Re-conceptualising learning-centred (instructional) leadership: an obsolete concept in need of renovation

Dimmock, C. and Tan, C. Y. (2016) Re-conceptualising learning-centred (instructional) leadership: an obsolete concept in need of renovation. Leading and Managing, 22(2), pp. 1-17.

Abstract

For more than thirty years, ‘instructional leadership’ has been at the forefront of research and practice in school effectiveness and improvement. Governments, employers, universities and professional developers, all see it as a mainstay of raising school and student performance. Wave-after-wave of educational policy reforms during this period have changed school environments, widening and deepening the (instructional) leadership roles and functions of principals and other school leaders. Terminology has changed – while Americans still use ‘instructional leadership’, others prefer ‘learning-centred’ and ‘leadership-for -learning’, disputing whether they encompass the same or different meanings. Yet curiously, the concept itself – as defined and measured by academic researchers and scholars - has changed relatively little since Hallinger and Murphy’s first seminal contribution in 1985. This paper argues the case for wholesale renovation of the concept if it is to maintain relevance going forward. The case is supported by important and powerful trends in policy and practice.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dimmock, Professor Clive
• Authors: Dimmock, C., and Tan, C. Y.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Educational Leadership & Policy
• Journal Name: Leading and Managing
• Publisher: The Australian Council for Educational Leaders
• ISSN: 1329-4539
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Australian Council for Educational Leaders
• First Published: First published in Leading and Managing 22(2):1-17
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the publisher

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