Content area
Abstract
Lambert's work and Heck and Hallinger's work serve to outline the historical and theoretical contexts for theories of constructivist leadership which underpin this study. The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which leadership was played out in a school in which the principal had embraced the notion of constructivist leadership.
The interpretive case study approach, outlined by Stake in 1995, aligned well with this study of the constructivist approach to leadership. Stoney Creek School was selected for its reputation as a school that encouraged reciprocal learning as a tool for constructing meaning around the ways students learn. Data were gathered over a two-month period from observations of staff, administration and students in informal situations and meetings as well as from unstructured interviews or informal conversations that occurred. The formal data gathering activities included a collection of all relevant documents and two sets of semi-structured interviews with 12 students, 4 parents, and 12 staff members.
Categories and themes constructed from the inter-relationship of perceptions of participants have been presented in narrative format. Multiple references to the literature have been incorporated throughout this report to further provide for reader interpretation.
Previous research has focused on what a constructivist leader is, but not much has been written about the dynamics and struggles that take place while trying to become a constructivist leader. This study fleshes out the claims of Lambert et al. by recognizing the uniqueness of every school context and every school principal's values, beliefs and experiences with leading. This study illustrates that constructivist leadership is “a work in progress.” Recommendations for further leadership research and practice are based on this finding and others. More detailed investigations need to be made on how constructive leadership is implemented and how leaders can prepare themselves and others to initiate and accept this often revolutionary process.
