School leaders growing leadership from within: A framework for the development of school leaders

Abstract

This article discusses the development of school leaders from within schools. Within this discussion, a framework is presented which identifies key features which support school leaders to achieve this. The authors propose that school leaders are required to deliberately establish and maintain positive relationships with their teachers while also developing a positive school culture. The framework demonstrates the strong influence that school leaders have on their relationships with teachers, and in turn the interconnectedness between these relationships and the school culture. It also shows how a positive school culture enables school leaders to create opportunities and support teachers to develop both personally and professionally, and grow as leaders from within their schools. Although in order to create this culture, school leaders draw on aspects from various different leadership styles, we suggest that to be successful the development of a new leadership style may be timely.