摘要：The role of leadership in the improvement of teaching and learning has long been established in the literature. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of attempts to influence (or lead) classroom teachers, especially in the areas of science and mathematics. What remains unclear and somewhat contentious however, is what kinds of leadership matter for the improvement of learning and achievement in schools. This paper presents findings from a large-scale, qualitative research project on the leadership practices of 102 successful schools serving formerly disadvantaged children in South Africa. Data from a rich set of interviews with school administrators and subject specialists, document analysis, and school observations suggest that the more successful schools, in the group, distinguish themselves in the way they define and construct the overall goals of leadership around instruction and have developed fairly elaborate structures and processes for monitoring instruction (especially in mathematics and science). Using the framework of distributed leadership, we develop an account of how leadership for instructional improvement is constructed in the more successful schools in South Africa. We conclude the paper by puzzling over the rather strained (or non-existent) relationship between leadership and instruction in most (South African) schools, and explore why improvements in school achievement are rather rare among such schools serving the poor and (formerly) disadvantaged learners.
关键词：instructional leadership;distributed leadership;science and mathematics education;teaching and learning
