From Instructional Leadership to Leadership Capabilities: Empirical Findings and Methodological Challenges

By Viviane M. J. Robinson. 2010

259 citations recorded by the source corpus.

While there is considerable evidence about the impact of instructional leadership on student outcomes, there is far less known about the leadership capabilities that are required to confidently engage in the practices involved. This article uses the limited available evidence, combined with relevant theoretical analyses, to propose a tentative model of the leadership capabilities required to engage in effective instructional leadership. Research is suggestive of the importance of three interrelated capabilities: (a) using deep leadership content knowledge to (b) solve complex school-based problems, while (c) building relational trust with staff, parents, and students. It is argued that there is considerable interdependence between these three capabilities, and fine-grained specification of each is less important than developing leadership frameworks, standards, and curricula that develop their skilful integration.

Subfields: Education, Information Systems and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8cbc1ccb9d863986cab9198c52f603048d509755

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Citations in the corpus

Testing a Conception of How School Leadership Influences Student Learning (2010, background): “In general, exercising a positive influence on these variables calls on leaders’ knowledge about what some refer to as the “technical core” of schooling (Murphy & Hallinger, 1988), their problem-solving capacities (Robinson, 2010), and their knowledge of relevant leadership practices.”
The Interpersonal Challenges of Instructional Leadership (2015, background): “Apart from the work of Stein and Nelson, there is little research on the quality of leaders’ instructional knowledge and of their capability in employing it for the purpose of improvement (Robinson, 2010; Smylie & Bennett, 2005).”
Principals’ Approaches to Cultivating Teacher Effectiveness (2013, unknown): “Research nonetheless indicates that principals do have an effect on student learning (see, e.g., Hallinger & Heck, 1998, 2011; Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins, 2008; Leithwood, Patten, & Jantzi, 2010; Louis, Dretzke, & Wahlstrom, 2010; Louis, Leithwood et al., 2010; Robinson, 2010).”
The Job Realities of Beginning and Experienced Assistant Principals (2012, background): ““The challenge for leadership preparation programs is … to build the capacity [of their students] to maintain or strengthen relationships with students, teachers, and parents while tackling the tough issues of school improvement” ( Robinson, 2010 , p.”