Emerging Patterns of school leadership

This paper outlines the key findings from a study examining emerging forms of school leadership, conducted by the University of Manchester on behalf of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). The findings are drawn from a literature review and accounts of practice based on research conducted in 20 schools and collaborative arrangements. This study set out to map and explore emerging practice and to highlight possible future directions in leadership, management and governance that may support the further development of the education system.

Key findings:
- The research literature currently available provides only a partial account of developments on the ground.
- Changes in local arrangements are helping schools to cope with an increasingly complex education agenda.
- Innovative and traditional approaches appear in combination.
- New leadership arrangements that are seen as liberating by some staff can be seen to increase constraints and pressures felt by others.
- The picture is fluid and the pace of change rapid.
- The local context plays an important role in the adoption and development of new leadership patterns and structures.

The report makes the following conclusions:
- Movement is towards better coordination of education provision (such as through collaboration)
- The role of leaders has expanded to include partnership working with a range of agencies.
- Although the drive behind of this is to improve student outcomes, there is little evidence of this, mostly because it has not been tested.