Abstract:
This paper draws on a three-year study of 24 schools involving classroom observations
and interviews with teachers and principals. Through an examination of three cases, sets of
leadership practices that focus on the learning of both students and teachers are described. This set
of practices is called productive leadership and how these practices are dispersed among productive
leaders in three schools is described. This form of leadership supports the achievement of both
academic and social outcomes through a focus on pedagogy, a culture of care and related
organizational processes. The concepts of learning organisations and teacher professional learning
communities as ways of framing relationships in schools, in which ongoing teacher learning is
complementary to student learning, are espoused.
