School Leadership in the Provincial Philippines

This research presents the results of an ethnographic case study about school leadership on a small island in the provincial Philippines. A distributed perspective of school leadership was taken, and school leadership was defined as the ability to influence the organization. The research question was, “How is school leadership practiced in a Philippine high school in a period of educational reform?” A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and a pre-existing theoretical framework called the Four Paths (Leithwood, Patten, Jantzi, 2010) was used. Respondents took photographs of “things that improve the school,” and interviews were based on the photographs they took. The results showed that a range of individuals participated in school leadership, not just the principal. Four conclusions were reached. 1. The low socioeconomic status of the local culture limited the school community. 2. The distribution of leadership extended outside the physical walls of the school and involved district staff. 3. Use of the Four Paths framework should incorporate social context. 4. School leaders formed patron-client relationships, a social convention that made their leadership more resilient. There are five implications for future research. 1. The main focus of leaders in low socioeconomic status (SES) communities might not be academic achievement. 2. Leadership actions in low SES communities might not be divided discretely into academic and social achievement, so a holistic approach might be required. 3. Researchers might expect to see emphasis on the needs of students by school leaders in low SES communities. 4. There could be leaders outside the school walls who can help improve the school, implying that low SES schools have more leadership resources than they think. 5. The school organizational structure might be larger than the physical school.Ph.D