{"title":"Centring micro-politics in system leadership in a multi-academy trust","authors":"Mark Innes, Paul Armstrong, Steven Courtney","doi":"10.1177/17411432231210972","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"System leadership has historically been used normatively as a concept to promote and privilege multi-site working across education institutions as part of a so-called self-improving system. In this article, we argue that a consequence of this definition is that any superficially ‘leaderful’ practice in such multi-site institutions is understood and legitimated through a system leadership lens. We argue further that when multi-academy trust (MAT) actors understand what they do as system leadership in this way, they may misdiagnose the role and importance of micro-politics as an explanatory model for their practice and motivations. Accepting a system leadership framing for their practice enables participants to underplay how they engage in careerist micro-political strategies and ploys within a wider framing of collaboration, networking and normal MAT functioning. To make these arguments, we draw on interview and observation data and analysis from a case study investigating literacy policy in a MAT in England. Our analysis contributes to the growing critical literature on system leadership and prompts questions about what organisational and sociological processes its claimed use conceals.","PeriodicalId":47885,"journal":{"name":"Educational Management Administration & Leadership","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Educational Management Administration & Leadership","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432231210972","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
System leadership has historically been used normatively as a concept to promote and privilege multi-site working across education institutions as part of a so-called self-improving system. In this article, we argue that a consequence of this definition is that any superficially ‘leaderful’ practice in such multi-site institutions is understood and legitimated through a system leadership lens. We argue further that when multi-academy trust (MAT) actors understand what they do as system leadership in this way, they may misdiagnose the role and importance of micro-politics as an explanatory model for their practice and motivations. Accepting a system leadership framing for their practice enables participants to underplay how they engage in careerist micro-political strategies and ploys within a wider framing of collaboration, networking and normal MAT functioning. To make these arguments, we draw on interview and observation data and analysis from a case study investigating literacy policy in a MAT in England. Our analysis contributes to the growing critical literature on system leadership and prompts questions about what organisational and sociological processes its claimed use conceals.