This study examines the historical role preparation experiences of professional staff and academics in a managerialised university field. Semi-structured interviews were used to identify the impact of these experiences on the individual's ability to 'play the game' of the managerialised university field. The Bourdieusian concepts of habitus, doxa…

In recent years, partnerships between schools and non-system actors, that is, cross-sector alliances, have become increasingly important in education systems around the world, raising concerns and doubts regarding the influence of non-school actors in educational management and leadership. In these debates, trust is regarded as a key element for…

This article examines how principals socially construct the leadership configuration of principals and vice-principals in Singapore and what factors influenced the principal's shaping of this configuration. The qualitative study, involving the interview of 10 principals, sought to understand how principals made sense of their vice-principals roles…

Teacher well-being plays an important role in education reform because it marks teachers' positive evaluation of and healthy functioning in their work environment. However, there has been insufficient research on the relationship between distributed leadership and teacher well-being and on how organisational trust works as a mediator between these…

Nations throughout the world have been engaged in efforts to redefine the role of principals to include instructional leadership. This is based upon research that has verified a positive indirect relationship between principal instructional leadership and student learning. This study tested a moderated mediation model of how the power distance…

Collective teacher innovativeness has emerged as a recent topic of interest in both international policy documents and scholarly research. However, only a few studies have focused on the factors that enable collective teacher innovativeness, particularly in terms of revealing whether and to what extent school leadership might influence this…

The university academic manager (AM) or head of school/department is typically positioned in a hierarchical world: as a middle manager 'sandwiched' between senior management and subordinates. I propose a different framing: the AM cohabits two worlds, the worlds of hierarchy and collegiality respectively. Using an ideal type framework and data…

This paper contributes to method development in educational leadership research. The focus is on a visual method and the inclusion of visual material in data collection and analysis. Core concepts in this paper are educational leadership, power and authority. The method was used in face-to-face interviews in a research project that studied the…

University leaders are increasingly focused on management tasks and metrics, and distributed leadership has been broadly adopted as a way for leaders to navigate corporate management demands while also maintaining the collegial and communitarian character of the academy. This article discusses the findings of an indicative case study within a…

The current study examines senior school leaders' theories of action driving their decision-making around how they manage departments and distribute leadership to department heads. Based on a thematic analysis of transcripts of interviews with the principal, head of the curriculum unit, and two department heads from nine high schools, four…

This article examines what vice-principals in Singapore experience as constraints to their leadership practice, and how they deal with these constraints, cognisant that role misalignment for vice-principals presents barriers to schools achieving optimal effectiveness. This qualitative study seeks to hear the voices of vice-principals, to uncover…

This article provides school leaders with insights into within and beyond-school influences on school collaborative culture. The study examines how social demographics, and school culture prevalent in different school bandings, influence school capacities (principal leadership; shared and supportive leadership; shared values and vision; and…

Research exploring the challenges department chairs face has long suggested the role is difficult and lacks tangible reward (Buller, 2012, 2015; Gmelch et al., 2017). Yet, as higher education demographics, settings, and organizational expectations change and chairs function in more uncertain and increasingly complex institutional environments, it…

There is a prevailing trend of distributed leadership in the West as it balances the weaknesses and combines the capabilities of different individuals in knowledge-based societies. Conversely, there is still a lack of understanding and literature on distributed leadership in Chinese universities. We know little about how faculty members in Chinese…

In 2003, the 'education reform for knowledge economy' policy introduced the notion of distributed leadership into Jordanian public schools. Policy development, delivery and professional learning were funded and undertaken with assistance from international partners alongside the Jordanian Ministry of Education. The policy is now substantive.…