Leaders in Limbo: The Role of Collaborative Inquiry Influencing School Leaders' Levels of Efficacy

• Published in: The Canadian journal of action research Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 27 - 44
• Main Authors: Adams, Pamela, Braunberger, Dana, Hamilton, Sarah, Caldwell, Bonnie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Association for Action Research in Education 05-10-2021
• Subjects: Cooperation; Foreign Countries; Inquiry; Instructional Leadership; Leaders; Leadership Effectiveness; Leadership Styles; Principals; Self Efficacy; Canada
• ISSN: 1925-7147; 1925-7147
• DOI: 10.33524/cjar.v22i1.551

Using collaborative inquiry as a methodology for investigation, this study examined the implementation of a model of generative leadership (Adams et al., 2019) to explore the question: In what ways can implementation of a generative leadership model of professional learning for school leaders influence their sense of efficacy? An adapted model of generative leadership was adopted by seven school leaders in Alberta, Canada over a period of three years. Data was collected at the end of each year through journal reflections (Bashan & Holsblat, 2017) to ascertain school leaders' levels of efficacy. Findings revealed four themes that identified how a generative leadership model influenced participants' effectiveness in their roles. These findings offer insight into how models of school leader professional learning might be re-imagined in order to positively influence their sense of efficacy.