Search

Purpose: Leadership for the implementation of an educational innovation in Singapore was examined by integrating distributed leadership with an ecological perspective of leadership and analysed using the third generation of cultural–historical activity theory. Research Method: The study adopted the naturalistic inquiry approach of a case study of a cluster of six elementary schools in the process of diffusing an educational innovation over one academic year. The research team observed six open classroom sessions and two review sessions at the cluster level. A total of two Ministry officers, one Master Teacher, 10 school leaders, 12 key personnel and 21 teachers were interviewed. Findings: The use of cultural–historical activity theory as an analytical lens provided insights into how different activity systems at the ministry, cluster, and school levels interact in providing leadership for the implementation of the innovation, the tools utilised, the rules/norms which enabled or constrained the innovation's implementation, and the evolving nature of the leadership provided. The study affirms the value of incorporating an integrative perspective in the analysis of leadership and the value of cultural–historical activity theory in unpacking the distribution of leadership across interrelated activity systems, and in highlighting the temporal evolutionary nature of leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Teacher innovation at team level in China is higher than the international average. • Distributed leadership affects teacher innovation at team and individual levels. • DL influences teacher innovation through the dynamic structure-agency interaction. • Distributed leadership is crucial for teacher innovation in the Asian contexts. The development of an innovative teaching force is highly related to talent cultivation and educational modernization. However, few studies have explored how to build an innovative teaching team by empowering teachers through distributed leadership. Based on TALIS 2018 data for teachers in Shanghai, China, this study explores the influence of distributed leadership on teacher innovation in an Asian context. The results show that distributed leadership can significantly promote both team and individual innovation by transforming the school structure and teacher agency as well as structure-agency interaction. Namely, teacher collaboration and self-efficacy partially mediate the relationship between distributed leadership and teacher innovation, and collaboration-teacher self-efficacy has a chain mediating effect on this relationship. Such effects of distributed leadership on teacher innovation have also been verified in South Korea and Singapore. Therefore, to develop an innovative teaching force in Asian contexts, it is necessary to enhance principals' distributed leadership and further create a collaborative climate under distributed leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the volatile, uncertain, and complex environment of the 2020 pandemic, education systems, school leaders and teachers must be ready to respond, adapt and even re-shape the context to ensure that student learning continues. In this paper, we analyse the Singapore Ministry of Education's response to the 2020 pandemic. We propose that two leadership constructs explain the leadership provided: contextually responsive leadership and an ecological perspective of leadership. Our analysis reiterates the importance of the teachers' role in working with and encouraging their peers, particularly when changes are required in the teachers' instructional practice, such as the use of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Singapore is a country with low teacher attrition rates and high performance on international assessments (TIMSS 2011/2015 and PISA 2012/2015). Consequently, its education system is often considered as a model for other nations. The purpose of this paper is to extend research on teacher job satisfaction in Singapore and provide comparative information for other education systems.Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a secondary analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey with a focus on relationships among teacher and principal perceptions of distributed leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction in Singapore. Hierarchical linear modeling is applied to investigate teacher job satisfaction with principal perceptions and aggregate teacher perceptions of distributed leadership as school-level (level 2) variables and individual teacher perceptions of distributed leadership as a level 1 variable.Findings Results indicated that distributed leadership significantly predicted teachers’ work and professional satisfaction; higher distributed leadership scores were associated with higher satisfaction scores.Originality/value The significant positive relationship between distributed leadership and both dimensions of job satisfaction after accounting for individual teacher characteristics is a new finding in the Singapore schooling context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed leadership is one of the most prominent contemporary leadership theories in education. Its attraction in education is perhaps due to its potential to bring about school improvement. A review of the literature, however, reveals broadness in the way the construct is being conceptualized and operationalized; thus making it elusive. The elusive nature of distributed leadership could be down to the lack of attempts to unpack and measure this construct, and/or because of the contested definition of the term ‘leadership’ itself. The purpose of this article is to elucidate this construct by addressing possible dimensionality issues. To do this, exploratory factor analysis was performed using Rasch (linearized) standardized residuals to examine the factor structure of distributed leadership. The analysis provided a lucid interpretation of the data to build a theoretical (measurement) model of distributed leadership. The distributed leadership instrument consists of 25 items, and the sample involved 1,232 schools leaders from Singapore. The findings indicated the presence of four possible factors of distributed leadership which include bounded empowerment, developing leadership, shared decision and collective engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a global professional development program called 21st Century Learning Design (21CLD), which helps teachers design academic lessons that integrate opportunities for students to develop 21st Century competencies in a variety of dimensions such as collaboration, knowledge construction, and the powerful use of ICT for learning. The framework and tools of 21CLD are grounded in learning science research, promoting aspects of these dimensions that have been shown to tie to deeper learning. The paper highlights the example of Crescent Girls' School in Singapore, which is implementing this program school-wide as a next step on its longstanding journey to leverage ICT for instructional innovation. Critical aspects of the school's supportive ecosystem include a clear and consistent vision for teaching and learning, strong teacher ownership and a common language of discourse, distributed leadership, and the use of ICT to support teacher professional development and lesson design. The paper describes results for teaching and learning through a Communicative Arts lesson that leverages place-based ICT tools for student knowledge construction. Although Crescent Girls' School is unusually well resourced and has a strong history of ICT use for learning, this case offers lessons that apply equally well for earlier-stage explorations into ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore has implemented two Masterplans for Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education over the last decade. This article examines Singapore teachers' perspectives of how leadership for ICT implementation in schools is distributed among leaders, by means of a survey conducted in 2007. The study found that transformational and instructional leadership are perceived to be distributed among multiple leaders including Principal, Heads of Technology, and Heads of Subject. Heads of Technology are viewed as performing both transformational and instructional leadership activities more frequently than the Principal or the Subject Heads. The transformational leadership and instructional leadership performed have a significant effect on the amount of extra effort teachers put into their use of ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the process of Information Communication Technology reform in a Singapore school. The focus was on distributed leadership actions, and the factors which enabled and constrained the distribution of leadership. This study adopted a naturalistic inquiry approach, involving the case study of a school. The study found that influencing factors consisted of people- and structure-related factors, including the possession of expertise, and the assignment of a formal role. Key enabling factors included an official leadership position and access to expertise, supported by senior management. Key constraints included a lack of expertise and perceived limited authority in one's official position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]