The fusion of school improvement and leadership

What is it about?

The aim of the article was to shed light on the level of leadership capacity within an elementary school, and how this had evolved through the school’s improvement. Information was gathered over one school year about planned improvements that had taken place in the school over the 10-year period prior to the study. Data was collected through observations, document analysis, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and a survey. Participants came from all sectors of the school community and presented school leaders, teachers, support staff, students and parents. A conceptual framework developed by Lambert (2003a) was used to analyse the leadership capacity within the school. The findings show that the leadership capacity of the school, and of groups within the school, had grown considerably during the period under study and was connected to the degree of involvement in school improvement work. The findings indicated an interactive relationship between school improvement and the building of leadership capacity during the period under study

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Why is it important?

It provides a detailed insight into the involvement of principals, teachers, support staff, students and parents in changing a school and explains how each group is important in making the school better. It also explains how active participation in the schools activities and improvement raises leadership of individuals, groups and the school itself, and vice versa.