- Reference: EDU2011-26436
- PI: Julián López Yáñez
- Duration: from 2012, until 2014
The main assumption of the project is that leadership is an eminently social phenomenon and widely distributed throughout any organization. This makes it necessary to address studies on educational leadership that go beyond the formal charges of school management. For this, a multiple research methodology is needed that captures the complexity of the phenomenon. In our project we have applied complementary methodologies distributed in two phases:
In the first phase of the research, 39 schools, both primary and secondary schools, from two Spanish provinces: Huelva and Sevilla participated. One of the data collection instruments used in this phase was a questionnaire to analyze the social network of the center (COURSE) from the collaborative relationships that the teachers had established among themselves in four areas or areas: teaching, management, coexistence and problems or personal matters. The full cloisters of the 39 participating centers were invited to complete the aforementioned questionnaire.
The second instrument used in this first phase was the Daily Register of School Activity (REDAE) that was sent for two weeks to 42 leaders of 39 schools -mostly directors- of both primary and secondary schools of the two Andalusian provinces. They were asked to complete the registration at the end of the school day, providing information about the activity they considered most relevant for the day. The results obtained reflected who led the activity in the centers, how the leadership was exercised in relation to aspects such as teaching, management, social relations and professional development, as well as the attitudes and feelings experienced by managers during the performance of Tasks.
In the second phase of the research, a subsample was finally composed of 10 of the 39 centers participating in the first one. This phase was developed through ethnographic methodologies that included: the director’s shadowing during six full school days spread over three weeks, in-depth interviews (a minimum of seven) with key agents of the center, and observation of meetings ( at least three) of the collegiate bodies of the center. The data recorded in this second phase allowed us to contrast and give depth to the analysis made from the data collected in the first phase.
