Supporting school leaders in leading school development: an action research project

ABSTRACT

School leadership and school development are tightly connected and significant to improve students’ learning. The latter requires leaders with knowledge about leading change and school development, and in such, coaching can contribute to enhance leadership capacity. This study focuses on school leadership groups taking part in an action research project in a Norwegian municipality where local coaching teams are established to support leadership groups in leading school development. The study aims to demonstrate and discuss how school leaders approach changing school practices and the obstacles and driving forces they encounter on their way. The findings indicate that before the leadership groups can enact changing practices in the classrooms, they must establish the necessary structures within the leadership group and between leaders and teachers. Establishing structures involves several action cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting, the entire process supported by the coaching teams. This study also illustrates how action research and expansive learning can be complementary tools in identifying how school development progress.

KEYWORDS:

• School leadership
• school development
• coaching
• action research
• expansive learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.