Generations of research show that leadership is one of the major factors contributing to successful school improvement. However, the one‐dimensional leadership role of the principal in the improvement process is challenged increasingly by the growing body of research into the importance of shared or distributed leadership. While attempting to address the link between school leadership and student outcomes clearly, this book is intellectually stimulating and successfully illustrates how effective leadership contributes to improved student outcomes through promoting organizational learning (OL), or a “collective teacher efficacy” (p. 9). Throughout the book, transformational leadership is promoted as a facilitator of successful school change.
Transformational leadership is depicted as effective leadership which stresses support, care, trust, participation, facilitation, and whole staff consensus (p. 14); all of which optimize active involvement in leadership and the stimulation of collective learning. Transformational practices are defined as identifying and articulating a vision, fostering the acceptance of group goals, structuring the school to enhance participation in decisions, providing intellectual stimulation, and conveying high expectations (p. 239). The authors hold that the variation in OL between schools determines the extent of its effectiveness on initiatives designed to improve student learning outcomes. Accordingly, the book examines the notion of effective school leadership and how it correlates with OL and student outcomes.
The book is organized in four sections. The major part of the book provides a professional development manual geared to strengthen leadership for organizational learning and improved student outcomes. The opening chapter provides a powerful introduction and offers quality evidence for the above based mainly on the Leadership for Organizational Learning and Student Outcomes (LOLSO) Research Project. Results from the teacher and student surveys of the project are presented around six of its major research questions: How is the concept of OL defined in Australian secondary schools? What leadership practices promote OL in schools? What are some outcomes of schooling other than academic achievement? What are the relationships between the non‐academic and academic outcomes of schooling? Do school leadership and/or organizational learning contribute to student outcomes? What other factors contribute to student outcomes? As well as providing insights into OL and student outcomes, the authors outline and stress the importance of the principal's transformational role in school development.
The second section introduces a rationale for using problem‐based learning (PBL) as a vehicle for professional development. This includes a collection of group development and warm‐up activities which can be used to introduce PBL. The third section forms the crux of the book and includes case studies of two schools. The cases highlight the contexts and problems faced by the schools and describe how and why their three‐year action plans were devised.
The two cases presented are similar in that both demonstrate the importance of transformational leadership in the principals’ struggle for school improvement at a time when the schools were viewed negatively by their communities. Problems such as poor student learning culture, unruly behavior, time constraints, and limited opportunities to strengthen capacity had confronted teachers for years. When the principals took up their positions in the schools, they had a strong sense of commitment and worked toward whole staff consensus and participative decision making to achieve their student‐focused vision and goals. The principals trusted the capacities of teachers, provided support and encouraged on‐going professional development. Their transformational leadership enabled them to attain the appreciation and trust of most teachers who felt valued and worked as a team through collegial relationship and close collaboration. Improved collective teacher efficacy was obvious in both schools. Teachers were enthusiastic about on‐going professional development and this developed into daily professional dialogue. They were willing to share ideas and resources. From such a perspective, the authors have adequately displayed the links between effective school leadership and organizational learning. Through the two case studies, they have also demonstrated how students gradually improved in line with new school initiatives supported and implemented by teachers who cared for their students. In the same fashion, programs not widely supported by teachers or which teachers felt incompetent to lead, tended to be less effective or sometimes failed. As such, the relationships between organizational learning and improved student outcomes are also examined.
There was some variation between the two case studies. Davidson implemented too many school improvement initiatives at the same time, resulting in teacher misunderstanding and increased stress; and Ingram failed to develop a common consensus of the curriculum change and the challenges arising from the out‐of‐school influence which led to psychological bullying among students. Such variations, however, echo the four important implications of the LOLSO research mentioned in the opening chapter, namely transformational and distributed leadership, a focus on development/learning, broad measures of student outcomes, and the importance of context (p. 12). Such implications are consistently reflected, illustrated and supported with various research findings in the two additional readings provided in the last section of the book: “Conditions fostering organizational learning in schools” and “Leadership for organizational learning in Australian secondary schools”. There provide solid support drawn from both qualitative and quantitative data about the notion of transformational leadership for organizational learning and improved student outcomes. Taken as a whole, the problem‐based professional development package that comprises the two case studies, the survey data and the two additional readings provide valuable theoretical as well as practical materials for professional development of school leaders. Readers may also find the refined versions of the LOLSO research's diagnostic instruments useful in their own schools.
Notwithstanding its many contributions, the book has some shortcomings. Since a large part of its function is as a professional development manual for school leaders, some parts bear little relation to the issue highlighted in the book title. For example, the two chapters explaining the rationale for using problem‐based learning as the vehicle of the professional development, and the accompanying warm‐up activities seem, to me, a little detached from the central theme. In addition, the brief notes that appear after each case study, and the two shorter versions of the case studies, are basically repetitions of the lengthier descriptions presented earlier. Finally, the book may have benefited from more detailed clarification of concepts. The title highlights three important concepts. However, apart from educational leadership which has been examined mostly in terms of transformational leadership, the other two concepts including organizational learning and student outcomes are relatively under‐explored, even though some research findings are introduced in the two additional readings. Some variables, such as “engagement”, used in the LOLSO research and which appear throughout the book could be explained more systematically with reference to both academic and social engagement (Norris et al., 2003).
In sum, I would recommend the book to both school heads and teachers who are working toward sustained school development and improvement. For school leaders, the book certainly provides a guide useful for reflecting on their leadership styles and approaches. The professional development manual provides practical advice/strategies for colleagues wishing to strengthen organizational learning. For teachers, the book will surely offer new insights about their roles in school development and improvement. Instead of being led, teachers will learn that they too are actually leaders who enhance student learning outcomes through collective learning and close collaboration.
