School Innovation: Pathway to the Knowledge Society - Chapter 6 - Leadership

The research that provided the basis for this chapter is set in the context of one of the most perplexing dilemmas in contemporary education. On the one hand, school systems worldwide are progressing towards forms of site-based management at a pace that suggests that the point of no return has long been reached and passed (Caldwell, 1998). On the other hand, as Bauer et al. (1998) have illustrated recently, studies of site-based management seldom show explicit connections between devolved responsibility and improved student achievement. In those instances where successful school innovation has been authoritatively researched (e.g., Newmann & Associates, 1996; Newmann et al., 1997) the analysis of leadership processes has not for the most part been accorded comprehensive emphasis. In general, it would appear that the nature of educational leadership that underpins successful school innovation remains both problematic and vague.

In this chapter, an attempt is made to address some of the gaps in educational thinking that are explicit in this complex dilemma. The research conclusions that are reported are regarded as compelling in that the starting point for inquiry was a series of case studies where authoritative documentation existed of enhanced student achievement as the outcome of a deliberate school-based innovation. Through comprehensive processes of backward-mapping, the leadership dynamics underpinning the innovations were able to be uncovered and conceptualised.

The importance of holistic approaches to school reform.

Current approaches to effective school innovation and reform can be viewed as the outcome of several decades of concerted educational research. Some critics (e.g., Hargreaves 1994; Goodlad cited in Goldberg, 2000), assert that there has been little substantive reform at all, with schools today looking much as they did a century ago. "The context of teachers' work and students' learning is changing rapidly, but the basic structures and cultures of teachers' work are painfully slow to respond to these changes" (Hargreaves, 1994: 40).

Current understandings of school effectiveness have their roots in the American research that culminated in the 1966 Coleman Report (c.f. Uline et al., 1998:463). Coleman asserted that the impact of schools on student achievement is much less than that of student background. For the next decade this argument held sway and only in the late 1970s did a substantial body of evidence emerge to suggest that "schools do, in fact, make a difference" (Stringfield & Herman, 1996 in Uline et al., 1998:463).

The 1980s research emphasised an increasingly wide range of educational, cultural and social variables that appeared to impact on student achievement. These variables were generally in the form of organisational factors such as school goals, instructional leadership, shared governance and parental involvement (Uline et al., 1998).

In the 1990s the focus of research into effective school innovation and reform has tended to focus more on within-school factors. Newmann and Wehlage, (1995) and King and Newmann (1999; 2000) paid particular attention to the concepts of professional community and, more recently, organisational capacity. Within-school variance in student achievement may be four times greater than between-school variation (Cuttance, 1998a). Findings from Australian research point to the interdependence of factors such as curriculum focus, school vision, professional development, resources and community benefits in contributing to perceived improvements in school outcomes (Caldwell, 1998). Hill and Crévola's `general model of school improvement' (1997) links literacy enhancement to the development and integration of a series of identifiable school elements that facilitate an agreed vision for teaching and learning. Australian and international studies indicate that the "academic superiority of Catholic schools" is substantially attributable to the capability of Catholic schools generally to engage in collaborative development around a sense of common purpose (Gannicott, 1998:5).

Newmann and Wehlage (1995) conceptualised successful school innovation in terms of four `Circles of Support' with student learning at the centre.

• Student learning that has as its goal high quality intellectual work.
• Authentic pedagogy in which teachers teach according to a collaborative vision of quality learning.
• School organisational capacity that is developed and enhanced through collaborative professional community.
• External support in the form of critical financial, technical and political support that enhances organisational capacity by strategically setting standards for high quality learning and providing sustained, school-wide staff development and increased school autonomy through deregulation.

Building on this research, King and Newmann (1999; 2000) argued that in order to enhance teaching and learning, professional development should contribute to the following three aspects of school capacity:

• improving the knowledge, skills and dispositions of individual staff members;
• organised, collective enterprise arising from a strong, school-wide professional community; and
• focused, coherent and sustained staff and student learning.

A Research-Based Framework for Enhancing School Outcomes (Leadership Research Institute, 1999) developed at the University of Southern Queensland, also takes an holistic approach to school reform. The five contributory elements of this framework are:

• Strategic foundations: comprised of (a) a vision that focuses on students' well- being, and (b) a strategic capability to transpose the vision into school-wide conceptualisations of pedagogy.
• Cohesive professional community: the development of pedagogical practices appropriate to the school vision through processes of collegial learning and distributed leadership.
• Design of school infrastructures: the structuring of curricula, time, spaces and technologies to support the school vision and agreed conceptualisations of pedagogy.
• School-wide pedagogy: an agreed approach to teaching and learning, which is based in authoritative theory, recognises community values and emphasises teachers' successful practices.
• Professional supports: the availability of authoritative internal and external advice and support.

Approaches to school-based leadership

Until the 1990s, educational leadership theory had for the most part focused on organisational activity associated with positional authority. This focus can be said to have narrowed the application of leadership analyses to a concentration on individuals and their leadership styles. The major paradigms of leadership that dominated during this period can be summed up as transformational, strategic and educative.

Transformational leadership emphasises the significance of the person, and personal traits, in bringing about social and cultural change (Kets de Vries, 1995; Avolio & Bass, 1988). Some authorities have claimed recently that transformational leadership approaches overstate the importance of the individual in organisational change (Fullan, 1992; Gronn, 1995; Lakomski, 1999). Nevertheless, transformational leadership has had a major influence in educational development (see, for example, Leithwood, 1994) and tends to occupy a prominent place in the policy manuals of education systems (Crowther, 1997). Day, Harris and Hadfield (1999) have recently argued that `post- transformational' models of principalship are most suited to the needs of contemporary schools.

Strategic leadership, as the term implies, emphasises rationality in the leader's role. Hambrick (1989) has suggested that it involves aligning the organisation with anticipated external forces-technological developments, market trends, regulatory constraints, competitors' actions and so on. Caldwell (1992) has advocated a leadership function that is dominantly strategic as the most appropriate approach for principals in self-managing schools. In the development of school-based management as an international force during the past decade, the strategic leadership role of the principal has been construed as the central leadership approach. Caldwell has more recently expanded this to argue that effective leadership involves "an unrelenting focus on student outcomes" through an integration of cultural, strategic, educational and reflective dimensions (1998).

Educative leadership is often viewed as linked to social reconstructionist philosophy (Bates, 1992; Foster, 1989). Smyth (1989) has contended that the notion of `educative leadership' is a misnomer, highlighting the issue of whether the traditional tendency to equate leadership and positional authority is appropriate in emerging post-industrial education contexts. The concept of `servant leadership' (Greenleaf, 1977) that has gained prominence in Catholic education over the past two decades may be regarded as a variant of educative leadership that is particularly suited to school workplaces.

During the past decade, research and scholarship in relation to educational leadership has developed in at least three directions. First, the association of leadership with positional authority has been increasingly rejected. As Katzenmeyer and Moller point out, "When teachers see themselves as leaders, they discover the potential to influence student learning through their own actions" (1996:3). Muncey and McQuillan (1996) have linked teacher leadership to successful American school reform and, in Australia, Crowther and Olsen (1996) have developed a Framework for Teacher Leadership that attempts to conceptualise leadership in relation to enhanced student learning.

A second development has been recognition of the importance of culture as a leadership force. Schein (1992) links leadership with cultural creation and this has been extended into change management processes. Hargreaves argued that "Culture carries the community's historically generated and collectively shared solutions to its new and inexperienced membership. It forms a framework for occupational learning" (1994:165). The integration of leadership and culture building is particularly prominent in Catholic education, where, for example, faith is seen as inseparable from life (Abbott, 1966) and the Catholic school is seen as increasingly responsible for transmitting the Christian message (Flynn, 1978; Congregation of Catholic Education, 1998). In this paradigm, the Catholic school is seen by some as representing a `spirit of leadership' in and of itself (Sultmann & McLaughlin, 2000).

A third development of the past decade has been the characterisation of leadership as an organisational quality. Ogawa and Bossert (1995) draw on contemporary organisational theories, such as those of Argyris and Schon (1979) and Senge (1992) to argue that leadership "is something that flows throughout an organisation. [It]...shapes the systems that produce patterns of interaction and the meanings that other participants attach to organisational events" (p. 225). Viewed this way, leadership is seen as a process rather than as a person or group (Kezar, 1998). School reform and innovation is regarded as a `natural process' that takes place in response to impulses from both within and outside the organisation (Spry, 2000). School processes for innovation, viewed this way, potentially constitute a basis for `revitalised democracy' in schools (Giroux, 1989).

Similar notions that are articulated in recent literature and that tend to construe leadership as encompassing processes as well as human attributes and behaviours include "multiple-role leadership" (Limerick et al., 1998), "distributed leadership" (Handy, 1996), "leadership of the many" (Lakomski, 1995),"collective intelligence" (Heifetz & Laurie, 1997),"community of leaders" (Senge, 1997), "reciprocal influence" (Sergiovanni, 1998) and "co-leadership" (Heenan and Bennis, 1999).

Taken together, these recent developments greatly enrich understanding of school effectiveness but they have not been explored systematically in conjunction with processes of successful school innovation. It would appear that what Hallinger and Heck (1996) have described as the `black box' view of school leadership continues for the most part to pervade leadership research. That is, "the process by which administrators achieve an impact is hidden in a so-called black box. A relationship is empirically tested, but the findings reveal little about how leadership operates" (p.18). This study seeks to uncover some of the dimensions and dynamics of the black box.

Nine schools in three States (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria) were selected through the application of four criteria:

• recommended by the State IBPP coordinator as an outstanding case study of innovative practices in literacy and/or numeracy;
• evidence in the school's final IBPP report of disciplined implementation and evaluation strategies during the IBPP process;
• evidence in the school's final IBPP report of an authoritative research design and methodology;
• measured gains in literacy and/or numeracy as a presumed effect of the IBPP initiative.

In total, twenty-five schools were nominated by the three State coordinators as outstanding examples of innovative practices in literacy/numeracy. Nine were selected for investigation following application of Criteria 2, 3 and 4. Table 6.1 provides a brief description of the schools.

Table 6.1: A descriptive summary of the research sample

 

School and location	System/Sector	Description
West Town Secondary School	Government	Secondary school with more than 1500 students Years 8-12 and a teaching staff of 80.
Sunbeach Primary School	Government	500 students in Years 1-10 and 25 staff.
Sacred Mission School	Independent	540 female students in Years 8-12. Two thirds are day students and the balance boarders with 30 academic staff.
Worthwood Secondary School	Government	Secondary school with 1700 students in Years 7-12. 150 staff, 97 of whom are teaching staff.
Christafam Secondary School	Independent	Co-educational secondary school, with 525 students in Years 7-12 and 45 teaching staff.
Holy Spirit Catholic College	Catholic	Secondary school with 1230 students in Years 7-12.
Mt Ritchy Primary School	Government	Primary school with 320 students, 14 full-time staff and 4 part-time staff. Half of the teaching staff are beginning teachers.
Wave Secondary College	Government	Co-educational secondary college with 1760 students in Years 7-12 and 125 teaching staff and 30 non-teaching staff.
Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School	Government	Secondary college with 1750 students in Years 11-12. 108 teaching staff and 42 support staff.

Holistic approaches

The first finding confirms research undertaken by a number of recent researchers (Newmann & Wehlage, 1995; Hill & Crévola, 1997; Caldwell, 1998) that school innovation that contributes to enhanced school outcomes is likely to be holistic in nature, encompassing elements such as shared beliefs, clear vision, effective processes of professional learning, external support systems, restructured work environment (including variables such as time, space and technologies), and an emphasis on pedagogical principles. Further evidence is provided in Appendix 3.

There were significant instances in case study schools where particular elements were not well developed. At West Town Secondary School cross-curriculum support for the innovation was absent and at Worthwood Secondary School systemic support was not particularly evident. In such cases the challenges associated with sustaining the innovation appeared to be much greater than at Holy Spirit Catholic College, Wave Secondary College and Mt Ritchy Primary School where all elements were relatively well entrenched in the processes and culture of the school.

High degree of alignment

The second finding is that where school-based innovation contributes to enhanced school outcomes, the innovation is characterised by a high degree of alignment between contributory elements such as those outlined earlier (e.g. Newmann and Wehlage's Circles of Support). The concept of `school capacity' (King & Newmann, 1999) is relevant here. At each of West Town Secondary School, Christafam Secondary School, Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School, Sacred Mission School and Sunbeach Primary School, where documented empirical evidence was provided of enhanced school outcomes associated with implementation of the IBPP, the innovation was perceived to have enhanced the distinctive identity of the school. As a further instance, Wave Secondary College staff described how the approach to teaching that had evolved over a period of five years with the development of the innovation was, in their view, unique internationally. The work of staff at Wave Secondary College to generate a distinctive conceptualisation of pedagogy seemed to be consistent with the definition of school capacity conceptualised by King and Newmann (1999; 2000).

Leadership processes and concepts associated with successful innovation

The IBPP survey data make clear that educational leadership was perceived within IBPP schools as fundamental to successful educational innovation. The survey data also suggest that school-based leadership is a function of both the principalship and key change agents within the school and external to it. The data indicate that successful school-based innovation tends to occur in response to a definitive educational need and as part of a clearly articulated vision on the part of a leader or leaders.

The findings that emerge from the nine case studies of documented successful school reform lead to the conclusion that three distinctive dimensions of school- based leadership are evident in successful school innovation.

• Leadership as focused action;
• Leadership as culture-building;
• Leadership as organisation-wide processes of learning.

Leadership as focused action

Analysis of the case study research data confirms the role of motivation and responsive action in the exercise of leadership (Kets de Vries, 1995). Three forms of action were particularly prominent in the case study situations that were investigated.

• Strategic response to a crisis (perceived or real).
• Pursuit of an intrinsically-motivated challenge.
• Facilitation and encouragement of the innovative ideas of others.

These are illustrated by the following comments from focus group meetings and individual interviews.

Wave [Secondary College] came about as a result of an amalgamation of three schools in 1995. We started out in a state of trauma and what we have achieved reflects the strategic vision of a couple of people in the initial period to succeed against the odds. (Responding strategically to a crisis)

In a Christ-centred community [Christafam Secondary School] if you feel you are called by God, and can convince the principal and your colleagues that you have been, then implementing the change happens fairly naturally. (Pursuing an intrinsic challenge)

The vision for Worthwood as a [specific focus secondary school] came from the principal...He has led a revolution to carve out a piece of history. (Pursuing an intrinsic challenge)

Our motto here [at Mt Ritchy Primary School] is "to go hard for the kids". We are proud to be a [government] school and a different school. The principal's vision and energy were fundamental. She has got everyone on side and now it's the whole community. (Facilitating and encouraging the innovative ideas of others)

Strategic response to a crisis

Four of the nine innovations that were explored in detail arose out of a situation of crisis and extreme trauma. In the cases of Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School and Wave Secondary College, the `crisis' was externally generated and occurred in the context of sweeping systemic and political change. In the case of Mt Ritchy and Holy Spirit Catholic, it reflected serious internal dissension and a breakdown in school-community relations. In each instance about five years, on average, had transpired since the point of initiation of the innovation. In the remaining five cases, action played a critical role, but not because the school was perceived to have fallen into a situation of crisis or trauma.

Intrinsic motivation

The intrinsic motivation of an individual was critical in the initiation and sustained development of all of the innovations that were examined. In five instances (Worthwood Secondary School, Mt.Ritchy Primary School, Wave Secondary College, Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School, and Holy Spirit Catholic College) the key initiating figure was the principal (in consort with the Deputy in the case of Wave Secondary College). In Christafam Secondary School and Sunbeach Primary School the key figure initiating the innovation was a practising teacher. At Sunbeach Primary School a teacher had perceived a school literacy need, identified a curriculum response to this need, lobbied the school administration, colleagues and community, developed an implementation plan and managed the professional learning of the school staff. At Sacred Mission School and West Town Secondary School, a Deputy Principal and a Head of Department respectively, were most prominent in initiating the innovation and enabling it to reach the point where it impacted on student achievement.

The principal at Worthwood Secondary School, had conceived the idea, developed it in the face of significant external (bureaucratic and industrial) constraints, and encouraged its growth to the point where it had become nationally and internationally renowned and where the school had to all intents and purposes become an independent school within the Government system. The Worthwood Secondary School case study serves to highlight a phenomenon that was equally observable at Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School, Wave Secondary College, Holy Spirit Catholic School, and Mt Ritchy Primary School- as the innovation gathered momentum the responsibility for its successful implementation broadened.

Facilitative support

All nine innovations were characterised by forms of facilitative support that represent a departure from traditional mindsets about the exercise of power and authority in educational organisations. Greenleaf's notion (1977) of `people building' rather than `people using' was an apparent feature of these schools. In no instance was it suggested by case study participants that values of dominance, self-interest or control were significant characteristics of the innovation in their schools. To the contrary, values of trust, celebration of others' achievements and personal integrity were frequently spoken about.

In several cases (e.g., West Town and Christafam Secondary Schools and Sunbeach Primary School) `administrator facilitation' amounted to direct intervention in order to remove obstacles and to provide resource support for teacher-initiated activities. At Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School, Wave Secondary College, Mt.Ritchy Primary School, Worthwood Secondary School and Holy Spirit Catholic College it involved coordination of school processes in order to heighten the integration of the innovation in the overall operations of the school. At Worthwood Secondary School in particular, but also at Christafam Secondary School and Sacred Mission School, the facilitative role of the principal involved negotiation with external political agencies and lobbying of government officials and School Boards.

Finally, in all nine cases to some degree, strong teacher support systems were in evidence. In the cases of Worthwood Secondary School, Sunbeach Primary School and Sacred Mission School in particular, the innovative idea had originated with a teacher, and collegial facilitation was a major reason for the idea gaining momentum and credibility. The notion of teachers as leaders was concluded to be fundamental to the successes of the innovations in these schools, with `teacher leadership' seemingly comprised of professional qualities (e.g., vision, assertiveness, networking skills) and teacher-coordinated processes of professional learning and development.

In summary, what emerges from this analysis is clear recognition of the importance of both individualism and mutualistic relationships in successful and sustained school innovation. All nine innovations reflected leadership on the part of key administrators and teachers at the same time as they manifested successful collaborative processes that involved those individuals and their colleagues. Where educational innovation is successful, the leadership that underpins it is likely to be characterised in part by `parallel' leadership functions on the part of teachers and members of the school leadership team.

Leadership as culture-building

The educational literature has for several decades recognised the importance of cultural processes in influencing and shaping schooling. In Catholic education, for example, the transposition of a spiritual ethos into the operations of Catholic schools has been regarded as fundamental to the mission of the church and has been linked to the academic success of schools in Catholic systems (Gannicott, 1998).

The culture building leadership dynamic is implicit in recent developments in Catholic education (Congregation of Catholic Education, 1998; Sultmann & McLaughlin, 2000). Culture-building should be viewed across different `levels' of school life (Schein, 1992). The Sacred Mission School case study illustrates this:

The chapel represents the core of our school; our inspiration to do the best we can for our girls starts in this beautiful and serene place. (Schein's artifactual level of culture)

Our strategic plan comes about because of our work with the Sacred Heart Order. The values of the Order shape our mission and our goals. (Schein's values level of culture)

I would not want to work anywhere else... the ethos of the Order seems to me to fit the needs of young Australians today. (Schein's assumptions level of culture)

Culture-building as a force in successful school innovation can be viewed from both intrinsic and extrinsic perspectives. Of particular note is the apparent influence of extrinsic cultural forces in IBPP government schools. While the pervasive influence of spiritual values on innovation processes was predictably evident at sectarian schools such as Sacred Heart School and Christafam Secondary School, the influence of extrinsic cultural forces were also very evident in some government schools.

Extrinsic forces

In Wave Secondary College, Mt. Ritchy Primary School and Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School explicit commitments to values underpinning public education helped shape the innovation in question. This is reflected in the following excerpts from interviews with school staff:

We're proud to be a [Government] school...Children from every walk of life are welcome here and that gives us our special purpose. It shows in our programmes. The Vietnamese community struck special commemorative medals for us last year . (Mt Ritchy Primary School)

We are creating our own identity within a tradition that builds on Potter's Gold's unique place in Australian history. We're on a mission and we know it . (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)

It's exciting to be in a school that is leading all others into the new millennium. The way students here go about their learning reflects they know they are at the cutting edge internationally . (Wave Secondary College)

While these statements may not reflect the same focused conviction that one finds at sectarian schools like Sacred Mission, where the Sacred Heart Order Mother Superior lives in residence and the Order coordinates long-range and annual strategic planing activities, they nevertheless demonstrate that when innovation is approached as a means of enriching school identity the innovation itself acquires enhanced meaning. The alignment of the innovation with extrinsic cultural forces was a factor in the success of the innovations.

Intrinsic forces

An intrinsic culture-building dimension was equally significant in conceptualising leadership in some of the IBPP schools, particularly those located in government systems. This sometimes took the form of an `against the odds' mindset.

The [Department of Education] and the [teacher union] would both like to see us closed. One thing that binds us together and gives us strength to do more and do it better is that we're constantly at risk to protect what we have created and make it stronger. (Worthwood Secondary School)

At other schools the influence of intrinsically-generated cultural forces on the respective innovations was not so dramatic, but was powerful nevertheless.

People used to drive around the cattleyards to avoid going past our school. We have changed that. Now kids come here from everywhere to feel a sense of belonging (principal, West Town Secondary School). I thought, "Damn it, it's time State schools got a fair go, so I decided to give it [the innovation] everything I could.". (teacher, Sunbeach Primary School)

The result at these schools was a shared vision of `making a difference' that pervaded dialogue, artefacts and school infrastructures such as curriculum, technology, and uses of time and space. In some of these cases, teachers indicated that if a key person were to move, the momentum generated by intrinsic forces would be lost, but in several other cases the collective ownership and responsibility had reached the point where the values underlying the innovation are wholly self-sustaining.

In summary, culture-building, in its extrinsic and intrinsic forms, constitutes a powerful force in aligning school vision, participants' values and innovative processes. As such, it represents an important leadership dimension of successful school innovation and reform.

Leadership as organisation-wide process of learning

A recent and increasingly important development in the educational leadership literature is that leadership is a process rather than a quality of a person or a group (Kezar, 1998). Thus, in Catholic education systems, organisation-wide developmental processes that link teachers' work to spiritual renewal have been described as a `natural' way of enhancing both Catholic education and community life (Spry, 2000). In public education, in a somewhat similar vein, processes of `collective vision-building' have been put forward as a more suitable leadership framework for a mature teaching profession in a post-modern world than historical conceptions of leadership with their emphasis on individual- directed visioning (Hargreaves, 1994).

Two forms of organisation-wide learning may well be regarded as manifesting leadership processes in this vein. The first form focuses on professional learning which has the effect of generating alignment between significant school `elements'. The second form focuses on development of a school-wide approach to pedagogy based on the successful practices of individual teachers and teams of teachers.

Alignment of school elements

The first form of professional learning evident in IBPP schools consists of processes that engender alignment between organisational elements, is evident in the following quotes from case study interviews:

We have a common purpose and everything revolves around that. This allows teachers here to create, initiate, motivate and organise as much as I do. Otherwise we would have either inertia or permanent chaos . (Worthwood Secondary School)

Here, the opportunity now exists for us all to lead. Not everyone wants to, but anyone who wants to take a leadership role is encouraged to do so. The result is that everything is transparent. We all know what we are all doing. The school runs itself these days . (teacher, Holy Spirit Catholic College)

We have to be careful, with mostly inexperienced teachers in a very challenging community. We have agreed that everything we do in classrooms, the playground or the community reflects our vision. For people who can't speak English (90 per cent of the community) this makes us predictable. The effects are phenomenal as you can see. The school is a haven of peace in the community . (principal, Mt. Ritchy Primary School)

This maths innovation fitted with the school's vision to do something special for disadvantaged kids. So we did everything to make sure that the teachers could all teach to it. We tore down walls and extended the school day . (principal, West Town Secondary School)

In six schools, the processes of professional learning involved the transposition of the school's emerging strategic direction into pedagogical revitalisation processes through systematic professional development opportunities for both teachers and members of the school leadership team. In the other three instances, significant professional learning processes were initiated but did not extend to incorporate the whole school. For example, at West Town Secondary School professional development activities were used to achieve a close integration between the strategic direction of the school and the mathematics innovation but other learning areas were not incorporated in this process. It may be significant that towards the completion of the IBPP at West Town Secondary School the principal was transferred and the innovation, in spite of its documented success, was temporarily abandoned.)

Creation of school-wide pedagogy

A second finding of significance to emerge pertains to the focus of professional learning on the generation of a shared understanding of, and approach to, pedagogy:

There are now a dozen or more innovations here that complement each other and the kind of technology school we have decided we want to become. People keep thinking of projects that will refine and enrich our approach. Each day we get more distinctive . (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)

I could not say that it (the innovation) has been difficult. Once my colleagues were convinced that we were working with a message from God it all unfolded. Our way of teaching was simply fitted into the programme and vice versa . (Christafam Secondary School)

We are beyond social justice here now. We recognise the individuality of every student in everything that we do. We have created our own theory of adolescent learning . (Wave Secondary College)

Statements such as these capture the relationship between the school's strategic direction and its pedagogical practices in all IBPP case study schools. In at least five of the case studies, highly specialised school-wide pedagogical approaches had been conceptualised. Wave Secondary College's individualised learning processes, Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School's technology-based teaching, Worthwood Secondary School's sports ethos in all aspects of teaching-learning and Sacred Mission School's Sacre Coeur spirit are examples of the highly distinctive approaches to pedagogy that characterised the innovations.

In summary, the IBPP study suggests two specific forms that leadership construed as organisation-wide processes might assume. The first is professional learning as a means of generating alignment between significant school `elements' and the second is the development of a school-wide approach to pedagogy. Both forms have the potential to enhance the integrity of teachers' work as professionals. Paradoxically, both reject the traditional mindset that equates leadership solely with individuals and groups.

Opportunities to explore the dynamics of relationships between educational leadership and school achievement are rare. As Hallinger and Heck (1996) have indicated, leadership research has for the most part fallen victim to a `black box' mindset. Emphasis has been placed on empirical testing of presumed relationships between administrator behaviour and school effects, revealing little, if anything, about how leadership actually works in the reform process.

The opportunity provided by the IBPP to investigate leadership in successful school reform is potentially of considerable value to the education community. What emerges is a complex picture in which leadership, school development processes and school outcomes are inter-related. Four key conclusions are proposed from this study of leadership in successful IBPP schools.

First, the implementation of school-based innovations should be approached holistically. Where the rationale for the innovation is aligned philosophically with the school's vision, where a relevant school-wide approach to pedagogy has been generated, where school infrastructure-encompassing time, space, curricula and technologies-have been modified to facilitate implementation, and where the professional community has a shared understanding of, and commitment to, the essential features of the innovation in question, a strong basis exists for successful implementation.

Second, holistic innovation is conducive to the generation of enhanced school identity. All nine case study schools claimed that the integration of their innovations with important school elements-vision, pedagogy, infrastructures, community agencies, and so on-served to enhance the distinctiveness of the school's culture and, to some extent, to provide them with what they regarded as a competitive edge. School organisational capacity, as defined by King and Newmann (1999; 2000) captures the intent of this observation.

Third, where enhanced school outcomes were demonstrated leadership was found to involve both people and processes. The `people' aspect is essential for such functions as conceptual clarification, strategic development and organisational alignment. (Four of the nine successes studied emerged out of a state of organisational crisis). The `processual' aspect of school leadership is equally complex. It can be conceptualised as organisation-wide processes of professional learning, culture-building and the generation of a shared approach to pedagogy.

Fourth, principal-leaders and teacher-leaders are equally important in successful school reform. Principal-leaders tend to assume leadership functions that can be described as metastrategic (Limerick et al., 1998) while teacher-leaders tend to assume leadership functions that focus on pedagogy. However, the key to successful innovation lies in the mutualistic relationship between those exercising leadership. The concept of `parallel leadership' is proposed as an approach to school leadership that reflects the maturity of the modern teaching profession and the challenges of school reform processes.

Parallel leadership has three distinct characteristics: mutualism; sense of shared purpose; and allowance for individual expression. The nine IBPP case studies make clear the importance and specific meaning of these three defining characteristics.

Mutualism, in the form of mutual trust and respect between principal-leaders and teacher-leaders, manifested most obviously in acceptance by each party of the responsibilities that went with the role of the other.

A sense of shared purpose is also a noticeable aspect of all of IBPP case studies where parallel leadership was observed to be flourishing. This commonality appeared to have its origins in a shared commitment to values, such as the integrity of teaching or the need for social justice. The net effect of the shared purpose that we observed in all of the case studies was an alignment between the school's espoused vision and teachers' preferred approaches to teaching. This alignment appeared to ease the way for structural and curriculum change. A sense of shared purpose did not, however, mean a compromising of values.

The third characteristic discerned in the case studies may appear at first glance to fly in the face of much recent thinking about school reform. The relationships between teacher-leaders and principal-leaders observed in the case study schools allowed for, even encouraged, a degree of individual expression (and action). This phenomenon may be inconsistent with recent emphases on teamwork, collegiality and collaboration in educational workplaces. But each of the leaders, or cohorts of leaders, manifested strong convictions about individual values as well as a capacity to accommodate the values of others.

Our definition of parallel leadership incorporates the three qualities just described as follows:

Parallel leadership engages teacher leaders and administrator leaders in collaborative action, while at the same time encouraging the fulfillment of their individual capabilities, aspirations and responsibilities. It leads to strengthened alignment between the school's vision and the school's teaching and learning practices. It facilitates the development of a professional learning community, culture building and school wide approaches to teaching and learning. It makes possible the enhancement of school identity, teachers' professional esteem, community support and students' achievements.

The diagrammatic representation that is contained in Figure 6.1 illustrates the insights that have emerged from the IBPP thematic leadership study.

Figure 6.1: Inside the black box: School-based leadership and enhanced school innovation

School leadership development should be approached as multidimensional, encompassing the processes of school-wide learning, culture-building and creation of school-wide pedagogy, and focusing on the mutualistic relationships of principal-leaders and teacher-leaders in these processes. The educational leadership literature, including policy manuals of most education systems and leadership development centres, for the most part continues to manifest an obsession with positional authority that has dogged educational analysis for the past half century. The outcomes of the research on leadership in IBPP suggest that serious overhaul is overdue.