Section 1: Introductory materials |
An introduction to the subject of distributed leadership and the contents of this pack. |
| Section 2: What we know about middle leaders | Middle leaders are pivotal to any strategy that aims to distribute leadership effectively. Included here is a report on what we can learn about middle leadership from Ofsted data and how middle leaders contributed to the school improvement process, from our work on within-school variation. |
| Section 3: What the research says | Commissioned work from both the educational consultancy division of the HayGroup and Professor John MacBeath at the University of Cambridge , looking at how distributed leadership is working in a wide range of schools. This section offers summaries of both these pieces of work. The full reports can be found on the CD-ROM. |
| Section 4: Learning-centred leadership | Learning-centred and distributed leadership can be seen as two sides of the same coin – schools need many leaders who can influence learning and teaching. This section sets out our thinking about learning-centred leadership from recent work and explores its implications for distributed leadership. |
| Section 5: Increasing effectiveness: practical guides | This section offers practical tips for leaders in primary and secondary schools in distributing leadership. These guides were produced through our Leading Practice seminars in consultation with leaders working in schools. |
| Section 6: Planning for the future | We will need many more leaders in the future, to replace those who retire and to provide the additional leaders needed to distribute leadership effectively. This section summarises the outcome of a NCSL research project, ‘Growing tomorrow’s leaders’, and of a number of seminars about succession planning. |
| Section 7: CDs and action pack | Includes an audio recording from
Jim Spillane ( University of Chicago ), who has examined this type
of leadership extensively in schools in the USA. It also contains
a report by the Open University and a collection of summary reports
by NCSL research associates, which explore distributed leadership
in various contexts. |