small number of values that are smaller, and the other extreme where values are larger. To calculate these values, the probability density function (PDF), or density of a continuous random variable, is used. It is a function that describes the relative likelihood for this random variable to take on a given value.

A simple example will help to explain this: If 20 school principals were randomly selected and arranged within a room according to their heights, one would most likely see a normal distribution: with a few principals who are the shortest on the left, the majority in the middle, and a few principals who are the tallest on the right. This has come to be known as the normal curve or probability density function.

Most quantitative research involves the use of statistical methods presuming independence among data points and Gaussian “normal” distributions (Andriani & McKelvey, 2007 ). The Gaussian distribution is characterized by its stable mean and finite variance (Torres-Carrasquillo et al., 2002 ). Suppose that in the example above the shortest principal is 1.6 m. Given the question, “What is the probability of a principal in the line being shorter than 1.5m?”, the answer would be ‘0’. From the total number of principals in the room, there is no probability to find someone who is shorter than 1.6 m. But if the question were, “What is the probability of a principal in the line being 1.7m?”, then the answer could be 0.2 (i.e. 10%, or 2 persons). Hence, this explains the finite variance, which is dependent upon the sample size. Normal distributions assume few values far from the mean and, therefore, the mean is representative of the population. Even largest deviations, which are exceptionally rare, are still only about a factor of two from the mean in either direction and are well-characterized by quoting a simple standard deviation (Clauset, Shalizi, & Newman, 2009 ). This property of the normal curve, in particular the notion that extreme ends of variance are less likely to occur, has significant implications as will be discussed.

Is the normal distribution the standard to determine acceptable findings in educational research? One possible answer is a study done by Micceri ( 1989 ). His investigation involved obtaining secondary data from 46 different test sources and 89 different populations, and that included psychometric and achievement/ability measures. He managed to obtain analyzed data from 440 researchers; he then submitted these secondary data to analysis and found that they were significantly non-normal at the alpha.01 significance level. In fact, his findings showed that tail weights, exponential-level asymmetry, severe digit preferences, multi-modalities, and modes external to the mean/median interval were evident. His conclusion was that the underlying tenets of normality-assuming statistics appear fallacious for the psychometric measures. Micceri ( 1989 , p. 16) added that “one must conclude that the robustness literature is at best indicative.”

In another well-cited article in the Review of Educational Research, Walberg, Strykowski, Rovai, and Hung ( 1984 , p. 87) state that “considerable evidence shows that positive-skew distributions characterize many objects and fundamental processes in biology, crime, economics, demography, geography, industry, information and library sciences, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and the production and utilization of knowledge.” Perhaps the most pointed statement made by Walberg et al., that “commonly reported univariate statistics such as means, standard deviations, and ranges – as well as bivariate and multivariate statistics […] and regression weights – are generally useless in revealing skewness” is worthy to note.

What are the implications and limitations of the normal distribution in the population? There are at least two limitations. First, reliance on normal distribution statistics puts a heavy burden on assumptions and procedures. The procedures of randomness and equilibrium have powerful influences on how theories are built and also determine how research questions are formulated. In other words, findings may be rejected that could otherwise be informative because they do not meet the normal distribution litmus. The explanation of the normal distribution suggests that any events or phenomena at both (extreme) ends of the normal curve are highly unlikely – consequently, we typically reject those findings. Research on real-world phenomena, e.g. social networks, banking networks, and world-wide web networks, has established that events in the tails are more likely to happen than under the assumption of a normal distribution (Mitzenmacher, 2004 ). Many real-world networks (world-wide web, social networks, professional networks, etc.) have what is known as long-tailed distribution instead of normal distribution.

Second, independent variables contributing to a normal distribution assume that the variables are static. The reality is that in education (and educational leadership) the variables are dynamic. This dynamic function comes from past and even future environmental and individual influences. An example is that of being fortunate to have initial advantages, such as enrolling in a university study (past influence), working with eminent researchers (preferential attachment), obtaining well-funded research projects, and having publication opportunities (environmental influence), combine multiplicatively over time and accumulate to produce a highly skewed number of publications. The distribution would not conform to the normal curve for researchers when past influence, preferential attachment, and environmental influences are taken into consideration. At the moment, the large majority of reviewed studies, using inferential statistics of mean and standard deviations, does not account for such dynamic influences upon the variables. Is there an alternative that could complement this limitation?

7.3.2 Linearity in a Predominantly Closed System

The dominant analytical tools adopted in educational leadership research involve relational and associational analyses of the effects of leadership actions and interventions in schools. The focus is on identifying variables, factors, and their associations in providing explanations of successful practices. The central concept of relations is based on the assumption of linearity. Linearity means two things: Proportionality between cause and effect, and superposition (Nicolis, Prigogine, & Nocolis, 1989 ). According to this principle, complex problems can be broken down into simpler problems, which can be solved individually. That is, the effects of interventions can be reconstructed by summing up the effects of the single causes acting on the single variable. This, then, allows establishing causality efficiently.

However, this assumption forces researchers to accept that systems are in equilibrium. The first implication is that the number of possible outcomes in a system is limited (because of the limited number of variables within a closed system). The second implication is that moments of instability, such as through an intervention from the school leader, are brief, whereas the duration of the stability of the final outcome is long. In that case, one can measure effects or establish relations, and accept its data value as a true indication of the cause of intervention. For this to be true, however, the many variables in the school (as a closed system) must be assumed to be independent. Other possibilities to this assumption are to have interdependence, mutual causality, and the occurrence of possible external influences in the larger system (e.g. political or economic change).

The goal of school leadership is to improve student achievement. Student achievement is demonstrable, even though there are considerable differences of opinion about how to define improvement in learning or achievement (Larsen-Freeman, 1997 ). This is because much research assumes that the classroom is a closed system with defined boundaries, variables, and predictable outcomes. This mechanistic linear view neglects students as active constructors of meaning with diverse views, needs, and goals (Doll Jr, 1989 ). It is debatable to draw the association directly that teachers’ pedagogy results in learning. Luo, Hogan, Yeung, Sheng, and Aye ( 2014 ) found that Singapore students attributed their academic success mainly to internal regulations (effort, interest, and study skills), followed by teachers’ help, teachers’ ability, parents’ help, and tuition classes. While the study appears to support linearity and attribute students’ academic success to identified variables, there is still much less certainty about other aspects, such as the interaction effects among the variables. The use of generalized linearity cannot account for the interactions among students – how they motivate each other, how they compete, and how they derive the drive to perform. Researchers studying student achievement tend to seek to reduce and consolidate variables in order to discover order while denying irregularity.

Due to its simplicity, linearity became almost universally adopted as the true assumption along with its corresponding measures in educational leadership research. School improvement, student learning, staff capacity, and efficacy are much more complex than directly assigned proportionality between factors and outcomes, and identifying superposition. Cziko ( 1989 , p. 17) asserted that “complex human behaviour of the type that interests educational researchers is by its nature unpredictable if not indeterminate, a view that raises serious questions about the validity of quantitative, experimental, positivist approach to educational research.” In general, school improvement ought to include a notion of and methodology for describing non-linear cognitive systems or processes and to accept that research questions cannot be simplified to find answers from regression models alone, particularly research questions that involve non-specified outcome variables. For instance, school success, in addition to internal variables and factors, simultaneously includes influence by changes in government policies and conflicting demands of multiple stakeholders (e.g. economic and society-related stakeholders). Relying only on the linearity within a closed system will limit any understanding of such interdependencies and mutual influences. Therefore, a holistic and more complete understanding of social phenomena, such as why some school systems in some countries are more successful than others, requires an appreciation and application of research methods that include the elements of open and closed systems. The alternative to linearity – non-linearity, emergence, and self-organization – as an alternate view of reality shall be discussed in the fourth part of this chapter.

7.3.3 Explanatory, Explorative, and Descriptive Research

One of the research aims in social science is the understanding of subjectively meaningful experiences. The school of thought that stresses the importance of interpretation and observation in understanding the social situation in schools is also known as ‘interpretivism.’ This is an integral part of qualitative research methodologies and analytical tools adopted in educational leadership research. The interrelatedness of different aspects of staff members’ work (teaching, professional development), interactions with students (learning, guidance, etc.), cultural factors, and others, form a very important focus of qualitative research. Qualitative research practice has reflected this in the use of explanatory, explorative, and descriptive methods, which attempt to provide a holistic understanding of research participants’ views and actions in the context of their lives overall.

Ritchie, Lewis, Nicholls, and Ormston ( 2013 ) provide clear explanations for the following research practices: Exploratory research is undertaken to explore an issue or a topic. It is particularly useful in helping to identify a problem, clarify the nature of a problem or define the issues involved. It can be used to develop propositions and hypotheses for further research, to look for new insights or to reach a greater understanding of an issue. For example, one might conduct exploratory research to understand how staff members react to new curriculum plans or ideas for developing holistic achievement, or what teachers mean when they talk about ‘constructivism,’ or to help define what is meant by the term ‘white space.’

A significant number of qualitative studies reviewed in this paper are about description as well as exploration – finding the answers to the Who? What? Where? When? How? and How many? questions. While exploratory research can provide description, the purpose of descriptive research is to answer more clearly defined research questions. Descriptive research aims to provide a perspective for social phenomena or sets of experiences.

Explanatory research addresses the Why questions: Why do staff members value empowerment? Why do some staff members perceive the school climate negatively and others do not? Why do some students have a high self-motivation and others do not? What might explain this? Explanatory, in particular qualitative research assists in answering these types of questions, which allows ruling out rival explanations, guidance to come to valid conclusions, and developing causal explanations.

An obvious limitation of explanatory, explorative, and descriptive educational leadership research is that this is done after an intervention; another limitation constitutes the mere focus on outcomes. If research tapped into this process before interventions were implemented, then two reasonable questions would be:

Will an intended school vision or policy have the desired positive reception among staff members?

How can one predict the kind of reception or perception staff members might have?

The answers would be useful for school leaders in order to initiate intervention measures before serious damage occurs. It would be most useful to be able to extrapolate those answers to the larger system, where policy makers are interested in predicting likely outcomes of the policy prior to its implementation. An example of this kind of research is the development of models known as simulations. Computer simulation is known as the third disciplined scientific methodology. This concept will be discussed in the latter section on alternative methodologies.

A summary of the limitations of current methodologies in educational leadership is concisely captured by Leithwood and Jantzi ( 1999 , p. 471): “Finally, even the most sophisticated quantitative designs used in current leadership effects research treat leadership as exogenous variable influencing students, sometimes directly, but mostly indirectly, through school conditions, moderated by student background characteristics. The goal of such research usually is to validate a specific form of leadership by demonstrating significant effects on the school organization and on students. The logic of such designs assumes that influence flows in one direction – from the leader to the student, however tortuous the path might be. But the present study hints at a far more complex set of interactions between leadership, school conditions, and family educational culture in the production of student outcomes.”

7.4 The Current Landscape of Schooling

7.4.1 complexity of schools: systems and structures.

Murphy ( 2015 ) examined the evolution of education from the industrial era in the USA (1890–1920) to the post-industrial era of the 1980s. He concluded that post-industrial school organizations have fundamentally shifted in roles, relationships, and responsibilities. The shift is seen in the blurring of distinctions between administrators and teachers; general (expanded) roles instead of specialization, where specialization is no longer held in high regard, as compared to the industrial era, with greater flexibility and adaptability. In terms of structures, the traditional hierarchical organizational structures are giving way to structures that are flatter.

This shift in roles, relationships, and responsibilities has (also) contributed to the increasing complexity of schools. The direct and indirect involvement between and among a growing circle of stakeholders within the school and between government, employers, and communities clearly support the view that schooling is no longer seen as a closed system. It is both a closed and open system (Darling-Hammond, 2010 ; Hargreaves & Shirley, 2009 ; Leithwood & Day, 2007 ). Leithwood and Day ( 2007 ) state that “Schools are dynamic organizations, and change in ways that cannot be predicted,” as they reviewed leadership studies from eight different countries. Open systems are “a system in exchange of a matter with its environment” (Von Bertalanffy, 1968 , p. 141). Schools as an open system are therefore seen as part of a much larger network rather than an independent, self-standing entity.

Thus, to understand the processes still existing within the schools, it is critical to study the interrelations between those entities and their connections to the whole system. The interrelationships among stakeholders are non-linear and discontinuous, so even small changes in variables can have a significant impact on the whole system. This notion of small change leading to global change is reflected in the example of the current ‘world-class education system’ movement. From countries as diverse as the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Australia, and the United States of America, a common theme found in education reform documents is the term “world-class education.” This term has become widely associated with comparative results on international tests, such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which purports to measure certain aspects of educational quality. Indeed, the term is frequently used by countries that have attained high scores in these international tests as a strong indicator of being world-class. This seemingly small aspect of change (i.e. the comparing of achievements in Mathematics and Science) has impacted developing and developed nations in reforming their education system and in calling their ongoing education reforms as moving towards a ‘world-class education system.’

Thus, interrelationships in an open system require sophisticated analyses of their systemic nature. A reductionist and linear sequential relationship investigation would not be sufficient in order to bring about further change. To remain of value with the current trends, educational leadership researchers, who adopt complexity methodology, would help practitioners shaping the future by creating an environment of valid knowledge.

7.4.2 Shared and Distributed Leadership

The idea of distributed leadership connects well with the trend towards greater decentralization (since the 1980s) and school autonomy through which school leaders are expected to play a greater role in leadership beyond the school borders and requires them to make budgetary decisions, foster professional capacity development, and play a role in the design of school buildings, and many more aspects (Glatter & Kydd, 2003 ; Lee, Hallinger, & Walker, 2012 ; Nguyen, Ng, & Yap, 2017 ; Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001 ).

A core function of leadership – distributed leadership included – is decision-making. The most popular discussion of decision-making of the twenty-first century emanates from the concept of decentralization. Decentralization includes delegating responsibilities, practice of distributed leadership, and practice of distributed or shared instructional leadership (Lee et al., 2012 ; Nguyen et al., 2017 ; Spillane et al., 2001 ).

Glatter and Kydd ( 2003 ) identified two models of decentralization, which have important implications for school leaders, namely local empowerment and school empowerment. In local empowerment, the transfer of responsibilities takes place from the state to the districts, including schools with reciprocal rights and obligations. Therefore, school leaders are expected to play a greater role in leadership beyond school borders. Within the context of school empowerment or autonomy, decision-making by the school has been a consistent movement since the 1980s. The increase in autonomy required the school leaders to make budgetary changes, promote professional capacity development, rethink the design of school buildings, and consider many more aspects.

How might national and state policy frameworks (including curriculum and assessment, school quality and improvement) successfully engage and interact with key activities and characteristics of the school (including learning focus, structure, culture, and decision-making capacity)? What considerations must be taken when formulating policies of curriculum and implementation of policies within the classroom (class size, teaching approaches, and learning resources)? How does one optimize the capacity and work of school leaders to influence and promote effective learning? How might one be informed of the processes of influence beyond relying on interpretive and explanatory qualitative studies? Indeed, any attempt to design and carry out a comprehensive analysis of the ways in which leaders influence and promote successful outcomes through their decision-making will require specific methods and procedures beyond the traditional research methods (Leithwood & Levin, 2005 ). In particular, distributed leadership research stands to gain the most if relevant research methodologies were adopted that could be informative of the workings/actions of school leadership.

7.5 What Are the Alternatives to Current Social Science Methodologies for Educational Leadership?

As stated earlier, it is important to ensure that any alternative research methodologies proposed must adhere to the characteristic of disciplined inquiry. To further expand on this characteristic, Cronbach and Suppes stated that “Disciplined inquiry does not necessarily follow well-established, formal procedures. Some of the most excellent inquiry is free-ranging and speculative […] trying what might seem to be a bizarre combination of ideas and procedures…” (Cronbach & Suppes, 1969 , p. 16).

Drawing from the statement by Cronbach and Suppes, there are two other important points about disciplined inquiry that must be addressed here. Disciplined inquiry is not solely focussed on establishing facts. The methods of observation and inquiry are critical in defining which selection of facts of a phenomenon are found. Establishing facts can be done through a selection of observations and/or data collection methods. This point is not meant to raise the philosophical argument of positivism and post-positivism although it may be implied. Rather, from a pragmatic perspective, and to adhere to the characteristic of disciplined inquiry, one should be open to different types of observations and data collection methodologies, and thus different types of facts, as long as the definition of disciplined inquiry is adhered to. To further support this view, it must be understood that the field of educational leadership is not a discipline by itself. As in any field of study, one should not be limited to a single discipline to dictate and direct the focus and forms of studies. Instead, procedures and perspectives of different disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, economics, geography, politics, anthropology, sociology, and others might bear on the research questions that can be investigated.

7.5.1 Brief Introduction to Complexity Science from an Educational Leadership Perspective

Complexity science appeared in the twentieth century in response to criticism of the inadequacy of the reductionist analytical thinking model in helping to understand systems and the intricacies of organizations. Complexity science does not refer to a single discipline; like in social science, a family of disciplines (psychology, sociology, economics, etc.) adopt methodologies to study society-related phenomena. Complexity science includes the disciplines of non-linear dynamical systems, networks, synergetics, and complex adaptive systems, and others.

The cornerstone concept of complexity science is the complex system. Complex systems have distinctive characteristics of self-organization, adaptive ability, emergent properties, non-linear interactions, and dynamic and network-like structures (Bar-Yam, 2003 ; Capra, 1996 ; Cilliers, 2001 ). By looking at the complex system of an organization, leadership should, consequently, be viewed in a different light. A complex system is a ‘functional whole,’ consisting of interdependent and variable parts. In other words, unlike a conventional system (e.g. an aircraft), the parts need not have fixed relationships, fixed behaviours, or fixed quantities. Thus, their individual functions may also be undefined in traditional terms. Despite the apparent tenuousness of this concept, these systems form the majority of our world, and include living organisms and social systems, along with many inorganic natural systems (e.g. rivers). The following is a brief introduction of key concepts of complexity science. These concepts are also the methodological assumptions for complexity science.

7.5.2 Emergence

Emergence is a key concept in understanding how different levels are linked in a system. In the case of leadership, it is about how influence happens at the individual, structural, and system levels. These different levels exist simultaneously, and one is not necessarily more important than the other, rather they are recognized as co-existing and linked.

Each level has different patterns and can be subjected to different kinds of theorization. Patterns at ‘higher’ levels can emerge in ways that are hard to predict at the ‘lower’ levels. The challenge (long-acknowledged in leadership research) is to understand how different levels interact and affect school outcome or school improvement. This question of the nature of ‘emergence’ has been framed in a variety of ways, including those of “macro-micro linkage,” “individual and society,” the “problem of order,” and “structure, action and structuration” (Giddens, 1984 ). In this paper, Giddens’ explanation of emergence as the relationship between the different levels through the “structure and agency” is adopted.

Giddens stated that the term “structure” referred generally to “rules and resources.” These properties make it possible for social practices to exist across time and space and that lends them ‘systemic’ form (Giddens, 1984 , p. 17). Giddens referred to agents as groups or individuals who draw upon these structures to perform social actions through embedded memory, called memory traces. Memory traces are, thus, the vehicle by which social actions are carried out. Structure is also, however, the result of these social practices.

7.5.3 Non-linearity

Non-linearity refers to leadership effects or outcomes that are more complicated than being assigned to a single source or single chain of events. Influence and outcome are considered linear if one can attribute cause and effect. Non-linearity in leadership, however, means that the outcome is not proportional to the input and that the outcome does not conform to the principle of additivity, i.e. it may involve synergistic reactions, in which the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts.

One way to understand non-linearity is about how small events lead to large scale changes in systems. Within the natural sciences, the example often cited (or imagined) is that of a small disturbance in the atmosphere in one location, perhaps as small as the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, tipping the balance of other systems, leading ultimately to a storm on the other side of the globe (Capra, 1997 ).

7.5.4 Self-Organization

Self-organization happens naturally as a result of non-linear interactions among staff members in the school (Fontana & Ballati, 1999 ). As the word describes, there is no central authority guiding and imposing the interactions. Staff members adapt to changing goals and situations by adopting communication patterns that are not centrally controlled by an authority. In the process of working towards a goal (e.g. solving a leadership problem), self-organizing staff members tend to exhibit creativity and novelty as they have to quickly adapt and to find ways and means to solve the problem and achieve the goal.

This particular phenomenon is best observed in distributed leadership (Ng & Ho, 2012 ; Yuen, Chen, & Ng, 2015 ). As a result of interactions among members, the emergence of new patterns in conversation happens. This is an important aspect of self-organization. When there are no new patterns in conversations, there are no new ideas and no novel ways to solve problems. It must be noted that new patterns of conversation depend upon the responsiveness of its members towards each other and their awareness of each other’s ideas and responses. As a result of the behaviour of interacting members, learning and adaptation, i.e. novel ways of solving problems emerge.

As stated earlier, complexity science is interdisciplinary and as such, there are multiple methods and ways to study complexity phenomena. It is nearly impossible to delve into these methodologies in a meaningful manner within the scope of one paper.

The intention with this paper is to propose alternative social science methodologies and analytical tools to perform educational leadership research. The following section will highlight one of the methods used in complexity science research that provides an alternative to the limitations identified in current research methodologies in educational leadership research.

7.6 Social Network Analysis as an Alternative to Normal Distribution and Linearity

Social Network Analysis (Scott, 2011 ; Wasserman & Faust, 1994 ) focuses on relational structures that characterize a network of people. These relational structures are represented by graphs of individuals and their social relations, and indices of structure, which analyze the network of social relationships on the basis of characteristics such as neighbourhood, density, centrality, cohesion, and others. The Social Network Analysis-method has been used to investigate educational issues, such as teacher professional networks (Baker-Doyle & Yoon, 2011 ; Penuel, Riel, Krause, & Frank, 2009 ), the spread of educational innovations (Frank, Zhao, & Borman, 2004 ), and peer influences on youth behaviour (Ennett et al., 2006 ). Table 7.4 provides examples of the types of data collected, and the analytical methods and analytical tools used in social network analysis.

In network analysis, indicators of centrality identify the most important vertices within a graph. Two separate measures of degree centrality, namely in-degree and out-degree, are used. In-degree is a count of the number of ties directed to the node (agent/individual) and out-degree is the number of ties that the node (agent/individual) directs to others. When ties are associated to positive aspects, such as friendship or collaboration, in-degree is often interpreted as a form of popularity and out-degree as a form of gregariousness.

For example, the study of Bird and colleagues (Bird, Gourley, Devanbu, Gertz, & Swaminathan, 2006 ) introduces social network analysis and the evidence of long-tailed distribution, which is a distinctive digression from the traditional social science study and the normal distribution associated with it. The evidence from social network measures in this research suggests that “developers who actually commit changes, play much more significant roles in the e-mail community than non-developers” (Bird et al., 2006 , p. 142). What this conclusion alludes to is that knowledgeable and active developers who demonstrate their ability by actively responding and making changes (out-degree) based on feedback are more often contacted by e-mail queries from other users.

7.6.1 How Does Social Network Analysis Contribute to Educational Leadership Research?

The usefulness of social network analysis is reflected in a study (co-conducted by the author) on instructional leadership practices in primary schools in a centralized system where hierarchical structures are in place (Nguyen et al., 2017 ). It is noteworthy that the hierarchical structure’s inherent reliance on a ‘supreme leader’ is greatly mitigated by the emergence of heterarchical elements. In brief, hierarchical structures, on the one hand, are vertical top-down control and reporting structures. Heterarchical structures, on the other hand, are horizontal. The findings revealed that at the teachers’ and other key personnel’s horizontal levels of hierarchy, spontaneous interactions and collaborations take place within a group and amongst groups of teachers. Through these horizontal professional interactions, individuals exert reciprocal influences on one another, with the minimal effects of authority power. In this structure, distributed instructional leadership appears to be deliberately practiced. Key personnel and teachers work in collaborative teams and are supported by organizational structures, initiated by the principals. This is where various instructional improvement programmes and strategies are initiated, implemented, and led by staff members. This would be highly impossible, if the principal practices were heavily based on hierarchical instructional leadership.

This study implies that decision-making on instructional improvement programmes is rigorously and actively practiced by teachers at the heterarchical level. Decision-making involves getting support for resources and approval from authorities over the teachers. In an organizational hierarchical structure, it would be the authority immediately above the teachers - the Head of Department, followed by the Vice Principal, and finally the Principal. Typically, such a reporting and resource seeking structure would be ineffective in creating instructional improvement programmes. If one was to redo the study and adopt social network analysis measures, how would the findings be presented? The figures below are hypothetically generated to provide a possible way to interpret hierarchical and heterarchical structures: Fig. 7.1 shows a social network representation, which provides an alternative way to represent hierarchy. The central (purple dot) represents the Principal, while the connected red dots to the Principal are the Head of Departments. The Head of Departments then oversees Subject Heads and finally teachers. Implying from our study, where heterarchical elements are exhibited, social network representation will most plausibly provide the means to represent the elements in Fig. 7.1 .

Expected and actual reporting and decision-making pathways in managing teaching and learning

Note: In B, T1 = perceived authority for immediate action (e.g. allocation of resources, ability to act); T2 = perceived trust; T3 = pilot curriculum project

What is immediately evident, is that the representation provides a more realistic way to look at social interactions involving decision-making. The connected dots among teachers could reveal who they interact most with. In addition, what would be most revealing is the emergence of how teachers in hybrid hierarchical and heterarchical structures make decisions. Specifically, the emergence of by-passing the constraints of a typical top-down hierarchical structure by directly getting support from centrality – the principal, who controls and provides resources and who also approves final decisions.

In summary, the discussion on one of the complexity science methodologies/social network analysis presents opportunities to reframe educational leadership research. It is now possible to ask research questions that are not bound by the constraints of current social science methodologies. Here are a number of questions using Social Network Analysis alone:

What is the local (indigenous) knowledge base of instructional leadership and how does it emerge?

How do different level leaders (Ministry of Education, Superintendents, Principals, etc.) shape the perception of curriculum policies in schools? (And – for specific local understanding – who are the influential personnel impacting curriculum and policy implementation?)

Examination of ties among school departments that affect school improvement: What are the implications for long-term strategy processes for school improvement in light of the complex and adaptive nature of departments?

What does engagement in decision-making look like?

How do aspects of relations within the network: structural (pattern of interaction, face-to-face interaction), affective (benevolence and trust), and cognitive (mutual knowledge about each other’s skills and knowledge, and shared systems of meaning) affect professional development and learning?

Will an intended school vision/policy enjoy the desired positive reception among staff members?

7.7 Conclusion

This chapter contains the review that social science methodologies and analytical tools have been consistently and almost universally adopted in educational leadership research for the last three decades. This paper also highlights a number of limitations of current social science methodologies. The alternative complexity science research methodologies proposed are not merely alternative or novel ways of examining the problems or issues encountered. What is more valuable is that these alternative methodologies bring with them their contrasting disciplinary roots and their corresponding (new) questions. The interest in the effects of educational leadership on school improvement can now be investigated by asking different research questions. One could, indeed, go deeper, wide-angle or zoom-in, and even make predictions by revisiting the basic question of “What do we wish to know about school improvement that we do not yet know enough about?”

By being open to alternative methodologies, one has nothing to lose but everything to gain in the scholastic pursuit of knowledge in the field of educational leadership and management. Researchers must avoid being educational leadership researchers who see the world merely from the perspectives that they have lived in; they should also avoid accepting these perspectives as the only perspectives without questions. The choice of research method or combination of methods affects the type of research questions asked (although, in practice, the questions are also often shaped by the researchers’ training and area of expertise). Ideally, one should not be constrained by methods before asking research questions. Research questions are the primary drivers of the quest for knowledge. This is the basis from which the most relevant methodologies are found that can answer research questions and provide researchers with the findings that can contribute to theory formation, knowledge building, and translation into practice. The author, therefore, proposes the following implications for practice and for research:

Introduce complexity science (and also other disciplines) as additional graduate research courses. One can still tap on the transmission-form of knowledge transfer and supervisor-supervisee platform.

Partner with established experts in the discipline of complexity science to leverage and speed up transfer of learning and research skills among educational leadership professors.

Engage in epistemological and ontological discussions (including generalizability of findings) on complexity theory – to deepen our understanding of the advantages and limitations of complexity science disciplined inquiries.

Expand educational leadership journals to accept findings and research that do not necessarily conform to social science methodologies alone.

Finally, reframing educational leadership research is an imperative in the light of diminishing researchable aspects due to the limitations of current methodologies. I, the author, want to reiterate that I do not advocate replacing existing social science methodologies. I acknowledge that social methodologies are still essential and vital. The full spectrum of social science research methodologies is needed to continue contributing to theory development in educational leadership and management. However, one also needs alternatives and complementary approaches to social science, such as complexity science methodologies for both theory development and theory building. The important thing to remember is that the questions come first and the methods follow.

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NG, D. (2021). Reframing Educational Leadership Research in the Twenty-First Century. In: Oude Groote Beverborg, A., Feldhoff, T., Maag Merki, K., Radisch, F. (eds) Concept and Design Developments in School Improvement Research. Accountability and Educational Improvement. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69345-9_7

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Theories of educational leadership.

• Gabriele Lakomski Gabriele Lakomski University of Melbourne
•  and  Colin W. Evers Colin W. Evers UNSW Sydney
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.603
• Published online: 29 May 2020

From its beginnings in the 1940s, leadership research has been conducted as a scientific activity, with the aim of discovering the essence of leadership that, once found, would provide social–organizational benefits. However, no essence has been discovered, and research continues undeterred. Leadership theories old and new rely on the conception of science, known as logical empiricism, to support their claims. The identification of logical empiricism with science, however, is a mistake as empiricism is no longer considered valid, a mistake perpetuated in contemporary education leadership theories that present their accounts as alternatives to science. A better account of science, “naturalistic coherentism,” is able to advance the theory and practice of education leadership by growing knowledge, not by denying it.

• early leadership theories
• logical empiricism
• epistemology
• naturalistic coherentism
• leadership theories as alternatives to science
• postmodernism
• contingency theories
• leadership as instructional and transformational
• distributed
• distributed cognition

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Theories of Educational Leadership

Introduction, general overview of educational leadership styles and related theories.

• Textbooks and Handbooks
• Journals and Professional Organizations
• Historical and Philosophical Foundations
• Conceptual Approaches and Frameworks Exemplars
• Large Data Sets and Empirical Evidence
• Complementary, Diverse, and Alternative Perspectives
• Critical, Global, and International Applications

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• Administrator Preparation
• Assessing School Leader Effectiveness
• Continuous Improvement and "High Leverage" Educational Problems
• Culturally Responsive Leadership
• Distributed Leadership
• Education Governance
• Leadership in Early Childhood Education

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Theories of Educational Leadership by Lorri Michelle Johnson Santamaría LAST REVIEWED: 30 August 2016 LAST MODIFIED: 30 August 2016 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0153

Prior to understanding theories of educational leadership, it is important to begin with a comprehensive definition of educational leadership. In this article, educational leadership is the professional practice of a leader (or leaders) in an administrative role(s) working with, guiding, and influencing educators in a particular context toward improving learning and other educational processes in early childhood education centers and in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions. These people are most often individuals or small teams employed as school site leaders, principals, and assistant or associate administrators. In early childhood, higher education, or other educational settings these individuals may serve as center director, head of school, department chair, academic dean, provost, or president. Theories of educational leadership have origins in the United States, where frameworks have been drawn largely from industry and commerce management principles. Leadership theories and practices drawn from business-oriented frames of reference have been adopted and adapted for use in educational settings in the United States and similarly developed nations. Therefore, theories of educational leadership have been derived from a diversity of interdisciplinary conceptualizations and models over time. As a result, theories of leadership can be considered emergent, dynamic, and subject to further evolution. In fact, every theory of educational leadership is subject to investigation by researchers in educational centers, schools, and university settings who seek to better understand the dynamics of leadership in a variety of educational contexts. Beyond seminal notions and ideations of educational leadership, developing and sometimes groundbreaking theories contribute to the existing canonical literature in the field. Nonetheless, most theories of educational leadership comprise key elements, which often include capabilities, approaches, and practices. A closer look at these elements further reveals theoretical types of educational leadership (e.g., styles, traits, behaviors), characteristics of educational leadership (e.g., management versus leadership, power, coercion, conceptual frameworks), or the activities or practices educational leaders engage in as expressions of their leadership in action (e.g., approaches, ways of leading). Each element is dependent on the educational context within which it occurs and warrants the consideration of multiple and international perspectives for relevance in diverse and global societies in the 21st century. Therefore, this article includes a representative sampling of influential textbooks, handbooks, journals, and relevant literature as exemplars of sources to explain, illuminate, introduce, interrogate, and evaluate a variety of educational leadership theories. Additionally, this article provides historical and philosophical foundations, general overviews, conceptual frameworks, supporting literature on large data sets, and multiple complementary international perspectives of the theories considered. Pertinent examples are provided from each area for further exploration, consideration, and study by readers.

While literature on educational leadership styles and related leadership theories has been contested by scholars in works such as Spillane, et al. 2004 , representative research discusses leadership styles as relevant to the field. Contributions on educational leadership styles provide reference points from which to begin a deeper consideration of theories of educational leadership. Familiarity with these works (e.g., servant, authentic, instructional/ pedagogical, distributed, transactional, transformational, etc.) is relevant for students, aspiring leaders, practitioners, and academics interested in the discipline to understand ways in which the theories have been developed, are manifested, and are sometimes contested in educational settings. Following the general to specific, business, commerce, management to education progression, and cross-disciplinary nature of educational leadership theories, servant leadership emerges as one of the oldest if not the first leadership style. Many researchers have studied servant leadership, however, Greenleaf and Spears 2002 (originally published in 1977) provide the most thorough presentation of the type. The authors of these works present philosophical underpinnings of servant leadership in educational and other contexts with clear connections to authentic, transactional, and transformational conceptualizations of leadership in education. Evidence of the dynamic nature of educational leadership is provided in the varied opinions on particular leadership styles. For example, scholars, in works such as Avolio and Gardner 2005 , present authentic leadership in schools, while Southworth 2012 and West-Burnham 2013 present understandings of and counter-perspectives to instructional and pedagogical leadership. Similarly, Harris 2004 features the pros and cons of distributed leadership specific to educational contexts. Building on multiple voices in educational leadership, an intriguing juxtaposition is found to exist between transactional and transformational leadership. To learn about it, new students and practitioners should consult Bass 1999 . Complementing this work, the contributors to Leithwood, et al. 2009 write about and assert the benefits of transformational leadership, whereas Fink 2005 and Day 2003 offer critiques of this style. In a further departure of transactional leadership, Shields 2010 pushes beyond the theory by introducing transformative leadership as a style more inclusive of leadership for social justice and more appropriate for culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. This work is similar to those of Bogotch 2002 and Brown 2004 . Further demonstrating the multiple ways in which educational leadership styles can be conceptualized by scholars and researchers in the field, Fehr, et al. 2015 and Frick 2009 investigate moral leadership. Readers are reminded that this comprehensive general overview is open to additional exploration and, as such, it is not exhaustive. It is designed to set the stage for conceptual framing of educational leadership theories through a deeper consideration of the theme. Selected handbooks and textbooks serve to bring together all of the aspects covered in this entry in single volumes from a variety of worldviews and perspectives.

Avolio, Bruce J., and William L. Gardner. 2005. Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly 16.3: 315–338.

DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001

Excellent read. Leading scholars in the field provide readers with diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives, including discourse on definitions for the constructs of authenticity, authentic leaders, authentic leadership, and authentic leadership development, including a detailed description of the components of authentic leadership theory.

Bass, Bernard M. 1999. Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 8.1: 9–32.

DOI: 10.1080/135943299398410

Peer-reviewed article is significant because it offers a review of the research to the date of publication on transformational leadership considering application in interdisciplinary contexts (business, military, industrial, hospital, and educational). A key contribution because it states research findings that indicate women leaders tend to be more transformational than their male counterparts.

Bogotch, Ira E. 2002. Educational leadership and social justice: Practice into theory. Journal of School Leadership 12.2: 138–156.

Expert author in the field explores and defines social justice leadership in educational contexts and concludes its creation is dependent on community context and players with pluralistic or individual means and ends. Important foundational reading for understanding other theorists who include social justice aspects in their scholarly contributions on educational leadership.

Brown, Kathleen M. 2004. Leadership for social justice and equity weaving a transformative framework and pedagogy. Educational Administration Quarterly 40.1: 79–110.

DOI: 10.1177/0013161X03259147

Features strategies to help pre-service leaders develop as transformative, reflective scholars and practitioners actively engaged in political, emancipatory interests by way of examination of ontological and epistemological assumptions, values and beliefs, context and experience, and competing worldviews.

Day, Christopher. 2003. What successful leadership in schools looks like: Implications for policy and practice. In Handbook of educational leadership and management . Edited by Brent Davies and John West-Burnham, 87–204. London: Pearson Education.

Book chapter in edited handbook. Offers a balanced critique of transformational leadership from an international perspective.

Fehr, Ryan, Kai Chi Sam Yam, and Carolyn Dang. 2015. Moralized leadership: The construction and consequences of ethical leader perceptions. Academy of Management Review 40.2: 182–209.

DOI: 10.5465/amr.2013.0358

Current research provides an overview of moral leadership and features the construction and consequences of ethical leader perceptions. It also reveals ways in which values underlying the moralized behaviors of leaders determine specific types of follower behavior.

Fink, Dean. 2005. Developing leaders for their future not our past. In Developing leadership: Creating the schools of tomorrow . Edited by Martin J. Coles and Geoff Southworth, 1–20. Maidenhead, UK: Open Univ. Press.

Frick, William C. 2009. Principals’ value-informed decision making, intrapersonal moral discord, and pathways to resolution: The complexities of moral leadership praxis. Journal of Educational Administration 47.1: 50–74.

DOI: 10.1108/09578230910928089

Good article for understanding the nuances of what is meant by moral leadership. The research featured explores internal struggles experienced by school leaders when making ethically informed judgments. Contains principals’ intimate reflections about professional decision making in response to personal versus organizational and/or professional value discrepancy.

Greenleaf, Robert K., and Larry C. Spears. 2002. Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness . Mahwah, NJ: Paulist.

The seminal book on servant leadership, this book is an interdisciplinary must-read for those interested in learning more about this enduring leadership style. Originally published in 1977.

Harris, Alma. 2004. Distributed leadership and school improvement: Leading or misleading? Educational Management Administration & Leadership 32.1: 11–24.

DOI: 10.1177/1741143204039297

Important article on the topic by a leading scholar who suggests further research is needed to confirm a relationship between distributed forms of leadership and improved student learning outcomes.

Leithwood, Ken, Doris Jantzi, and Rosanne Steinbach. 2009. Changing leadership for changing times . 2d ed. Maidenhead, UK: Open Univ. Press.

Originally published in 1998. Examines the types of leadership that are likely to be productive in creating and sustaining schools with records of improvement. It is based on a long term study of “transformational” leadership in school restructuring contexts and offers what the authors consider to be a highly readable account of leadership that is grounded in empirical evidence.

Shields, Carolyn M. 2010. Transformative leadership: Working for equity in diverse contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly 46.4: 558–589.

DOI: 10.1177/0013161X10375609

Author/scholar and leader in the field delineates a theory of transformative leadership, distinct from other theories (transformational or transactional leadership) to assess the utility of the theory for guiding the practice of educational leaders who want to effect both educational and broader social change.

Southworth, Geoff. 2012. Connecting leadership and learning. In Leadership and learning . Edited by Jan Robertson and Helen Timperley, 71–85. London: SAGE.

The author in this edited book argues that leadership should be focused on teaching and learning and, in particular, pedagogical practices.

Spillane, James P., Richard Halverson, and John B. Diamond. 2004. Towards a theory of leadership practice: A distributed perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies 36.1: 3–34.

DOI: 10.1080/0022027032000106726

Widely read scholars of educational leadership suggest the term style offers a fixed approach to leadership and that more critique of this term is called for with regard to educational leadership.

West-Burnham, John. 2013. Contemporary issues in educational leadership. In Principles of school leadership . Edited by Mark Brundrett, 9–26. London: SAGE.

West-Burnham offers a commentary on the evolution of school leadership and management theory.

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• Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy The goal of the Center's research is to identify ways that leaders, policymakers, teacher developers, and the reform community can support teachers' work and careers and, ultimately, the quality of young people's learning opportunities, in U.S. elementary and secondary schools.
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• Institute for Educational Leadership The mission of the IEL is to improve education through influencing policies that have an impact on children and their families on the federal, state, and local government levels.
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MSU’s Robinson transitions to leadership role at Institute for Humanities

Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University’s Morgan Robinson, an associate professor in the Department of History, is the new leader of the College of Arts and Science’s Institute for the Humanities and begins her duties this fall.

“I am grateful to Dr. Julia Osman, the immediate past director, for building up a lively and sustainable institute over the course of the last six years. We have all enjoyed the fruits of having a vibrant and engaged center for the humanities on campus, and that is the legacy that I hope to continue: to keep highlighting the important work being done by humanities practitioners here at Mississippi State, and the fruitful—and ​sometimes surprising—connections that can be made across departments and colleges, and between the university and its surrounding community,” said Robinson, an MSU faculty member since 2018.

Osman, who served as director for seven years, said Robinson is a “natural choice” to lead the institute.

“She is a gifted and well-respected humanities scholar who will undoubtedly advance the scholarly aims of the Institute for the Humanities research support programs,” Osman said. “She also is engaged in our community and wider university happenings and will bring a fresh take on the ‘conversations with a humanist’ element of the institute.  She is eager and open to engaging with the underserved members of our community and amplifying their voices.”

Robinson holds a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Princeton University.

This semester, she has been an International Fellow at the Cultural Studies Institute Essen, in Essen, Germany, completing research toward her second book with a focus on the notions of research and the researcher in 19th and 20th century East Africa.

In 2021, she received a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers in Berlin, Germany, and in 2019 was the recipient of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Research Initiative Seed Funding. She received a Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grant for Research in European, African or Asian History from the American Historical Association also in 2019.

Part of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute for the Humanities promotes research, scholarship and creative performances in the humanistic disciplines and raises their visibility, both within MSU and the wider community.

For more information about MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and Institute for Humanities, visit www.cas.msstate.edu and www.ih.msstate.edu .

Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu .

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Inclusive leadership could be a game-changer for business

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 New research has found that leadership style could have a noticeable impact on an employee's working experience and on staff retention.

Inclusive leadership is not just about embracing diversity.

Employee retention is a key focus for corporations globally, and new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has found that leadership style could have a noticeable impact on an employee's working experience.

The study by ECU researchers  Dr Azadeh Shafaei  and  Dr Mehran Nejati  found that inclusive leaders are crucial in organisations to create conditions for employees to experience meaningful work.

"Inclusive leadership is not just about embracing diversity. It is the art of weaving an extraordinarily rich tapestry of talents, ideals, and perspectives into the very fabric of organisational success. Inclusive leaders focus on employees need for belongingness and uniqueness and provide a psychologically safe environment that fosters creativity," Dr Shafaei said.

"This is unique because as humans, we have the need for feeling that we belong to our work group, our organisation and at the same time, we really want to be recognised and valued for what we can bring to the table.

"Inclusive leaders shape an organisational culture and help employees to learn the expected behaviours relevant to the culture and its underlying values. Inclusive leaders also cultivate high-quality relationships in the workplace based on trust that can foster collaboration and cooperation among employees," Dr Shafaei explained.

"This leadership style enhances employees' autonomy, signals that they are valued individuals who can make unbiased decisions, provides them with emotional support and increased trustworthiness, and gives them the opportunity to voice their opinions which are essential in creating meaning-making capabilities, and can lead to experiencing meaningfulness at work by employees."

Research revealed that work meaningfulness is positively related to a wide range of employee and organisational outcomes such as work and life satisfaction, engagement, psychological well-being, work motivation, career development, creativity, positive work behaviour, in-role and extra-role performance, and organisational commitment.

Work meaningfulness can bring about several positive outcomes including job satisfaction, better performance, and greater motivation.

"Inclusive leadership refers to a leadership style that invites and appreciates contributions from followers by demonstrating openness, flexibility, and availability, which can create a psychologically safe environment. Such a psychologically safe environment helps employees share their unique perspectives, discuss differences, and practice problem solving. Also, inclusive leaders promote employees' uniqueness and sense of belongingness to the organisation, the two crucial factors in creating a psychologically safe environment where employees can be themselves.

"Moreover, inclusive leaders welcome contributions from diverse team members and ensure that employees have access to organisational resources. Through demonstrating availability, flexibility, and openness, inclusive leaders provide help and support to employees to solve problems, and make them believe that mistakes are not criticized, rather are opportunities to learn from," said Dr Shafaei.

She noted that when leaders treat staff with respect and dignity, and value their contributions, they can create positive job attributes which makes employees perceive that their workplace promotes experimentation, open discussion, and learning from errors. Working in such a supportive environment created by inclusive leaders could foster greater meaningful work for employees.

Dr Shafaei noted that inclusive leadership from upper management was crucial to create a trickle-down effect to line managers.

"By demonstrating all the inclusive behaviours or creating that trusting relationship at the top end of leadership, and communicating that to other levels of employees, leaders will set an example for others on how to behave.

"If a leader can help an employee to shape a meaningful work experience for us, employees will be more committed to coming to work, and it will have a more positive effect in enhancing the intrinsic motivation within employees. This will definitely have an impact on keeping employees happy and reducing the number of turnovers in an organisation."

More From Forbes

7 chatgpt prompts to land you that leadership role in education.

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7 ChatGPT Prompts When Applying For A Leadership Role In Education

Becoming a leader in education is a career milestone that demands thorough preparation.

You must be able to articulate a clear vision, demonstrate a deep understanding of leadership and show your ability to drive school success through strategic planning and colleague engagement. The following ChatGPT prompts are designed to help teachers refine their interview skills, craft compelling personal statements and develop a robust leadership strategy. Each prompt is tailored to address critical aspects of the preparation process.

Get this right and present yourself as the well-rounded, confident and capable leaders you are.

1. Role Play The Interview

Using ChatGPT for this purpose can help you practice responses to potential questions. This will allow you to refine your answers and build confidence. It is an opportunity to receive constructive feedback, so you can improve your communication skills.

"I am preparing for an educational leadership interview. Act as the interviewer and ask me a series of questions about my experience, my leadership philosophy, and how I handle specific challenges in an educational setting. After each response, provide detailed feedback and suggestions for improvement. Focus on questions that test my strategic thinking and ability to lead a team."

ChatGPT: "Can you describe a time when you had to manage a conflict between staff members? How did you handle it and what was the outcome?"

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You: "In my current job, two colleagues disagreed over resource allocation. I arranged a meeting and listened to their concerns. I was able to facilitate a meaningful discussion to reach a consensus. The solution improved team collaboration."

ChatGPT Feedback: "Good job facilitating a discussion and reaching a consensus. Next time, highlight any specific conflict resolution techniques you used such as active listening or mediation to show a deeper understanding of conflict management."

2. Drafting A Resume

Your resume will stand out when it clearly highlights specific achievements and quantifies results.

Demonstrating your tangible impact is crucial. Using a clean, professional format with well-organized sections makes the document easy to read and visually appealing.

"Help me draft a resume tailored for an educational leadership position. Include sections for professional summary, work experience, education, skills and certifications. Emphasize my leadership accomplishments, my impact on student outcomes and my experience with school administration. Use bullet points and highlight the special projects or initiatives I led. Ask me questions that will help make this an accurate and outstanding resume.”

3. Writing A Personal Statement

A personal statement that aligns with the job specifications and provides concrete examples is crucial. It will show your suitability for the role and demonstrate that your past experiences have prepared you to meet the specific needs of your new role. This will make your application stand out.

"Assist me in writing a personal statement for an educational leadership role that aligns with the job specifications. Emphasize my leadership experience, vision for the school and how my skills and accomplishments meet the requirements. Include examples of past successes and describe how I plan to contribute to the school's future success. Ask me questions that will help make this an accurate and outstanding resume."

4. Articulating Your Vision for Leadership

This will demonstrate your ability to inspire and guide the school community. It will foster a sense of purpose and direction. It makes you a compelling candidate for driving positive change and achieving long-term success.

"Help me articulate my vision for the educational leadership role I am applying for. Focus on my goals for academic excellence, staff development and community involvement. Include specific strategies and initiatives I plan to implement to achieve these goals."

Example Interaction:

ChatGPT: "My vision as an educational leader is to create a nurturing environment where every student can achieve academic excellence. I aim to implement professional development programs that empower teachers and foster a collaborative community that actively engages parents and local stakeholders. Specific strategies include introducing data-driven instruction, expanding extracurricular activities and building partnerships with local businesses to enhance educational opportunities."

5. Understanding Key Leadership Concepts

Understanding key educational leadership concepts will enable you to articulate your vision and approach to improving teaching and learning. It allows you to provide examples of how you have applied these concepts, showcasing your practical experience and impact on student outcomes.

"Explain key concepts and trends in educational leadership. Provide examples of how these can be applied in a school setting and how I can discuss them effectively during my interview. Ask me questions that will help make this an accurate and outstanding resume."

6. Developing a Strategic Plan

Developing a strategic plan to refer to in your interview will be very impressive. It demonstrates your ability to set clear, long-term goals and align resources to achieve them. It provides concrete evidence of your commitment to improving educational outcomes and your proactive approach to leadership.

"Guide me through developing a strategic plan for a school. Outline the steps and include key components such as vision, mission, goals, action plans and evaluation methods. Provide examples of how to set realistic goals and measure progress."

ChatGPT: "Step 1: Define the vision and mission of the school. Step 2: Identify strategic goals such as improving literacy rates and increasing student engagement. Step 3: Develop action plans for each goal detailing specific activities, responsible parties and timelines. Step 4: Establish evaluation methods to monitor progress and make adjustments as needed. For example, to improve literacy rates, set a goal of increasing reading proficiency by 15% over three years. Implement reading intervention programs, provide professional development for teachers and use standardized test scores to measure progress."

7. Reflecting on Your Personal Leadership Style

This will help you understand your strengths and areas for growth. This allows you to effectively communicate your value. This self-awareness also enables you to align your leadership approach with the school's vision and culture.

"Help me reflect on my personal leadership style and how it aligns with the needs of the school I am applying to. Provide examples of leadership styles (e.g., transformational, transactional and situational) and their impact on school culture and performance. Guide me in identifying my leadership strengths and areas for growth."

ChatGPT: "Reflect on whether your leadership style is transformational, transactional or situational. For instance, a transformational leader who inspires and motivates staff might be ideal for a school needing significant cultural change. Discuss how your style has positively impacted previous schools and how it aligns with the current school's goals. Identify strengths such as effective communication and decision-making and areas for growth such as delegating responsibilities or managing change."

These ChatGPT prompts can help you prepare for an educational leadership role. By practicing interview scenarios, drafting key documents and reflecting on leadership concepts, you can approach your interview with increased confidence and clarity.

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Embattled California Lutheran University President Lori Varlotta out

California Lutheran University President Lori Varlotta is resigning at the end of May, just over four months after a lopsided faculty vote of no confidence in her leadership.

Ann Boynton, the chairwoman of the Thousand Oaks university's Board of Regents, announced the decision in an email Tuesday morning, just over a week after the 3,400-student university celebrated commencement.

Varlotta approached the board earlier this year to request a release from her contract and will step down May 31, Boynton said in the email.

Boynton praised Varlotta's work over her tenure, saying the president "worked with determination and focus" to lead Cal Lutheran through much of the pandemic and "undertook difficult, yet necessary changes to stabilize the university's financial position."

"(Varlotta's) accomplishments have helped position Cal Lutheran for the future," Boynton wrote.

Varlotta declined an interview request through a spokesperson, but in a news release said she is proud of what she accomplished alongside the Cal Lutheran community. “The university is lucky to have passionate students, faculty, staff and supporters who share the goal of a bright future for Cal Lutheran and I look forward to watching the university continue to flourish,” she wrote.

To replace Varlotta, the board appointed the Rev. John Nunes, most recently the pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Santa Monica, to serve a two-year term as interim president. Nunes is a senior fellow at the religious liberty nonprofit Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy and former president of Concordia College in New York.

Varlotta's departure fulfills the primary demand of a Jan. 16 faculty assembly resolution — passed 122-3 — that accused the third-year president of mismanaging university finances and said Varlotta "eroded and divided" the university's "historically close" community.

Three top faculty leaders — Faculty Senate Chair Sharon Docter, Faculty Affairs Committee Chair Kristine Butcher and Faculty Assembly Chair Michael Hart, who also serves as the faculty's representative to the Board of Regents — issued a statement saying faculty are optimistic about the university's future.

"The faculty at Cal Lutheran look forward to working with interim president, Dr. John Nunes, and the Board of Regents to ensure that our institution will continue to thrive now and into the future," the statement said. "Faculty are committed to providing the best educational experience possible for our students."

The first woman to serve as Cal Lutheran's president, Varlotta took over from 12-year President Chris Kimball in September 2020. In her three years at the helm the university faced steep post-pandemic enrollment drops, a tightening budget and a highly publicized court battle with former U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly.

She is expected to return to the university in fall 2025 as a distinguished professor of higher education leadership. In the meantime, she will take research time before coming back to CLU. Mark Berry, a university spokesperson, declined to say whether Varlotta would retain her salary.

"Cal Lutheran doesn't discuss the details of any individual's employment," he wrote in a text. "This is our policy."

Regents threw their public support behind the president in the immediate aftermath of the no-confidence vote while Varlotta tied the faculty's discontent to the university's larger troubles.

The president told reporters after her State of the University address in February that regents hired her to make changes and "disrupt the status quo" by reorganizing academic programs and making potential cuts.

"I understand that change is uncomfortable; change is hard," she said.

This story may be updated.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at  [email protected]  or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @ isaiahmurtaugh  and @ vcsschools . You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to  Report for America .

US FDIC Needs 'Fresh Start' With New Chair, White House Official Says

US FDIC Needs 'Fresh Start' With New Chair, White House Official Says

FILE PHOTO: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) logo is seen at the FDIC headquarters in Washington, February 23, 2011. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo

By Nandita Bose, Pete Schroeder and Douglas Gillison

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House believes the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp needs a "fresh start" with a new chair who is not part of the leadership that presided over its long-running cultural problems, a White House official told Reuters on Tuesday.

FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg finally succumbed on Monday to a months-long scandal over sexual harassment at the agency, announcing that he would step down once the Senate has confirmed a successor, in a move that could kill bank capital hikes and other major Wall Street bank rules sought by Democrats.

Washington insiders and analysts said the White House is under pressure to quickly fill the role and preserve Democratic President Joe Biden's financial regulation agenda just six months ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

They expect the White House would seek a female nominee already in government who would be better placed to overhaul the agency's toxic culture and get through the nomination process faster.

"Assuming that the White House were to announce a nominee tomorrow to replace Mr. Gruenberg, the best it could hope for is a vote on the Senate floor in September," Stifel Chief Washington Policy Strategist Brian Gardner wrote on Tuesday.

The administration is "very conscious" of the tight Senate calendar and wants to put a nominee in front of the Senate Banking Committee as soon as possible, said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Gruenberg, a Democrat, had clung to his job since the scandal erupted in November, despite many lawmakers demanding he step down. A Monday statement by top Democrat and Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown calling for fresh leadership appeared to tip the balance.

A top bank regulator, the FDIC faces a critical moment as regional banks remain under stress following last year's turmoil, and as it finalizes capital hikes and other major new rules for Wall Street banks.

Under the law, the only way for the administration to replace Gruenberg without handing control of the agency to Republicans is to have the Senate, which Democrats control by one vote, confirm their new pick. But many Washington analysts believe Gruenberg may struggle to hold onto his job much longer, as Republicans continue to pile pressure on Biden to fire him.

A damning independent review this month found widespread misconduct at the FDIC went unaddressed for years, and cited instances in which Gruenberg - who has spent nearly two decades in leadership at the agency - lost his temper with subordinates.

The agency's deep-seated problems, combined with the uncertainty created by the election, may put off the relatively small pool of viable candidates, said analysts.

"I don’t know who they’re going to find who can get the number of votes quickly and even if they find the perfect person, I wonder if that perfect person would be interested," said Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research for brokerage BTIG.

POSSIBLE CONTENDERS

Among the candidates who could fit the bill is Christy Goldsmith Romero, a Democratic member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said one regulatory and one industry source.

Goldsmith Romero, who declined to comment, is in the process of being re-nominated to the CFTC role, meaning the White House could switch her nomination to FDIC chair quickly, one said.

Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance and former top Federal Reserve official Nellie Liang would also be a strong candidate, having already been Senate confirmed, one of the people said.

While New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris is not Senate-confirmed, she was in contention for Gruenberg's job back in 2022 and could also be a potentially strong candidate, said two other people.

Spokespeople for Liang and Harris declined or did not respond to a request for comment.

Gruenberg, 71, had been at the FDIC since 2005 and is the longest-serving FDIC board member in the agency's 89-year history. During that time he served as its chair twice - once under President Barack Obama and the second time under Biden.

While Gruenberg was not found to be directly responsible for the agency's broad cultural issues, he apologized for misconduct under his leadership and for his own transgressions.

Should he leave the agency without a confirmed replacement, its leadership would fall to Travis Hill, the agency's vice chair and a Republican who has voted against some of the proposed new rules. The agency would then be deadlocked 2-2.

That could delay indefinitely the Basel capital hikes, and other major draft rules the agency is working on with fellow regulators; those include requirements for some lenders to hold more long-term debt to boost their resilience; restrictions on banker executive pay; and changes to bank merger policies.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that the president "is taking this very seriously."

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Pete Schroeder and Douglas Gillison in Washington; Additional reporting by Lananh Nguyen, Saeed Azhar and Hannah Lang in New York; Writing and additional reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Franklin Paul, Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

Tags: United States , financial regulation

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