What is distributed leadership?
Leadership in an organisation is typically envisioned as being a clear hierarchy which is imposed ‘from the top’ by a single leader or small group. Leadership in this case is conferred by a high-ranking position such as a CEO, a manager or (in the case of schools) a headteacher.
The way this kind of leadership manifests is typically autocratic in style, wherein a leader is broadly empowered to steer, monitor, reward and punish their subordinates. Such leaders can also be assumed to delegate as little responsibility as possible, and then only in low-trust environments. Joseph Kessels refers to this style as ‘positional leadership’, wherein the formal position at the head of the hierarchy offers a clear legitimacy for influence to be concentrated in as few hands as necessary.
By contrast, the formative principle of ‘distributed leadership’ is that leadership responsibility should be present at all levels of an organisation. Under this model, staff exert influence when they have the specific expertise or experience necessary to address a specific task or challenge. Crucial to the success of this model is the continued professional development of staff to ensure they have the necessary expertise and experience, as well as an openness to collaboration and trust across the organisation.
Placed next to positional leadership, the immediate upsides of distributed leadership are obvious; no leader is perfect or ‘complete’, as Toby Greany and Peter Earley point out in ‘The paradox of policy and the quest for successful leadership’, and a range of perspectives is often necessary to determine what’s best for the organisation as a whole.
However, a key concern of distributed leadership in schools is ensuring that the various leaders remain unified and focused on students’ learning. The role of subject leaders becomes paramount here.
Subject leaders in a distributed leadership model
Subject leaders (also known as curriculum leaders) are an essential part of a school’s middle leadership team. They are called upon to possess strong subject knowledge and to both keep up to date on best practice in their area and ensure that it is used for the betterment of their teams.
Under a distributed leadership model, subject leaders are placed even more directly in control of school improvement and student attainment. In this way, they are key leaders upon whom the success of the school depends. A subject leader promotes excellence in their curriculum area, encouraging students to excel and to aspire beyond what they believe themselves to be capable of achieving.
Their responsibilities to the staff working within their curriculum area also grow. When empowered to truly lead, subject leaders can use their positions to better supervise and support the performance management of their teams, along with promoting opportunities for their professional and personal development. They are also well-positioned to advise headteachers on matters concerning staff replacement. Further aspects of the job that can be enhanced under distributed leadership can be found in the ‘Running a Successful Subject Department’ checklist in the Developing Curriculum Leaders programme.
To succeed in their expanded role, a subject leader should be empowered by the school leadership team to set their own goals and priorities in their area of specialisation. This will require a significant amount of trust to be placed in them – something that may pose difficulties for a school culture more accustomed to a system of positional leadership.
The importance of trust
Central to the success of distributed leadership is a sense of trust among staff and senior leadership. As John Sutherland notes in his article, ‘What Divides Toxic and Creative School Cultures’, trust is one of the three key drivers of behaviour in organisational structures, alongside communication and incentives. Building this trust is a collective activity in which every staff member must participate. However, the tools for building trust come from the top.
Sutherland goes on to explain that the foremost tool for the creation of trust is decision-making power. Commitment is required in order to make distributed leadership stick. This means allowing staff to truly make their own decisions and to learn from their mistakes – and for the head and leadership team to also take responsibility for their own decisions when they do not turn out as planned. Without this accountability, witnessed at all levels over an extended period of time, there can be no trust.
Widespread organisational trust is thus fostered through repetition – a history of reliability and repeated trustful interactions of both a personal and structural nature – and through the promotion of shared values. For more information on the latter, see the Culture & Ethos KnowledgeBank.
These are the factors that make up ‘social cohesion’, which Karen Seashore Louis identified as an important symptom of both trust and student achievement in her three-year study of US high schools. All of these factors must be embodied in the leaders at every level of the hierarchy, from teachers to subject leaders to headteacher.
Making it work
Headteacher Kulvarn Atwal cautions that subject leaders and other middle leadership positions should not be relegated to mere ‘management’ positions. In ‘Turning Teachers Into Leaders’, he stresses that the more opportunities staff are given to make meaningful leadership decisions, the more they grow as self-reflective professionals and the more they come to embody the ethos of their schools.
In his ideal distributed leadership model, Atwal advises having subject leaders participate in teacher learning activities that create formal development opportunities. These activities might include non-judgemental, learning-focused lesson observations or opportunities to conduct research, work with their peers, coach and be coached, or select their own focus for professional learning that intersects with pupils’ learning.
If implemented by a thoughtful and attentive leader, these activities will create a dynamic community of learners and promote a learning-positive climate across the entire school – which in turn leads to better outcomes for pupils, as Atwal has seen reflected in improved Ofsted ratings. He gives practical advice on implementing these teacher learning activities in his article.
Many of Atwal’s techniques are echoed by Frater, who emphasises the development opportunities that can be created by having subject leaders share their pedagogical approaches. She notes the benefits inherent to spreading school-wide best practice in this way, as collaboration leads to deeper understanding of the content of each subject and sometimes the overlap of concepts and content is complementary to deep learning.
This KnowledgeBank contains a range of resources relating to the practical implementation of distributed leadership in a school setting, including those already mentioned and many others from the TeachingTimes library and elsewhere. Whether you are just getting started in your transformation project or are looking for guidance on taking it further, these resources should help you on your way.