Abstract:
Traditional understandings of educational leadership have been of people who occupy formal positions within education systems, particularly in schools. Studies of leadership have focused on how these people exercise their authority over and influence on others. Leadership styles have been the focus with one such lauded style portrayed as the ‘heroic leader standing atop a hierarchy, bending the school community to his or her purposes’ (Camburn et al. 2003: 348). A related leadership style that also has received considerable research attention has been on the qualities of leadership that have transformed and empowered followers (Leithwood et al. 1999). ...