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Distributed Leadership pp 219–240Cite as

Fit for Purpose: An Educationally Relevant Account of Distributed Leadership

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Part of the book series: Studies in Educational Leadership ((SIEL,volume 7))

Currently, there is intense interest in the relationship between educational leadership and student outcomes. The interest is evident in the number of recent reviews, syntheses and meta-analyses of the available published evidence (Leithwood et al., 2008; Marzano et al., 2005; Mulford, 2008; Robinson et al., 2008). These publications provide an opportunity for sober reflection on the state of research on educational leadership. Perhaps the most important conclusion to be drawn from them is that there is a radical disconnection between research on educational leadership and the core purpose of schooling – the education of children. The disconnection is most compellingly demonstrated by the miniscule proportion of publications that have empirically tested the relationship between aspects of educational leadership and student achievement and well-being.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    V.M.J. Robinson

Authors
  1. V.M.J. Robinson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Education, University of London, Bedford Way, London WCIH OAL

    Alma Harris

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Robinson, V. (2009). Fit for Purpose: An Educationally Relevant Account of Distributed Leadership. In: Harris, A. (eds) Distributed Leadership. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9737-9_12

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