The distribution of leadership as an influence on the implementation of a national policy initiative: the example of the Laptops for Teachers scheme

Abstract

Research on the nature of and support for systemic sustainable innovation with ICT is converging with research on policy implementation and studies of school change and improvement to highlight the complex interplay of personal and contextual factors that enable and constrain innovation. In each of these fields, leadership has been found to play a crucial role in initiating and sustaining change and innovation. This leadership is not however the prerogative of any one individual but rather it is distributed over people at all levels of the system and across policies, practices and material resources. Leadership for innovation around and with ICT technologies is also distributed across time because of its substantial financial and knowledge implications. In this article, we illustrate the distributed nature of the leadership that supported teachers and schools to make use of teacher personal laptops accessed through the New Zealand government Laptops for Teachers scheme.