Understanding leadership in schools facing challenging circumstances: a Chilean case study

Abstract

During the last 10 years, research into schools facing challenging circumstances has attracted the attention of researchers around the world. The aim of this study was to understand the challenges that school leaders face as they per form their work, the nature of the context in which these challenges arise, the strategies school leaders adopt to deal with the complexities of their work and the reasons behind these strategies. For this purpose, we investigated a single case study of a Chilean K8 school achieving extraordinary success despite its adverse circumstances. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with the principal, the vice-principal, the teachers, the students and the management team of the school. The interviews were focused on the challenges experienced by the school community, and on the strategies implemented in order to face them. The findings are organized around three key themes: first, the importance of nurturing high expectations among students and staff; secondly, the importance of enhancing teachers’ morale; thirdly, the importance of setting and sharing a common vision for a preferred future. These key themes have been instrumental to the success of the school may be enlightening to other schools, that are facing comparable challenging circumstances, especially in Chile.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In Spanish ‘Sistema de medición de calidad educativa’.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a grant from Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico [grant number 1120922]. Additional funding has been provided to the authors by PIA-CONICYT, Project CIE-05. Funding agencies have not had editing control of the contents of this article.

Notes on contributors

Luis Ahumada

Luis Andres Ahumada is a professor at the School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, Escuela de Psicologia, Avenida el Bosque 1290, Vina del mar, Chile. Email: [email protected]. He teaches social and organizational psychology and is currently investigating Organizational Learning and Distributed Leadership in Schools serving high poverty and socially vulnerable communities.

Sergio Galdames

Sergio Galdames is a professor and researcher at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, Escuela de Ingenieria Comercial, Avenida el Bosque 1290, Vina del mar, Chile. Email: [email protected]. His work has focus on diverse areas of educational leadership and school improvement.

Simon Clarke

Simon Clarke is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Australia 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth 6009, Australia. Email: [email protected]. He teaches, supervises and researches in the substantive area of educational leadership.