Investigation of in-School Factors Affecting Distributed Leadership Practices

OpenAlex · İngilizce

The aim of this study is to identify the distributed leadership levels in public secondary schools (under the Ministry of National Education) and explore the in-school factors affecting distributed leadership practices based on teachers’ opinions. The research is designed based on a mixed approach. In the quantitative dimension, the sample group consists of 736 teachers from 27 different secondary schools in the Gaziantep Province. In the qualitative dimension, the focus group is composed of 24 participant teachers. The Distributed Leadership Scale was used to identify distributed leadership levels of schools. In the qualitative dimension, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was applied as the evaluation instrument. According to teachers’ opinions, the rarest subdimension of distributed leadership at schools is the “common goals”, while the most frequently seen is the “cooperation and trust” subdimension. The findings obtained through interviews show that risk-taking, managerial support, learning culture, accountability relations, communication, professional development, facilitating role of the administration and the organizational culture are positive factors that support distributed leadership, while absence of these factors poses a barrier to management activities.