Uplifting School Leadership and the Townsend/Adams Seven Powers: A Study of Leadership Growth in a Small Rural Primary School in New South Wales, Australia

Y

15

Foreign Countries; Rural Schools; Elementary Schools; Instructional Leadership; Small Schools; Professional Development; Professionalism; Inquiry; Cooperation; Story Telling; Discussion

Australia; Canada

1923-1857

This article presents a rich account of school leadership development within the North Coast Initiative for School Improvement program in New South Wales, Australia. The focus is the school leader at a small rural school, whose engagement with generative dialogue and collaborative inquiry results in a growing confidence in engaging her school community. The study demonstrates the power of narrative as a mode of inquiry and leadership development as represented in the school leader's own account of her changing relationship with her school and her developing sense of professionalism. The study evaluates the success of the approach against a model of Seven Powers derived from the work of David Townsend and Pam Adams in Alberta, Canada, that includes the positive effects of carefully constructed and managed teams, professional relationships and processes, and the use of inquiry, reflection, collaboration, modelling and narrative in supporting the professional development of a school-based leader.

As Provided

2022

EJ1322292