How the Stakeholders in Two Case Schools in Cyprus Understand Shared Leadership and the Benefits from it

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the question of management and leadership with respect to concepts of shared and distributed leadership. The thesis critically discusses these concepts and what appear to be similar notions of leadership, since on the one hand they are difficult to define, while on the other considerable claims have been made as to the benefits of shared leadership. From this discussion key research questions are formulated. A key feature of this study is that it seeks to raise the question of shared leadership with all the stakeholders in a school to see how they understand the concept and what effects, if any, such leadership has in terms of their own practice: this has not been undertaken before in the literature. A further issue addressed is whether, as some papers in the literature suggest, shared leadership is necessary for school performance.The research was undertaken in two private primary schools in Cyprus, school “A” and school “B”, and explores with teachers, students, parents, Council members (in school “A”) the owner (in school “B”), the head teacher (in school “A”) the deputy head (in school “B”) their understanding of the concept of shared leadership. This was done by asking each stakeholder group about how they perceive his or her role, and the roles of other stakeholders in the school organization and how they perceive the school leadership.The thesis contributes to the fields of leadership, shared/distributed leadership and stakeholder involvement. Key factors that underpin the concept are highlighted and the constraints on implementing shared leadership in a practical sense discussed.

Date of Award	4 Jul 2012
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Hugh Lauder (Supervisor) & Felicity Wikeley (Supervisor)