System-Level Leadership in Multi-Academy Trusts in England: The Role of Executive Leaders

• In Event: Implementation of Education Policies to Improve School- and System-Level Leadership

Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation into the ideologically driven policy role of ‘system leaders’, individuals who enhance provision and provide support for a group of schools, at different levels of seniority through five English Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs). The research adopted a mixed-methods design drawing on data from interviews with multiple stakeholders exploring the ways MAT leaders exert agency in their efforts to establish, manage and sustain system-wide improvement and a quantitative survey of school leaders investigating whether and to what extent their MAT leaders contribute to the individual schools’ processes, culture and improvement conditions.
The attention to a ‘system-oriented’ leadership evokes the critical role of leaders in creating organizational conditions supportive of continuous improvement.

Author

• Michalis Constantinides, University of Waikato