This post discusses our approach to using case studies to explore sustainable school leadership.
Understanding the realities of school leadership in the UK now, together with how it is being sustained in practice, is at the heart of our research. In this post, we want to introduce our case studies of local areas. We’re calling them ‘Locality Case Studies’. We’ll describe the approach we are taking, who we plan to talk to and what we plan to talk about. Subsequent posts will share headline reflections on the localities we are visiting.
Locality Case Studies: What and Where?
Case studies in a focused local area are an important part of our data because they involve an in-depth exploration of people’s experiences and thinking. Later in the study we will be conducting an online survey open to all school leaders in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We’ll be saying more about that in future blogs, but case studies give us a deeper insight than is possible with a national survey. Some of what we hear in the case studies will also help with the design of the survey. We want our case studies to give us a picture of the experience of leading schools in a particular place. We want to understand how people have become headteachers there, how leaders and schools are supported, and what challenges them. We also want to understand how leadership development works in the area, if and how schools work together and leaders support each other across the area and who takes what roles.
We have seven locality case studies planned across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland (NI). We have chosen localities that are different in important ways, while recognising that we cannot hope to achieve a fully representative sample. We have chosen urban, rural and coastal locations from different parts of each nation, places where the populations are more and less affluent, more and less diverse, and places where types of schools are more and less homogenous. Within each locality we are visiting a range of schools and talking to leaders in different roles and with differing perspectives on the local leadership landscape.
A Locality Case Study: How and who?
The main tool in our research kit for the case studies is interviews with various leaders in the locality. In each area we are seeking out local experts and leaders of the local system who can give us an overview. We are interviewing individual headteachers and we’ll also speak to senior leaders who are potential future heads in primary and secondary schools. In addition, we plan to interview some people involved in appointing and supporting heads, Chairs of Governors for example, and where possible, we are observing events like network meetings and training days.
We are making sure that the headteachers and senior leaders come from a range of schools in the locality, taking in all phases and different contexts. Overall, we are expecting to visit 8-10 schools in a locality which will usually be about 10% of all schools in the areas we are visiting, speaking to between 20-25 leaders in each case.
The interviews
The interviews with heads and potential heads are 1.5 hours long, giving us time to explore issues in depth. The interview structure is informed by our conceptual framework, which centres on place, identity and leadership (we will write in more detail about this in a future blogpost).
We start by asking them about themselves and how they understand their current context. We ask about their role, how they got there, about the characteristics of the school and the community it serves. We discuss staffing, organisation and governance and then how they work with other schools. The interview then focusses on leadership. We ask particularly about what drains and sustains them now, and their own experience of developing as a leader. We then talk more broadly about what they see as effective and sustainable leadership, how best to develop others and how that is working currently.
With local leaders and experts, the conversations follow a similar pattern, but concentrate more on the local area as a whole and any shared plans and strategies that affect schools. The employer conversations are also similar, but concentrating particularly on recruitment, retention and support of leaders.
What next?
We have planned to visit two localities each term, starting in Autumn 2023 with the seventh and final visit in Autumn 2024. As we complete our interviews in each locality we’ll be posting some initial reflections on what we are hearing. We visited ‘Northern Ireland-Coast’ and ‘England-City’ before Christmas and blog-posts about what we heard there will be coming soon.
Photo by Benjamin Elliott on Unsplash
Sustainable School Leadership 