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How leadership for an ICT reform is distributed within a school and its impact on teachers’ use of ICT
Author
Ho, Jeanne Marie Pau Yuen
Supervisor
Ng, David Foo Seong
Abstract
After two decades of masterplans to support technology use in Singapore schools, the majority of schools are still not harnessing ICT in ways which enable students to actively construct their own understanding. The literature suggests that leadership may play a critical role in the effective implementation of technology in schools, and that such leadership is likely to be distributed.
The main theoretical framework guiding this study was thus the distributed leadership perspective, which focuses on the interactions of multiple leaders with followers within a specific situation. A case study method was adopted, involving the examination of a school in the process of implementing an information communication technology (ICT) reform, focusing on the leadership actions performed by multiple individuals, and how the leadership provided impacted the teachers involved in the reform. The study also investigated the factors which enabled or constrained the distribution of leadership.
The case study included observations of meetings and email correspondence to investigate the enactment of leadership. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with leaders to understand their leadership actions, and with teachers to elicit their experience of leadership. The main analysis method was the constant comparative method of data analysis, with the use of Activity Theory as an interpretive framework to organise the findings.
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The study found that distributed leadership for ICT implementation requires a combination of transformational leadership to inspire teachers to be willing to change, instructional leadership to develop teachers’ capacity to enhance their instruction with ICT, emotional leadership to support teachers’ effort to change, and strategic management of resources to sustain teachers’ efforts to change. Transformational leadership is performed mainly by senior management while instructional leadership is performed mainly by middle management who possess the required technical-pedagogical-content expertise. Senior management plays a critical role in enabling and empowering instructional leadership by middle management. In contexts in which Heads of Department may pose barriers to change and leadership is mainly from middle managers who are lower in the organisational hierarchy, the role of senior management as boundary spanner between HODs and the latter is important.
In considering distributed leadership, it is critical to look beyond official leadership positions since access to expertise and personal agency play a key role in the actualisation of leadership. In addition, the extent to which leaders collaborate and the nature of their collaboration depends largely on their interpersonal relationships.
Besides looking at the distribution of leadership amongst different actors, there is also a need to consider the distribution of and change in leadership over time. Since the concept of leadership is to influence changes in people’s beliefs and actions, as these changes occur, leadership needs to evolve in response to these changes.
This study confirms that leadership for ICT implementation is distributed and that this distribution requires the enactment of a range of leadership functions, including transformational leadership, instructional leadership, emotional leadership and management of resources. The key enabling factors are an official leadership position and access to expertise, supported by senior management, and enhanced by interpersonal synergies amongst the leaders.
The main theoretical framework guiding this study was thus the distributed leadership perspective, which focuses on the interactions of multiple leaders with followers within a specific situation. A case study method was adopted, involving the examination of a school in the process of implementing an information communication technology (ICT) reform, focusing on the leadership actions performed by multiple individuals, and how the leadership provided impacted the teachers involved in the reform. The study also investigated the factors which enabled or constrained the distribution of leadership.
The case study included observations of meetings and email correspondence to investigate the enactment of leadership. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with leaders to understand their leadership actions, and with teachers to elicit their experience of leadership. The main analysis method was the constant comparative method of data analysis, with the use of Activity Theory as an interpretive framework to organise the findings.
>
The study found that distributed leadership for ICT implementation requires a combination of transformational leadership to inspire teachers to be willing to change, instructional leadership to develop teachers’ capacity to enhance their instruction with ICT, emotional leadership to support teachers’ effort to change, and strategic management of resources to sustain teachers’ efforts to change. Transformational leadership is performed mainly by senior management while instructional leadership is performed mainly by middle management who possess the required technical-pedagogical-content expertise. Senior management plays a critical role in enabling and empowering instructional leadership by middle management. In contexts in which Heads of Department may pose barriers to change and leadership is mainly from middle managers who are lower in the organisational hierarchy, the role of senior management as boundary spanner between HODs and the latter is important.
In considering distributed leadership, it is critical to look beyond official leadership positions since access to expertise and personal agency play a key role in the actualisation of leadership. In addition, the extent to which leaders collaborate and the nature of their collaboration depends largely on their interpersonal relationships.
Besides looking at the distribution of leadership amongst different actors, there is also a need to consider the distribution of and change in leadership over time. Since the concept of leadership is to influence changes in people’s beliefs and actions, as these changes occur, leadership needs to evolve in response to these changes.
This study confirms that leadership for ICT implementation is distributed and that this distribution requires the enactment of a range of leadership functions, including transformational leadership, instructional leadership, emotional leadership and management of resources. The key enabling factors are an official leadership position and access to expertise, supported by senior management, and enhanced by interpersonal synergies amongst the leaders.
Date Issued
2009
Call Number
LB2806 Ho
Date Submitted
2009