System Leadership and Education Change: Exploring the Evidence

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Leadership and Policy for Systemic Change

Abstract

This paper examines how system leadership has been defined, interpreted, and applied within the context of education change and improvement at scale. It draws upon a recent review of the international literature on system leadership and contemporary empirical evidence from a comparative research study to consider the nature, enactment, and impact of system leadership as part of a strategic approach to education change and improvement. The paper presents new empirical evidence and takes both a critical and comparative perspective on the possibilities and challenges of system leadership within the context of educational reform. The paper concludes by considering how system leadership can offer a transformative approach to policy and practice within the field of education change.

Authors

• Alma Harris, Cardiff Metropolitan University

• Michelle Suzette Jones, Cardiff Metropolitan University

• Julia Longville, Cardiff Metropolitan University

• Alan Gorman, Dublin City University

• Fiona M. King, Dublin City University

• Romina Madrid Miranda, University of Stirling