Collaborative spirit: Understanding distributed leadership practices in and around teacher teams

W. A. de Jong*, R. A.M. de Kleijn, D. Lockhorst, J. Brouwer, M. Noordegraaf, J. W.F. van Tartwijk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

While the effects of distributed leadership are widely studied, how to understand this practice in sociocultural contexts is relatively unknown. Mostly only one contextual level – such as the school level – is studied. We included individual, team, and school levels, and investigated differences in distributed leadership among 14 collaborative innovation-oriented teacher teams (130–168 teachers and their principals). Using a mixed-method design, we found that distributed leadership is associated with experiencing no threshold when it comes to asking advice, as well as with teachers looking beyond their classrooms. This occurs when teachers and school principals generate a ‘collaborative spirit’ to improve education.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103977
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalTeaching and Teacher Education
Volume123
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research is part of a larger research project, supported by The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (Dutch acronym: NRO ). The project is named: ‘The power of LeerKRACHT! A search for effects’, project number: 405.17812. The research project aims to identify the effects of the programme and understand the underlying mechanisms in a study from 2017 to 2021. Research time of Dr. J. Brouwer is funded by Dutch Research Council VI.Veni.191 S.010 since 01.01.2020.

Funding Information:
This research is part of a larger research project, supported by The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (Dutch acronym: NRO). The project is named: ‘The power of LeerKRACHT! A search for effects’, project number: 405.17812. The research project aims to identify the effects of the programme and understand the underlying mechanisms in a study from 2017 to 2021. Research time of Dr. J. Brouwer is funded by Dutch Research Council VI.Veni.191 S.010 since 01.01.2020.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Funding

This research is part of a larger research project, supported by The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (Dutch acronym: NRO ). The project is named: ‘The power of LeerKRACHT! A search for effects’, project number: 405.17812. The research project aims to identify the effects of the programme and understand the underlying mechanisms in a study from 2017 to 2021. Research time of Dr. J. Brouwer is funded by Dutch Research Council VI.Veni.191 S.010 since 01.01.2020. This research is part of a larger research project, supported by The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (Dutch acronym: NRO). The project is named: ‘The power of LeerKRACHT! A search for effects’, project number: 405.17812. The research project aims to identify the effects of the programme and understand the underlying mechanisms in a study from 2017 to 2021. Research time of Dr. J. Brouwer is funded by Dutch Research Council VI.Veni.191 S.010 since 01.01.2020.

Keywords

  • Collaborative innovation
  • Distributed leadership
  • Sociocultural contexts
  • Teacher teams

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