AWARENESS OF, ATTITUDE TO, AND INVOLVEMENT IN DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Distributed leadership is a style of leadership devoid of vertical hierarchy – it involves multiple leaders at multiple levels. It is based on an interaction network – or community for action – where all school staff are leaders (subject leaders and/or event leaders). As this leadership style has been highly recommended since the 2010s for application in secondary school management, on the one hand, and has not been sufficiently applied or researched in Georgia, the topic of the paper is significant. Qualitative method of research was chosen to obtain a deeper insight into the issue under study. Two semi-structured interviews with educators were conducted. A purposeful selection of the interviewees was applied. The participants were four secondary school principals and ten teachers. It was concluded that in decision-making in Georgia, the principal and the vice principal are the major figures, however, teachers also matter. Collaboration and discussion do take place, mostly around curriculum development and innovative ideas. As for people between whom the responsibilities are distributed, the following ones are often named: teachers, the principal, mentor teachers, the vice principal, and colleagues. As for activities which are distributed, the following ones are often named: attending meetings, taking part in decision-making, discussion, facilitation, and contribution. It looks like the teachers rely more on people than activities (only training is mentioned once), among whom are (general) colleagues, more specifically, the principal, the vice principal, mentor teachers, and experienced teachers. Among people involved in distributed leadership mostly teachers are named, and some interviewees also mention the principal. Distributed leadership application is associated with: decision-making, accountability, problem-solving, collaboration, trust-building, and sharing knowledge. The results will be useful for education decision-makers both in Georgia and globally.
Keywords: distributed leadership, horizontal hierarchy in school management, principals’ role, teachers’ role
