The emergence of leadership for learning beliefs among Flemish secondary school leaders

ABSTRACT

Leadership for Learning (LFL) recently emerged as a comprehensive framework integrating aspects of theories thus far applied in school leadership research. LFL provides the principles for practice believed to effectively deal with the increasing complexity and expectations in education. Via semi-structured interviews this paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the leadership practices and beliefs among principals in Flemish secondary education and assess the occurrence of LFL in practice. Due to busy schedules, little time remains for principals to continuously focus on learning and teaching. This issue might be resolved by strengthening learning climates, sharing leadership, and fostering dialogue and a sense of shared accountability.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [G.0735.17N].

Notes on contributors

Laurien Coenen

Laurien Coenen is a third year PhD student at KU Leuven’s Public Governance Institute. Her research situates itself on the crossing between political sciences and educational studies as she focusses on leadership and leadership development (through professional learning communities) in secondary education in Flanders (Belgium).

Annie Hondeghem

Annie Hondeghem is the Director of KU Leuven’s Public Governance Institute and a full professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Hondeghem specializes in the areas of public administration, human resource management and leadership.

Wouter Schelfhout

Wouter Schelfhout is an associate professor at the Antwerp School of Education at the University of Antwerp. Schelfhout’s research focusses on team learning and professional learning communities in education.