Abstract
Sustaining success in a changing world means to be aware of changes in political and educational expectations and at the same time remembering the basic purpose of schooling, the comprehensive education for social justice – in some places labeled: the “Democratic Bildung.”
Sustaining successful functions and culture in schools is first and foremost done through involving and empowering teachers to be learning professionals and by restructuring and reculturing organization to be learning organizations – here called “self-renewing organizations” – by shifting the focus from leaders to leadership and diverse forms of distributed leadership with more focus on communities than on individuals.
Distribution and empowerment take place through deliberations and negotiations where teachers are given voice, and teachers and leadership enter into “semi-permanent consensus” on reaching a “sufficiently shared” and “good enough understanding” of the current situations, the intended aims and external expectations. In most cases, we see two interconnected forms of distribution, two social technologies: Firstly, there is much productive collaboration and sharing of leadership in communities like teams of leaders and teams of teachers. Secondly, there is a renewed focus on sensemaking in the person-to-person everyday interactions and communication in the educational and organizational practice: Values and direction for school development are being shaped and negotiated between teachers and leaders when they build on ethics.
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Moos, L. (2011). Sustaining Leadership Through Self-renewing Communication. In: Moos, L., Johansson, O., Day, C. (eds) How School Principals Sustain Success over Time. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1335-2_8
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