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This article stands in support of Eacott's primary intention of promoting a relational approach to leadership. However, its distinctiveness is in how this relational quality of leadership is understood, described and defended. In contrast to the essentially philosophical description provided by Eacott, this article offers a far more research-informed and practical understanding of leadership as a relational phenomenon. It begins by highlighting widespread international corporate research, which is paving the way for the general acceptance of leadership being a relational phenomenon. Also, the article draws upon a multidisciplined array of understandings to illustrate what can be considered as the relational foundational of leadership, which are then captured within seven fundamental principles of relational leadership practice. The final section of this article offers a pathway for those who wish to work towards enhancing their relational leadership capacity.

Middle leaders play an essential role in schools but for many their position is characterised by tensions caused by 'being caught in between or sandwiched between senior management to whom they were accountable … and subordinates for whom they had some functional and often moral responsibility'. Moreover, Catholic school middle leaders face increased tension because they are expected to actively support the Catholic mission and identity of the school. Unfortunately, contemporary leadership descriptions provide Catholic school middle leaders with limited insight about how best to manage these tensions. Thus, this article seeks to redress this challenging situation by providing a clearly articulated theoretical foundation that offers a coherent and manageable guide for the formation and practice of middle leadership in Catholic schools. As a result, this article provides clarity to all who have Catholic school governance or administrative responsibilities as to what should be expected of middle leaders so that performance responsibilities and accountabilities are appropriately aligned to enable the religious education dimension of the school to flourish.

Despite the availability of an abundant amount of guiding literature, only about 30% of planned educational changes are successful. Clearly there is something essential missing from our understanding of how to successfully lead educational change. A review of the literature provides an awareness that success is far more likely if the leader pays as much attention to the needs of those who are bringing about the change as they do to the elements of the planned change strategy. Arguably, however, this still maintains a top-down perspective of the change process. Hence the departure point of this article is its presentation of a change process from the perspective of those explicitly affected--that is, a view from the 'bottom up'. Specifically, this article presents and discusses both quantitative and qualitative data from research conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand involving primary school teachers who changed the class levels in which they taught. It seeks to provide a unique contribution to the development of successful educational change strategies by presenting the teachers' views about the most effective leadership practices during times of change.

Organisational learning within an educational context is a complex and multidimensional process. This paper reports on a study that investigates organisational learning during the process of development of Vanuatu's nationalised English medium secondary school assessment process, a significant educational change in Vanuatu. This qualitative inquiry reviewed and critiqued the organisational learning that resulted from a pilot programme leading to the change, and involved participants from a number of levels within the Vanuatu education system. The study identified several factors that may have hindered the planning process. A revised change management framework for the Vanuatu education system is proposed, as a result of the critique, and recommendations towards improving the implementation of future educational changes in Vanuatu are made. The resulting framework and recommendations may assist other Pacific countries engaged in similar senior assessment nationalisation, and, also contribute more generally to others involved in systemic educational change processes.

The genesis for this conceptual article is the serious universal concern for Catholic school leadership into the future. Catholic school systems are struggling to attract suitably qualified and experienced applicants for vacant principal positions. Arguably, the simultaneously essential responsibilities of being both the Catholic leader and the educational leader are becoming a deterrent. For a growing number of potential future Catholic school principals it seems that high quality performance in each of these two important responsibilities is mutually incompatible and, therefore, unachievable. Thus the departure point for this article is its argument that high quality Catholic and educational leadership is one and the same thing. When high quality leadership is understood as essentially a transrelational phenomenon, the educational leadership practice of the Catholic school principal will simultaneously fulfil their Catholic and educational leadership responsibilities. Hence, this article not only describes what constitutes transrelational leadership but also illustrates how such practices provide the means by which the principal is readily able to personally promote and model the Catholic mission and identity of the school.

Higher education institutions are increasingly recognizing the importance of organizational change as they face complex challenges. Leadership learning has been identified as an important way of supporting change management. We describe a leadership learning arrangement that arose in the context of two of the authors needing to learn how to become effective university chairpersons of departments. This involved the other author, an expert in educational leadership as a theory broker, who brought theory to the learning arrangement and mediated it. We wish to show how the learning arrangement supports the theory-to-practice connection and personal authoring of leadership for all involved.

This article utilizes an acceptance of an evolutionary pattern in how humans have understood the nature of leadership in order to extend this pattern into the 21st century. Based on the works of numerous writers, such as Gebser, Sorokin, Bellah, Habermas, Foucault, Berger, and Wilber, it is possible to outline the origins of predominant worldviews where some form of leadership was noted. These origins of worldviews are summarised as the magical context, the mythical context, the agrarian context, the modernity context, and the post-modernity context. By examining how the nature of leadership has evolved from these contexts, a pattern becomes perceptible. This perceptible pattern can then be applied to the contemporary theory of leadership to ensure it more accurately guides current leadership research and practice.

The capricious state of Australian educational leadership is evidenced in the publication, "The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Survey 2022 Data", which highlights unsustainable adverse health outcomes for an increasing number of school leaders. According to this report, the accumulation of stress caused by the sheer quantity of work, the lack of time to focus on teaching and learning, a lack of sufficient teachers, and having to care for an increasing number of staff and students with mental health issues were the main causes of professional disillusionment and burnout among Australian school leaders. Moreover, the level of destabilisation and chaos that this situation could cause, should it continue to rise, is compounded by current research highlighting an ever-decreasing number of applicants for school leadership positions. To assign blame for this serious predicament on the excessive school leadership demands during COVID-19 is to ignore the abundant pre-existing evidence already pointing to this eventuality. However, the way in which Australian school leaders were able to constructively lead during the intensely demanding COVID-19 period does provide additional compelling support for the adoption of a far more relational foundation for leadership theory and practice. Hence, in response to this understanding, this article first presents during-COVID-19 and pre-COVID-19 Australian school leadership research literature to not only describe the evolving concerning issues but also to present the demand for a more relational approach to leadership. Then, the article proceeds to justify and illustrate a new relational approach to the practice of school leadership informed by our theory of organizational ecology. It is proposed that this new way of leading relationally will enable Australian school leaders to ultimately overcome the myriad of complex and stressful crises that now confront them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education has seen increasing educational mobility as students finance themselves or get financial support from their families to study abroad (Shields "Comp Educ Rev" 57(4):609-636, 2013; Verbik and Lazanowski in "World education news and reviews." http://www.wes.org/educators/pdf/StudentMobility.pdf, 2007). Another significant source of support, particularly for students in developing countries, is that from international aid scholarships. This research presents the reported experiences of 15 Tongan postgraduate scholars who successfully completed overseas postgraduate studies. The study focuses on the perceptions of qualifications and of scholars, as well as knowledge utilisation and knowledge resituation in and beyond the workplace. Knowledge utilisation, sometimes referred to as knowledge management, is how others support returnees' to share and make use of their knowledge; while knowledge resituation is a personal and individual process in which knowledge gained in one context is tuned to and made use of in a new context (Eraut in "Expertise development: the transition between school and work." Open Universiteit, Heerlen, pp 52-73, 2004a, "Pedagogy and practice. Culture and identities." Sage, London, 2008; Franken 2012). Given the challenges the scholars faced, we advocate for a more explicit recognition of what knowledge and skills returning scholars bring home, and a more proactive and strategic use of these by their workplaces in particular.

The paper is informed by a research study exploring middle leadership as experienced by Chairpersons of Departments within one faculty in a university in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is argued that middle leadership in higher education needs to be understood as a highly complex relational endeavour, characterised by compromises that are negotiated amidst leadership structures, hierarchies and relations. The focus on leadership as first and foremost relational provides a frame for critically examining the nature and complexities inherent in the lived reality of middle leadership. Relational leadership is conceptualised as encompassing four inter-related dimensions. These are derived from data and respectively centre on structure and power; trust and credibility; learning; and discursive relations. We suggest that each dimension provides a productive lens through which the complexities and challenges of middle leadership can be explored. Throughout the emphasis is that for middle leaders, the relations that they have to navigate and negotiate are multi-faceted and multi-directional, involving relations up, down and across organisational structures and networks. Middle leaders are shown to be acutely aware that their decisions and the decisions of other staff variously impact upon the context and relations that they are working amidst.

This paper outlines actions that educational change leaders can take to better meet their curriculum change obligations and responsibilities. In order to do this we extend Vygotsky's (1978) zonal theory and its many extensions and elaborations by positioning educational change leadership within this theory. We rename the zones to Zone of Principal Responsibilities, Zone of Principal Support, Zone of Professional Learning, Zone of Teacher Resistance and Zone of Principal Illusion, and we introduce the Zone of Curriculum Change and represent these zones in diagrammatical form. We use our research on mathematics curriculum change in one school as an example of how our new zonal theory lens supports educational change leadership. Our findings illuminate possible actions and reactions of the principal and the teacher that ultimately suggest a way forward for turning around unsuccessful curriculum change. Our new zonal theory provides opportunities for change leaders to reduce teacher resistance with evidence that the action and reaction of the principal and the teacher are not independent of each other but are, in fact, co-constructed.

This article focuses on the phenomenon of middle leadership in a university context and directs attention to the significance of learning as a central facet of leadership development. Drawing on the reflections of two of the authors as new middle leaders (chairpersons of departments), this article critically examines how middle leaders learn aspects of their role. Two tenets underpin our analysis: learning is fundamentally a social process--we learn with and from others; and learning is relational--what and how we learn is determined to some extent by others and affects others. Our experiences point to learning constraints and affordances arising from events, practices and artefacts. Constraints were largely associated with transmission learning experiences, while affordances were found in collaborative knowledge-sharing contexts that arose as "information grounds" in response to an information need. We argue that both those we lead, and the organisation itself, would likewise benefit from a knowledge-sharing perspective on learning.

Although there is growing research evidence to support the view that the leadership practice of the school principal is the second-most important influence on student learning behind classroom teaching, there is no clarity about what, exactly, the principal is meant to do to ensure this outcome. Hence, Leithwood et al. (2010) propose that one of the principal's important influences on student learning is the "rational" path, which includes the issue of school-wide disciplinary climate. This argues that the principal plays a pivotal role in establishing the school-wide disciplinary climate that aids student learning. This article reports upon research conducted in Pakistan that focuses on the disciplinary climate aspect of school leadership by exploring how the personal values of principals are made manifest in student behaviour. Data from this research infers that the establishment of an appropriate school-wide disciplinary climate for improving student learning is influenced by two important factors. First, there needs to be an alignment between personal and organizational values and behaviour throughout the school. Secondly, the consistency of alignment between the values and behaviour of the principal, in particular, is the cornerstone in creating a beneficial school-wide disciplinary climate.

This interpretative study of teachers as learners explored the continuing professional learning of teachers in a range of Australian schools. While teacher learning is regarded as a cornerstone of school reform, knowledge of how and why teachers engage in ongoing learning is scant. Research participants completed an open-ended questionnaire about their professional learning experiences and participated in semi-structured interviews in which they shared their learning narratives. The study found three sets of major influences on teachers' engagement with professional learning and the quality of that learning. These influences were isolation (both geographic and professional), cost (both educational and emotional), and the professional and personal life stages of teachers. A new descriptive framework through which to understand the intricate interconnections between teacher-learners, professional learning and learning contexts across teaching careers is proposed.

This study examined posttreatment patterns of polysubstance use and heroin relapse in a sample of 43 adolescents (ages 14-20) entering short-term residential treatment for primary heroin use. At 12-month follow-up, youths that achieved heroin abstinence (N = 19) were significantly less likely than youths that relapsed to heroin (N = 24) to endorse polysubstance use and cannabis, cocaine, or benzodiazepine use. Furthermore, heroin-abstinent youths significantly reduced their cannabis and cocaine use across the study period while youths that relapsed made initial reductions before returning to their pretreatment levels of use for these drugs. Clinical implications for heroin-using youths and areas for future research are discussed. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 2 notes.)

Researchers examining the effectiveness of schoolwide anti-bullying programs typically use student self reports to measure reductions in bullying. In contrast, researchers who study peer aggression frequently employ peer nominations. This study compared self reports of bullying with peer nominations in a sample of 355 middle school students. Self report demonstrated low to moderate correspondence with peer nominations for bullying others (r = 0.18) and for victimization (0.32). More than twice as many students were categorized as bullies using peer nomination (11%) as compared to self report (5%). Despite their limited agreement, both self- and peer-reported bullying/victimization were associated with school maladjustment. These results raise concern about the reliance on self or peer reports alone to assess the prevalence of middle school bullying. (Contains 6 tables, 1 figure and 5 notes.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, first, establish the interdependency between the successful achievement of organisational change and the attainment of values alignment within an organisation's culture and then, second, to describe an effective means for attaining such values alignment. Design/methodology/approach: Literature from the fields of organisational change, organisational culture, philosophy, psychology, and values theory is reviewed in order to develop and test the hypothesis that successful organisational change can only occur when those affected by the change are able to willingly commit to an agreed set of values aligned with the accomplishment of the organisation's new outcomes. The paper then presents and reports on a trial of a simple and effective framework for achieving such values alignment in an organisation. Findings: This paper supports the view that the currently acknowledged widespread resistance to organisational change is caused by a failure of current organisational change strategies to attend to a values alignment process for all those people affected by the desired change. Moreover, this paper proposes that values alignment may not just be an important integral part of organisational change strategies; it could well be the bedrock, the foundation, on which all truly successful organisational change depends. Practical implications: The values alignment process presented in this paper provides a very effective and efficient means for enabling people to discern, discuss, and actively support those values that will help the organisation to make desired changes. In essence, this process enables the alignment between personal and organisational values to occur and, thereby, allowing the organisation to evolve and remain viable. Originality/value: The paper provides a unique perspective on the important process of values alignment within any truly successful organisational change strategy. (Contains 2 figures.)

This article reports on research that explored the concept of authentic leadership with seven principals of Catholic primary schools in Brisbane, Australia. Recent developments in leadership theory have promoted the concept of authentic leadership for addressing the leadership demands associated with our seemingly ever-changing and unpredictable, if not chaotic, world. In particular, authentic leaders are said to act in accordance with their personal values and convictions thereby building essential credibility, respect and trust. This suggests that the development of authentic leadership is contingent upon the leader having explicit knowledge of their values so that they can readily act in accordance with these values. Hence, this research sought to determine whether or not it is possible to develop authentic leadership practices by increasing the leader's explicit knowledge of their personal values. A deeply structured process of self-reflection was used as the means for increasing this explicit self-knowledge. In the light of this research, it is proposed that there is more to authentic leadership than knowing one's values. Arguably, truly authentic leadership might only be possible for those leaders who have the commitment and courage to come to know and understand the full extent of the influential power of their whole inner Self. (Contains 7 figures.)

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to report on research that explores the use of structured self-reflection to nurture moral consciousness as a means of enhancing the moral leadership capacity of existing school principals. Design/methodology/approach: Given that this research focuses on each participant's subjective reality, the epistemology of pragmatic constructivism was chosen to guide this qualitative study supported by the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism. Furthermore, a case study was chosen as the appropriate orchestrating perspective and an opportunistic sample of six school principals formed the participants in this case study. Findings: Data from this research support the view that the moral consciousness of each of the participating principals in this study was clearly enhanced by their experience of structured self-reflection. Research limitations/implications: Due to the demanding nature of structured self-reflection this approach takes a considerable amount of time. Also, as the reflection process is a very personal experience, the amount of time taken will vary noticeably amongst the participants. In addition, the ethical implications in facilitating structured self-reflection are an extremely important implication. Participants must be made fully aware of the nature of such an experience so that not only can they voluntarily choose not to participate but also that they avoid reflecting on past experiences that engender sadness or anxiety within them should they choose to participate. Practical implications: Given the strong moral expectations now demanded of contemporary leaders, which implies that this is not a natural trait, structured self-reflection affords a clearly achievable means for nurturing a leader's moral consciousness as an essential step in their professional development in moral leadership. Originality/value: The paper addresses the acknowledged blank spot in moral leadership research by providing a practical and effective way for positively influencing the leader's moral leadership development. (Contains 7 figures.)