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Distributed Leadership: What We Know

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Distributed Leadership

Part of the book series: Studies in Educational Leadership ((SIEL,volume 7))

Distributed leadership has caught the attention of researchers, policy-makers practitioners and educational reformers (Spillane, 2006; Harris, 2008; Leithwood et al., 2009a). It is the leadership idea of the moment, even though its genesis can be traced back to the field of organizational theory in the mid 1960s (Barnard, 1968). Critics argue that distributed leadership is nothing more than a “new orthodoxy” which reinforces managerialist principles (Fitzgerald and Gunter, 2007). Alternatively, others argue it offers a new way of thinking about leadership in schools and provides a powerful tool for transforming leadership practice (Spillane et al., 2001).

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Harris, A. (2009). Distributed Leadership: What We Know. In: Harris, A. (eds) Distributed Leadership. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9737-9_2

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