Rethinking leadership: perspectives on remodelling practice

This article describes forms of educational leadership observed as part of an evaluation of the Transforming School Workforce Pilot Pathfinder Project in England commissioned by the UK Government. The 32 Pilot Schools made interventions in organizational practice in ways that required them to think differently about leadership. Changes in the number, type and deployment of the school workforce combined with thinking about the nature of work have challenged existing practices. In particular, a focus on change management teams drawn from the whole school workforce and supported by an external school workforce advisor required schools to examine the nature of decision-making and participation. In this article we draw on case study evidence from eight schools and through this examine the implications of the Project for how leadership is understood and practiced. We intend to critically engage with the current popularity for distributed leadership by examining the models of practice in the Pathfinder schools and the potential that distribution theories of educational leadership have for the workforce, for students, and for the wider community.