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About distributed leadership

Distributed leadership is essentially about sharing leadership across an organisation. In this model, leadership responsibilities and accountability are shared by those with relevant skills and expertise, rather than resting with an individual. In schools, distributed leadership models should focus on developing many learning-centred leaders with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of teaching, learning and pupil outcomes.

Distributed leadership is not a new concept. Sometimes known as delegated or shared leadership, it is based on three key ideas:

  • The belief in leadership teams: belief in the power of one is giving way to a belief in the power of everyone.
  • As schools become more complex places to manage and lead, we need more leaders than ever before.
  • Ensuring that there are many leaders enables us to create pools of talent, from which we can grow tomorrow’s leaders.

Distributed leadership can also be used as a tool to reduce within-school variation.

The presence of more leaders enables increased peer leadership among teachers, learning assistants and support staff. If these leaders are empowered, schools can become more powerful learning organisations for all, where staff are encouraged to reflect on their professional experience and act on it to improve the quality of their teaching. Evidence suggests that learning-centred approaches to leadership benefit pupils, staff and the whole school community.