Identifying the conditions for the establishment of distributed leadership in the primary schools in Mashhad, Iran

Distributed leadership moves beyond the philosophy that leadership is generated solely by the role and position of the principal and instead frames leadership as a practice that involves an array of individuals whose dynamic interactions mobilize and guide teachers in the process of instructional change. Spillane (2001, 2005, 2007) developed a distributed perspective on leadership that shifted the focus from the gallant actions of the school principal to the results of the combined interactions of school leaders, followers, and their use of artifacts in various situations. The purpose of this study was to examine the distributed leadership practices of principals in primary schools from the viewpoint of their teachers and to identify the conditions for the establishment of distributed leadership in these schools in Mashhad, Iran. The survey method was conducted on all the primary school teachers in the third districts of Mashhad and Tabadkan. In total, 335 teachers were selected as the sample population using Morgan's table. Data were collected using Spillane 's scale and interview. In the conceptual framework proposed by Spillane (2002), the four dimensions of distributed leadership include mission, culture, shared responsibility, and leadership experiences. In terms of mission, vision, and goals, special emphasis is placed on the knowledge of all school members about the school's goals, which examines the current status of distributed leadership in schools indicating the above-average average of this variable in our schools. Based on the results of this study, the mean of distributed leadership was 3.683. it seems distributed leadership is a complex phenomenon with teachers engaged in all four dimensions in the primary schools. Accordingly, distributive leadership status in the primary schools was above the average level. As a result of comparing the current and desirable status, there was a significant difference between the current situation and the desirable status of distributed leadership in the schools studied. The main gap between the status quo and the desirable component of participatory decision making seems to be that in the schools studied to track students' educational needs, there is usually no regular meeting with counselors or educational professionals and no attention is paid to students with needs. moreover, it seems that teacher evaluation results are used less to evaluate school curricula and teacher's useless feedback and evaluation results and manager observations to improve classroom instruction. Based on the findings of this study, it seems that the approach of the studied schools has been inclined towards distributive leadership, especially in the last five years, also the school principals, have tried to recognize the goals particularly in the field of mission, attitude, and goals of the school. However, as it was stated earlier to inform all members about the goals and to involve the members in the implementation of the goals and also to align the goals of the school with the educational goals, more work is needed, which shows the gap between the current situation and the desired one. According to the interview data, the establishment of distributed leadership in primary schools requires the incorporation of concepts such as vision and goal setting, organization, optimism culture, enabler structure, and student-centered. Studies in Iran so far have not looked at school prospects and organizations as components of distributed leadership, but there has been some research into the culture of optimism and its underlying components such as self-efficacy and academic achievement as well as professional empowerment. In sum, this study revealed the acceptable attention to organizing people in appropriate situations to share school responsibilities and complete tasks by individuals, also to expand and develop leadership capabilities and publish leadership tasks among individuals in the school social network and the spread of school culture.
As a growing body of research on distributed leadership has begun to influence of this leadership style on school performance and student learning. For example, the results of Abbasian et al. (2012), Gholami et al. (2014), Mohammadi (2011), Nasiri et al. (1395), Arianfar et al. (9013) studies, in line with the results of this study, confirmed that the distributed leadership status in primary schools especially in Iran. It is slightly above average in schools. However, Spielan (2005), Groen (2002), Bennett (203), and Ilzofeng (2001) emphasized on the school landscape component. In the school organization component, the status of the schools under study was reported to be above average. In the school organization, the focus is on knowledge, education, and learning in the context of school culture. The results of this study showed a moderate focus on organizing people in the right situations to share school responsibilities and completing tasks by individuals and expanding and developing. Leadership capabilities and dissemination of leadership tasks among individuals in the school social network and the prevalence of school culture. Consideration of the component of individual organization based on leadership tasks has also been emphasized in the studies of Harris (2008); Lewis et al. (2009); Woodsograwen (2009); Woods et al. (2004); Bennett et al. (2003). Participatory decision making also had a higher-than-average mean in this research, a point that scholars such as Lewis, Mayrowitz, Smiley, and Murphy, Van Amijd, Bilesbury, and Van Morsi, (2009); Timberley, 2008; Mayrowitz et al., (2007), They have emphasized it. In this study, leadership behaviors were above average, a topic that has been mentioned in Spillane’s theory of leadership experiences that includes leadership tools, thoughts, and intentions. These results were consistent with the findings of scholars (e.g., Lewis; Leitz Wood & Growan 2000; Storm, Wall, 2004; Bush; Gluner, 2003). This study supports the creation of conditionss for principals and teacher teams to attend professional development that allows them to work alongside one another to improve the leadership practices in their schools. Traditional approaches to professional development are designed so that principals and teachers attend
professional development school performance. opportunities separately and often unrelated to one another. Thus, principal preparation programs must create courses that incorporate complex and multidimensional activities to develop their capacity to identify the strengths of their teachers, provide opportunities for teachers to take on leadership roles in their areas of interest or expertise, and guide and direct the teachers to utilize material and cultural artifacts in order to improve.