Leadership across schools to diffuse an education innovation: applying complexity leadership theory with ecological leadership

ABSTRACT

This paper examined leadership practices which supported the diffusion of an innovation in a cluster of schools in Singapore, through the lenses of complexity leadership theory (CLT) and ecological leadership. The approach is a qualitative case study, with the unit of analysis bounded by the innovation and a cluster of schools involved in the diffusion effort. The case study involved investigations mainly at four ecological levels: the ministry (macro), the cluster (exo), school/subject department (meso) and teacher (micro), involving nine observations of the cluster’s community of teachers in 2019, and interviews or focused group discussions with 33 participants, including ministry officers, school leaders, key personnel and teachers. Findings and Implications: The findings illustrate the diffusion of an innovation through the interactional dynamics of administrative, adaptive, and enabling leadership, how these three CLT roles were performed by formal and informal leaders, deliberately or emergent, and across ecological levels. These leadership roles enabled learning and adaptions across and within ecologies. The study also reinforced the importance of the moral and emotional aspects of leadership in providing teachers with the motivation and support to cope with changes. The affordances, challenges, and limitations in applying CLT are elaborated.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Education Research Funding Programme (OER 0218JH) and administered by National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Singapore MOE and NIE. Consent from participants were obtained based on ethics approval by NTU/IRB ref: IRB-2018-12-021.

Notes on contributors

Jeanne Ho

Dr Jeanne Ho is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP) in the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has over 30 years of teaching experience that includes her role as a vice-principal for six years in two schools. Her expertise is in the field of educational leadership.

David Foo Seong Ng

Dr David Ng is an Associate Professor at the Policy, Curriculum and Leadership (PCL).in the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University He is also Associate Dean/Academic Quality in the Office of Strategic Planning and Academic Quality (SPAQ). His research interests include instructional leadership, distributed leadership, complexity leadership and the use of analytics/predictive models to measure non academic future-ready learners’ outcomes.

Puay Huat Chua

Dr Chua Puay Huat is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the Office of Education Research (OER) in the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has more than 35 years of varied experience in working in school, including teaching, and taking on school leadership positions. His expertise is in mathematics education, specifically in mathematical problem solving and posing, and he has also research interest in data analytics and knowledge mobilisation.

Norhayati Binte Munir

Norhayati Binte Munir is a Research Assistant at the Office of Education Research (OER) in the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests include logic, ecological theory, and systems thinking.