Distributed Leadership Practice in Swiss “Eco-Schools” and Its Influence on School Improvement

ABSTRACT

In this paper we connect the concepts of distributed leadership (DL) and educational change by asking: How do different practices of DL relate to change in schools? We answer this question by studying 12 schools in Switzerland during the implementation of the “Education for Sustainable Development” concept. In an embedded mixed methods design we analyzed semi-structured interviews and used an online survey where all school members assessed change processes in their school. We found that the leadership strategy within schools appears to align with the quality of change: the more efficient the leadership strategy, the more the perceived change.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The program offered counseling for school-specific issues, courses on professional development, financial support, and connected schools into networks. The program also gave schools a framework to define structural constraints such as how to organize the topic within schools and expecting them to engage in activities within the network.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the foundation ‘éducation21’.