Loading...
An exploration of perspectives, experience and enactment of transformational school leadership, factors affecting its implementation, potential synthesis with distributed leadership and the creation of a school leadership model
Date
2025-09-30
Abstract
Purpose: Cognisant of pressures on leaders across society, transformational leadership has been found to be an effective model for school leadership in times of change. It has gone through stages of popularity and of less appeal. However, transformational leadership remains an important consideration as a pragmatic approach to leadership. Despite its recognition internationally, there is a paucity of Irish research on transformational school leadership, nor does it feature in Irish education policy.
Aim: To explore the relevance of transformational school leadership as a leadership practice for Irish primary schools.
Methods: The research approach comprised: a) a systematic literature review of the impacts of transformational school leadership, and b) a qualitative study involving twelve school and system leader interviews and utilising reflective thematic analysis.
Results: A review of the extant literature resulted in cohering evidence of the impact of transformational school leadership, including increased staff motivation, and fostering positive school culture with trust and collaboration. The qualitative phase yielded insight into school and system leaders’ knowledge and understanding of transformational school leadership and their proficiency in speaking to it. Data revealed positivity towards the concept, if somewhat aspirational, highlighting the need for a sustainable school leadership model that is affective, human-centred, sharing leadership roles and responsibilities among the school community. While the research is congruent with existing literature, a novel contribution is offered through the facilitating factors and evidence of transformational school leadership practised and experienced. These include a defined process; accountability and responsibility; an inclusive culture embracing agency and autonomy; modelling, motivating, empowering, collaborating, developing leadership capacity and growth mindset; capability, collaboration, commitment, cooperation, communication, passion, creativity, energy and harmony; organisational, innovative, negotiating, and adaptive skills; a positive and supportive school community with a shared vision; allowing all to lead; fostering trusting, respectful, loving and reciprocal relationships supported by continuous professional development and appropriate staff recruitment. Inhibiting factors were perceived to be negative school culture, people adverse to implementation, and principals’ workload. Additional administrative support was considered tantamount for leadership to be prioritised. The feasibility of transformational school leadership enactment was viewed as essential, urgent and inevitable, with optimisation potential if supported by distributed leadership. Analysis also yielded recognition of potential synthesis or symbiosis between transformational school leadership and newer focus on distributed leadership (explicitly espoused in Irish national policy). This led to the development of a transformational and distributed school leadership model underpinned by six I’s of transformational school leadership, distributed leadership practices, a roadmap with an eight-step implementation plan to facilitate the effective application of the model by the whole-school community.
Recommendations: Future research could examine the application of leadership models in other jurisdictions and how this new model could be applied across social sectors.
Supervisor
Description
Publisher
University of Limerick
Citation
Collections
Files
Keywords
Funding code
Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
External Link
Type
Thesis
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/