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Journal of Educational Administration

ISSN : 0957-8234

Article publication date: 21 October 2021

Issue publication date: 1 March 2022

This paper presents a review of empirical research on educational leadership during times of crises in K–12 schools. This review aimed to map the recent literature and identify key characteristics of educational leadership during crises to understand how this type of leadership is different from current understandings.

Design/methodology/approach

A scoping review of empirical research from 2010 to 2020 on how school leaders have managed and responded to crises in K-12 was completed. The empirical research was analysed and synthesised by using the preview, question, read and summarise (PQRS) system.

The findings draw attention to the fact that the notion of crisis leadership has been a neglected aspect of educational leadership research. Additionally, the review reveals six emerging characteristics which depict how school leadership has been enacted during different types of crisis across a range of contexts and crisis phases.

Originality/value

The findings add to current practical understandings of educational leadership by illustrating the complexity and multi-layered nature of leading during times of crisis. Furthermore, these findings contribute to the field by identifying how leading during a crisis is different from current understandings. Lastly, they highlight the need to develop theories and models that account for how leadership is used to deal with the unpredictable nature of crises that schools across the globe face today and into the future.

• K–12 leadership
• Crisis leadership
• K–12 school
• Scoping review

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors of the journal whose comments and suggestions helped improve and clarify this manuscript.

Striepe, M. and Cunningham, C. (2022), "Understanding educational leadership during times of crises: a scoping review", Journal of Educational Administration , Vol. 60 No. 2, pp. 133-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-03-2021-0057

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Review article, strategy and strategic leadership in education: a scoping review.

• 1 Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Research Centre for Human Development, Porto, Portugal
• 2 Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal

Strategy and strategic leadership are critical issues for school leaders. However, strategy as a field of research has largely been overlooked within the educational leadership literature. Most of the theoretical and empirical work on strategy and strategic leadership over the past decades has been related to non-educational settings, and scholarship devoted to these issues in education is still minimal. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant research regarding strategy and strategic leadership, identifying any gaps in the literature that could inform future research agendas and evidence for practice. The scoping review is underpinned by the five-stage framework of Arksey and O’Malley . The results indicate that there is scarce literature about strategy and that timid steps have been made toward a more integrated and comprehensive model of strategic leadership. It is necessary to expand research into more complex, longitudinal, and explanatory ways due to a better understanding of these constructs.

Introduction

Strategy and strategic leadership are critical issues for school leaders ( Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ; Eacott, 2010a ; Eacott, 2011 ). However, strategy as a field of research has largely been overlooked in educational leadership literature ( Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ; Eacott, 2011 ). Most of the theoretical and empirical work on strategy and strategic leadership over the past decades has been related to non-educational settings, and scholarship devoted to these issues in education is still very limited ( Cheng, 2010 ; Eacott, 2011 ; Chan, 2018 ).

The concept of strategy appeared in educational management literature in the 1980s; however, little research was produced until the 1990s (cf. Eacott, 2008b ). Specific educational reforms led to large amounts of international literature mostly devoted to strategic planning ( Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ; Eacott, 2011 ). For a long period, the concept of strategy was incomplete and confusing. The word “strategy” was often used to characterize different kinds of actions, namely, to weight management activities, to describe a high range of leadership activities, to define planning, or to report to individual actions within an organization ( Eacott, 2008a ).

Strategy and strategic planning became synonymous ( Eacott, 2008b ). However, strategy and planning are different concepts, with the strategy being more than the pursuit of a plan ( Davies, 2003 , Davies, 2006 ; Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ; Quong and Walker, 2010 ). Both phases of plans’ design and plans’ implementation are related, and the quality of this second phase highly depends on planning’ quality ( Davies, 2006 ; Davies, 2007 ; Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ; Eacott, 2011 ; Meyers and VanGronigen, 2019 ). Planning and acting are related and must emerge from the strategy. As stated by Bell (2004) .

Planning based on a coherent strategy demands that the aims of the school are challenged, that both present and future environmental influences inform the development of the strategy, that there should be a clear and well-articulated vision of what the school should be like in the future and that planning should be long-term and holistic (p. 453).

Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a comprehensive and holistic framework of strategy, considering it as a way of intentionally thinking and acting by giving sense to a specific school vision or mission ( Davies, 2003 , 2006 ; Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ; Quong and Walker, 2010 ).

The works of Davies and colleagues ( Davies, 2003 ; Davies, 2004 ; Davies and Davies, 2004 ; Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ) and Eacott (2008a , 2008b) , Eacott (2010a , 2011) were essential and contributed to a shift in the rationale regarding strategy by highlighting a more integrative and alternate view. Davies and colleagues ( Davies, 2003 ; Davies, 2004 ; Davies and Davies, 2004 ; Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ) developed a comprehensive framework for strategically focused schools , comprising strategic processes, approaches, and leadership. In this model, the strategy is conceptualized as a framework for present and future actions, sustained by strategic thinking about medium to long term goals, and aligned to school vision or direction.

Strategic leadership assumes necessarily a relevant role in strategically focused schools. Eacott (2006) defines strategic leadership as “leadership strategies and behaviors relating to the initiation, development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of strategic actions within an educational institution, taking into consideration the unique context (past, present, and future) and availability of resources, physical, financial and human” (p. 1). Thereby, key elements of strategic leadership can be identified as one that: 1) acts in a proactive way to contextual changes; 2) leads school analysis and response to changing environment; 3) leads planning and action for school effectiveness and improvement in face of contextual challenges and; 4) leads monitoring and evaluation processes to inform decision making strategically ( Cheng, 2010 ). This brings to the arena a complex and dynamic view of strategic leadership as it is a complex social activity that considers important historical, economic, technological, cultural, social, and political influences and challenges ( Eacott, 2011 ).

Along with these authors, this paper advocates a more comprehensive and contextualized view of strategy and strategic leadership, where strategy is the core element of any leadership action in schools ( Davies and Davies, 2010 ; Eacott, 2011 ). Here, strategic leadership is not seen as a new theory, but an element of all educational leadership and management theories ( Davies and Davies, 2010 ). Even so, these concepts can inform and be informed by diverse leadership theories, a strategy-specific framework is needed in the educational field.

Considering all the above, strategy can be identified as a topic that is being researched in education, in the recent decades. Nonetheless, there is still scarce educational literature about this issue ( Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ; Cheng, 2010 ; Eacott, 2011 ; Chan, 2018 ). After 10 years of Eacott’s analysis of literature on strategy in education, it seems that this educational construct is being overlooked as there is still no consensual definition of strategy, different studies are supported in diverse conceptual frameworks and empirical studies about this topic are scarce ( Cheng, 2010 ; Eacott, 2011 ; Chan, 2018 ). Moreover, despite the interest of a multidisciplinary vision of strategy and strategic leadership, we agree with Eacott (2008b) about the need for a meaningful definition of strategy and strategic leadership in education, as it is a field with its specifications. Hence, research is needed for a clear definition of strategy, an integrated and complete framework for strategic action, a better identification of multiple dimensions of strategy and a comprehensive model of strategic leadership that has strategic thinking and action as core elements for schools improvement (e.g., Eacott, 2010a ; Hopkins et al., 2014 ; Reynolds et al., 2014 ; Harris et al., 2015 ; Bellei et al., 2016 ). This paper aims to contribute to the field offering a scoping review on strategy and strategic leadership in the educational field.

A clear idea of what strategy and strategic leadership mean and what theory or theories support it are of great importance for research and practice. This scoping review is an attempt to contribute to a strategy-specific theory by continuing to focus on ways to appropriately develop specific theories about strategy and strategic leadership in the educational field, particularly focusing on school contexts.

This study is a scoping review of the literature related to strategy and strategic leadership, which aims to map its specific aspects as considered in educational literature. Scoping reviews are used to present a broad overview of the evidence about a topic, irrespective of study quality, and are useful when examining emergent areas, to clarify key concepts or to identify gaps in research (e.g., Arksey and O’Malley, 2005 ; Peters et al., 2015 ; Tricco et al., 2016 ). Since in the current study we wanted to explore and categorize, but not evaluate, information available concerning specific aspects of strategy in educational literature, we recognize that scoping review methodology serves well this purpose.

In this study, Arksey and O’Malley (2005) five-stage framework for scoping reviews, complemented by the guidelines of other authors ( Levac et al., 2010 ; Colquhoun et al., 2014 ; Peters et al., 2015 ; Khalil et al., 2016 ), was employed. The five stages of Arksey and O’Malley’s framework are 1) identifying the initial research questions, 2) identifying relevant studies, 3) study selection, 4) charting the data, and 5) collating, summarizing and reporting the results. In the sections below, the process of this scoping review is presented.

Identifying the Initial Research Questions

The focus of this review was to explore key aspects of strategy and strategic leadership in educational literature. The primary question that guided this research was: What is known about strategy and strategic leadership in schools? This question was subdivided into the following questions: How should strategy and strategic leadership in schools be defined? What are the main characteristics of strategic leadership in schools? What key variables are related to strategy and strategic leadership in schools?

Identifying Relevant Studies

As suggested by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) , keywords for the search were defined, and databases were selected. Key concepts and search terms were developed to capture literature related to strategy and strategic leadership in schools, considering international perspectives. The linked descriptive key search algorithm that was developed to guide the search is outlined in Table 1 .

TABLE 1 . Key search algorithm.

Considering scoping review characteristics, time and resources available, inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed. Papers related to strategy and strategic leadership, published between 1990 and 2019, were included. Educational literature has reported the concepts of strategy and strategic leadership since the 1980s ( Eacott, 2008a ; 2008b ). However, it gained expansion between 1990 and 2000 with studies flourishing mostly about strategic planning ( Eacott, 2008b ). Previous research argues that strategy is more than planning, taking note of the need to distinguish the concepts. Considering our focus on strategy and strategic leadership, studies about strategic planning were excluded as well as papers specifically related to other theories of leadership than strategic leadership. A full list of inclusion and exclusion criteria is outlined in Table 2 .

TABLE 2 . Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

The following six electronic databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed literature: ERIC, Education Source, Academic Search Complete, Science Direct, Emerland, and Web of Science. Additionally, a manual search of the reference lists of identified articles was undertaken, and Google Scholar was utilized to identify any other primary sources. The review of the literature was completed over 2 months, ending in August 2019.

Study Selection

The process of studies’ selection followed the Preferred Reporting of Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement ( Moher et al., 2009 ). Figure 1 illustrates the process of article selection.

FIGURE 1 . PRISMA chart outlining the study selection process.

With the key search descriptors, 1,193 articles were identified. A further number of articles were identified using Google Scholar. However, a large number of articles were removed from the search, as they were duplicated in databases, and 231 studies were identified as being relevant.

The next phases of studies’ selection were guided by the inclusion and exclusion criteria presented above. A screening of the titles, keywords, and abstracts revealed a large number of irrelevant articles, particularly those related to strategic planning (e.g., Agi, 2017 ) and with general ideas about leadership (e.g., Corral and Gámez, 2010 ). Only 67 studies were selected for full-text access and analyses.

Full-text versions of the 67 articles were obtained, with each article being reviewed and confirmed as appropriate. This process provided an opportunity to identify any further additional relevant literature from a review of the reference lists of each article (backward reference search; n = 2). Ultimately, both with database search and backward reference search, a total of 29 articles were included to be analyzed in the scoping review, considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. During this process of study selection, several studies were excluded. As in the previous phase, examples of excluded papers include studies related to strategic planning where the focus is on the planning processes (e.g., Bennett et al., 2000 ; Al-Zboon and Hasan, 2012 ; Schlebusch and Mokhatle, 2016 ) or with general ideas about leadership (e.g., FitzGerald and Quiñones, 2018 ). Additionally, articles that were primarily associated with other topics or related to specific leadership theories (e.g., instructional leadership, transformational leadership) and that only referred briefly to strategic leadership were excluded (e.g., Bandur, 2012 ; Malin and Hackmann, 2017 ). Despite the interest of all these topics for strategic action, we were interested specifically in the concepts of strategy, strategic leadership, and its specifications in educational literature.

Data Charting and Collation

The fourth stage of Arksey and O’Malley (2005) scoping review framework consists of charting the selected articles. Summaries were developed for each article related to the author, year, location of the study, participants, study methods, and a brief synthesis of study results related to our research questions. Details of included studies are provided in the table available in Supplementary Appendix S1 .

Summarising and Reporting Findings

The fifth and final stage of Arksey and O’Malley (2005) scoping review framework summarises and reports findings as presented in the next section. All the 29 articles were studied carefully and a content analysis was taken to answer research questions. Research questions guided summaries and synthesis of literature content.

In this section, results are presented first with a brief description of the origin and nature of the studies, and then as answering research questions previously defined.

This scoping review yielded 29 articles, specifically devoted to strategy and strategic leadership in education, from eleven different countries (cf. Figure 2 ). The United Kingdom and Australia have the highest numbers of papers. There is a notable dispersion of literature in terms of geographical distribution.

FIGURE 2 . Number of papers per country.

A large number of these articles were published by Brent Davies and colleagues ( N = 9) and Scott Eacott ( N = 6). Without question, these authors have influenced and shaped the theoretical grounding about strategy and strategic leadership in educational literature. While Davies and colleagues have contributed to design a framework of strategy and strategic leadership, influencing the emergence of other studies related to these topics, Eacott provided an essential contribution by exploring, systematizing, and problematizing the existing literature about these same issues. The other authors have published between one and two papers about these topics.

Seventeen papers are of conceptual or theoretical nature, and twelve are empirical research papers (quantitative methods–7; qualitative methods–4; mixed methods–1). The conceptual/theoretical papers analyze the concepts of strategy and strategic leadership, present a framework for strategic leadership, and discuss implications for leaders’ actions. The majority of empirical studies are related to the skills, characteristics, and actions of strategic leaders. Other empirical studies explore relations between strategic leadership and other variables, such as collaboration, culture of teaching, organizational learning, and school effectiveness.

How should Strategy and Strategic Leadership in Schools be Defined?

The concept of strategy is relatively new in educational literature and, in great part, related to school planning. In this scoping review, a more integrated and comprehensive view is adopted ( Davies, 2003 ; Davies, 2006 ; Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ; Quong and Walker, 2010 ). Davies (2003) defined strategy as a specific pattern of decisions and actions taken to achieve an organization’s goals (p. 295). This concept of strategy entails some specific aspects, mainly that strategy implies a broader view incorporating data about a specific situation or context ( Davies, 2003 ; Dimmock and Walker, 2004 ; Davies, 2006 ; Davies, 2007 ). It is a broad organizational-wide perspective , supported by a vision and direction setting , that conceals longer-term views with short ones ( Davies, 2003 ; Dimmock and Walker, 2004 ; Davies, 2006 ; Davies, 2007 ). It can be seen as a template for short-term action . However, it deals mostly with medium-and longer-term views of three-to 5-year perspectives ( Davies, 2003 ; Davies, 2006 ; Davies, 2007 ). In this sense, a strategy is much more a perspective or a way of thinking that frames strategically successful schools ( Davies, 2003 ; Davies and Davies, 2005 ; Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ).

Eacott (2008a) has argued that strategy in the educational leadership context is a field of practice and application that is of a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary nature. More than a single definition of strategy, what is needed is a conceptual understanding and articulation of its fundamental features, which removes the need to answer, “what is a strategy?” Understanding strategy as choosing a direction within a given context, through leadership, and articulating that direction through management practices ( Eacott, 2008a , p. 356) brings to the arena diverse elements of strategy from both leadership and management. From this alternative point of view, a strategy may be seen as leadership ( Eacott, 2010a ). More than an answer to “what is a strategy?”, it is crucial to understand “when and how does the strategy exist?” ( Eacott, 2010a ), removing the focus on leaders’ behaviors and actions per se to cultural, social, and political relationships ( Eacott, 2011 ). Hence, research strategy and strategic leadership oblige by acknowledging the broader educational, societal, and political contexts ( Dimmock and Walker, 2004 ; Eacott, 2010a ; Eacott, 2010b ; Eacott, 2011 ).

Strategic leadership is a critical component of school development ( Davies and Davies, 2006 ). However, to define leadership is challenging considering the amount of extensive, diverse literature about this issue. Instead of presenting a new categorization about leadership, the authors most devoted to strategic leadership consider it as a key dimension of any activity of leadership ( Davies and Davies, 2004 ; Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Eacott, 2010a ; Eacott, 2010b ; Eacott, 2011 ). Barron et al. (1995) stressed the idea of change. As mentioned by the authors, implementation of strategic leadership means change: change in thinking, change in the way schools are organized, change in management styles, change in the distribution of power, change in teacher education programs, and change in roles of all participants ( Barron et al., 1995 , p. 180). Strategic leadership is about creating a vision, setting the direction of the school over the medium-to longer-term and translating it into action ( Davies and Davies, 2010 ; Eacott, 2011 ). In that sense, strategic leadership is a new way of thinking ( Barron et al., 1995 ) that determines a dynamic and iterative process of functioning in schools ( Eacott, 2008b ).

In their model of strategic leadership, Davies and Davies (2006) consider that leadership must be based on strategic intelligence, summarised as three types of wisdom: 1) people wisdom, which includes participation and sharing information with others, developing creative thinking and motivation, and developing capabilities and competencies within the school; 2) contextual wisdom, which comprises understanding and developing school culture, sharing values and beliefs, developing networks, and understanding external environment; and 3) procedural wisdom, which consists of the continuous cycle of learning, aligning, timing and acting. This model also includes strategic processes and strategic approaches that authors define as the centre of this cycle ( Davies and Davies, 2006 , p. 136).

To deeply understand strategic leadership, it is necessary to explore strategic processes and approaches that leaders take ( Davies and Davies, 2010 ). In this sense, strategic leadership, strategic processes, and strategic approaches are key elements for sustainable and successful schools, which are found to be strategically focused. Davies (2006) designed a model for a strategically focused school that may be defined as one that is educationally effective in the short-term but also has a clear framework and processes to translate core moral purpose and vision into an excellent educational provision that is challenging and sustainable in the medium-to long-term (p.11). This model incorporates 1) strategic processes (conceptualization, engagement, articulation, and implementation), 2) strategic approaches (strategic planning, emergent strategy, decentralized strategy, and strategic intent), and 3) strategic leadership (organizational abilities and personal characteristics). Based on these different dimensions, strategically focused schools have built-in sustainability, develop set strategic measures to assess their success, are restless, are networked, use multi-approach planning processes, build the strategic architecture of the school, are strategically opportunistic, deploy strategy in timing and abandonment and sustain strategic leadership ( Davies, 2004 , pp.22–26).

What Are the Main Characteristics of Strategic Leadership in Schools?

Davies (2003) , Davies and Davies (2005) , Davies and Davies (2006) , Davies and Davies (2010) discuss what strategic leaders do (organizational abilities) and what characteristics strategic leaders display (personal characteristics). The key activities of strategic leaders, or organizational abilities, are 1) create a vision and setting a direction, 2) translate strategy into action, 3) influence and develop staff to deliver the strategy, 4) balance the strategic and the operational, 5) determine effective intervention points ( what, how, when, what not to do and what to give up ), 6) develop strategic capabilities, and 7) define measures of success ( Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ). The main characteristics that strategic leaders display, or their characteristics, are 1) dissatisfaction or restlessness with the present, 2) absorptive capacity, 3) adaptive capacity, and 4) wisdom.

Two specific studies explored the strategic leadership characteristics of Malaysian leaders ( Ali, 2012 ; Ali, 2018 ), considering the above-mentioned model as a framework. For Malaysian Quality National Primary School Leaders, the results supported three organizational capabilities (strategic orientation, translation, and alignment) and three individual characteristics of strategic leadership (dissatisfaction or restlessness with the present, absorptive capacity, and adaptive capacity). For Malaysian vocational college educational leaders, the results were consistent with seven distinct practices of strategic leadership, such as strategic orientation, strategic alignment, strategic intervention, restlessness, absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity, and leadership wisdom.

Other studies were also focused on the characteristics of strategic leadership with different populations and countries. Chatchawaphun et al. (2016) identified the principles, attributes, and skills of the strategic leadership of secondary school administrators from Thailand. The principles identified within the sample of principals included appropriate values, modern visionary, future focusing strategy, empirical evidence focus, intention toward accomplishment, decency, and making relationships. The attributes found were strategic learning, strategic thinking, and value push up. The skills were learning, interpretation, forecasting, planning, challenge, and decision making. Chan (2018) explored strategic leadership practices performed by Hong Kong school leaders of early childhood education and identified effective planning and management, reflective and flexible thinking, and networking and professional development as variables. Eacott (2010c) investigated the strategic role of Australian public primary school principals concerning the leader characteristics of tenure (referring to the time in years in their current substantive position) and functional track (referring to the time in years spent at different levels of the organizational hierarchy). These demographic variables have moderating effects on the strategic leadership and management of participants. These five studies seem to be outstanding contributions to solidify a framework of strategic leadership and to test it with different populations in different countries.

Additionally, Quong and Walker (2010) present seven principles for effective and successful strategic leaders. Strategic leaders are future-oriented and have a future strategy, their practices are evidence-based and research-led, they get things done, open new horizons, are fit to lead, make good partners and do the “next” right thing—these seven principles of action seem related to the proposal of Davies and colleagues. Both authors highlighted visions for the future, future long-term plans, and plans’ translation into action as important characteristics of strategic leaders.

One other dimension that is being explored in research relates to ethics. Several authors assert that insufficient attention and research have been given to aspects related to moral or ethical leadership among school leaders ( Glanz, 2010 ; Quong and Walker, 2010 ; Kangaslahti, 2012 ). The seventh principle of the Quong and Walker (2010) model of strategic leadership is that leaders do the “next” right thing. This relates to the ethical dimension of leadership, meaning that strategic leaders recognize the importance of ethical behaviors and act accordingly. For some authors, ethics in strategic leadership is a critical issue for researchers and practitioners that needs to be taken into consideration ( Glanz, 2010 ; Quong and Walker, 2010 ). Glanz (2010) underlined social justice and caring perspectives as required to frame strategic initiatives. Kangaslahti (2012) analyzed the strategic dilemmas that leaders face in educational settings (e.g., top-down strategy vs. bottom-up strategy process; leadership by authority vs. staff empowerment; focus on administration vs. focus on pedagogy; secret planning and decision making vs. open, transparent organization; the well-being of pupils vs. well-being of staff) and how they can be tackled by dilemma reconciliation. Chen (2008) , in case study research, explored the conflicts that school administrators have confronted in facilitating school reform in Taiwan. The author identified four themes related to strategic leadership in coping with the conflicts accompanying this school reform: 1) educational values, 2) timeframe for change, 3) capacity building, and 4) community involvement. These studies reinforce the idea that school improvement and success seem to be influenced by the way leaders think strategically and deal with conflicts or dilemmas. Researchers need to design ethical frameworks or models from which practitioners can think ethically about their strategic initiatives and their dilemmas or conflicts ( Chen, 2008 ; Glanz, 2010 ; Kangaslahti, 2012 ).

Despite the critical contribution of Davies’ models ( Davies, 2003 ; Davies, 2004 ; Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ) and subsequent works, Eacott (2010a) questions the production of lists of behaviors and traits. This is likely one of the main differences between Davies’ and Eacott’s contributions in this field. While Davies and colleagues include organizational abilities and personal characteristics in their model of strategic leadership, Eacott (2010a , 2010b) emphasizes the broader context where strategy occurs. These ideas, however, are not contradictory but complementary in the comprehension of strategy as leadership in education since both authors present a comprehensive and integrated model of strategic leadership. Even though Davies and colleagues present some specific characteristics of leaders, these characteristics are incorporated into a large model for strategy in schools.

What Are Other Key Variables Related to Strategy and Strategic Leadership in Schools?

Other studies investigated the relationship between strategic leadership and other key variables, such as collaboration ( Ismail et al., 2018 ), the culture of teaching ( Khumalo, 2018 ), organizational learning ( Aydin et al., 2015 ) and school effectiveness ( Prasertcharoensuk and Tang, 2017 ).

One descriptive survey study presented teacher collaboration as a mediator of strategic leadership and teaching quality ( Ismail et al., 2018 ). The authors argue that school leaders who demonstrate strategic leadership practices can lead to the creation of collaborative practices among teachers and thus help to improve the professional standards among them, namely, teaching quality ( Ismail et al., 2018 ). One cross-sectional study identified positive and significant relations among the variables of strategic leadership actions and organizational learning. Transforming, political, and ethical leadership actions were identified as significant predictors of organizational learning. However, managing actions were not found to be a significant predictor ( Aydin et al., 2015 ). One other study establishes that strategic leadership practices promote a teaching culture defined as the commitment through quality teaching for learning outcomes ( Khumalo, 2018 ). These three studies provide essential highlights of the relevance of strategic leadership for school improvement and quality. Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that in a research survey that examined the effect of leadership factors of administrators on school effectiveness, the authors concluded that the direct, indirect, and overall effects of the administrators’ strategic leadership had no significant impact on school effectiveness ( Prasertcharoensuk and Tang, 2017 ). These studies introduce important questions that need to be explored both related to strategy and strategic leadership features and its relations and impacts on relevant school variables. Such studies stimulate researchers to explore these and other factors that relate to strategic leadership.

The knowledge about strategy and strategic leadership is still incomplete and confusing ( Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ). From the 29 studies selected, divergent data and multiple concepts of strategy can be identified which reinforces the confusion about these issues. Some integrative clarification is still needed about the concepts of strategy and strategic leadership as about its core features. In this section, it is intended to contribute to the clarification and integration of the concepts considering the studies selected.

The emergence of politics and reforms related to school autonomy and responsibility in terms of efficacy and accountability brings the concept of strategy to the educational literature ( Eacott, 2008b ; Cheng, 2010 ). It first appeared in the 1980s but gained momentum between 1990 and 2000. However, the main focus of the literature was on strategic planning based upon mechanistic or technical-rational models of strategy. Authors have criticized the conceptualization of strategy as a way for elaborating a specific plan of action for schools ( Davies, 2003 ; Davies, 2006 ; Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2008b ; Quong and Walker, 2010 ). These same authors adopted a more comprehensive and holistic model of strategy. The concepts have been developed from a more rational and mechanistic view related to planning processes to a more comprehensive and complex view of strategy and leadership that take into consideration a situated and contextual framework. Considering the contribution of these studies, strategy incorporates three core dimensions, articulated with a schoolwide perspective 1) Vision, mission and direction (e.g., Davies, 2003 ; Dimmock and Walker, 2004 ; Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies, 2007 ; Eacott, 2008a ) 2) Intentional thinking (e.g., Barron et al., 1995 ; Davies, 2003 ; Davies and Davies, 2005 ; Davies, 2006 ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ): and; 3) Articulated decision-making and action (e.g., Davies, 2003 ; Dimmock and Walker, 2004 ; Davies and Davies, 2006 ; Davies, 2006 ; Davies, 2007 ; Eacott, 2008a ; Eacott, 2010a ; Eacott, 2010b ; Eacott, 2011 ).

Strategic leaders have an important role in strategy but, even considering this comprehensive and holistic concept of strategy, research poses the question of what are the main characteristics of strategic leaders in schools? From the literature reviewed, specific abilities, behaviors, and other characteristics may be identified. Looking for an integrated picture of strategic leadership, Table 3 represents the main contributions of the studies selected.

TABLE 3 . Strategic leadership: Main features.

Despite the contribution of these studies to deep knowledge about strategic leadership, the discussion here considers whether it is worthwhile to produce lists of behaviors and traits for strategic leaders in the absence of an integrated model that acknowledges the broader educational, societal and political context ( Dimmock and Walker, 2004 ; Eacott, 2010a ; Eacott, 2010b ; Eacott, 2011 ). Eacott (2011) argues that strategy, as constructed through analysis, is decontextualized and dehumanized and essentially a vacuous concept with limited utility to the practice that it seeks to explain (p. 426). Without a comprehensive and contextual model of strategy and strategic leadership, supported by research, the topics may still be overlooked and misunderstood. With this in mind, Figure 3 attempts to represent the core dimensions of strategy from a comprehensive perspective.

FIGURE 3 . Strategy and core dimensions from a comprehensive perspective.

As this is a scoping review, we tried to display a general view of the literature that can serve as a basis for a specific strategy theory in education and to more in-depth studies related to strategy and strategic leadership in schools. Nevertheless, we need to identify some methodological limitations of this study. As a scoping review, methods and reporting need improvement ( Tricco et al., 2018 ) and we are aware of this circumstance. Also, our search strategy may have overlooked some existing studies, since grey documents (e.g., reports) and studies from diverse languages than English were not included, that can misrepresent important data. Besides, inclusion criteria focused only on studies specifically devoted to strategy (not strategic planning) and strategic leadership (no other theories of leadership), but we acknowledge important contributions from this specific literature that were excluded. Finally, in our study there is no comparative analysis between the western and eastern/oriental contexts. However, we are aware that these contexts really differ and a context-specific reflection on strategy and strategic leadership in education would be useful. More research is needed to overcome the limitations mentioned.

Besides, the pandemic COVID19 brought new challenges in education, and particularly, to leaders. This study occurred before the pandemic and this condition was not acknowledged. However, much has changed in education as a consequence of the pandemic control measures, these changes vary from country to country, and schools’ strategies have changed for sure. Future research needs to explore strategy and strategic leadership in education considering a new era post pandemic.

With this scoping review, the authors aimed to contribute to enduring theories about strategy and strategic leadership in education. From our findings, it appears that this issue is being little explored. Despite the important contributions of authors cited in this scoping review ( Aydin et al., 2015 ; Chatchawaphun et al., 2016 ; Prasertcharoensuk and Tang, 2017 ; Ali, 2018 ; Chan, 2018 ; Ismail et al., 2018 ; Khumalo, 2018 ), minor advances seem to have been made after 2010. This is intriguing taking into account the leaders’ role in the third wave of educational reform, where strategic leadership pursues a new vision and new aims for education due to maximizing learning opportunities for students through “ triplisation in education’ (i.e., as an integrative process of globalization, localization and individualization in education)” ( Cheng, 2010 , p. 48). It was expected that research moved from rational planning models towards a more complex view of strategy in education ( Eacott, 2011 ). This review brings the idea that some timid and situated steps have been made.

Since the important review by Eacott, published in 2008, a step forward was made in the distinction between strategy and planning. Despite the significant number of papers about planning that were found during this review, the majority were published before 2008 (e.g., Nebgen, 1990 ; Broadhead et al., 1998 ; Bennett et al., 2000 ; Beach and Lindahl, 2004 ; Bell, 2004 ). Also, most of the papers selected adopt a more integrative, comprehensive, and complex view of strategy and strategic leadership (e.g., Eacott, 2010a ; Eacott, 2010b ; Davies and Davies, 2010 ; Eacott, 2011 ; Ali, 2012 ; Ali, 2018 ; Chan, 2018 ). More than identifying the “best of” strategy and strategic leadership, alternative models understand strategy as a way of thinking ( Davies and Davies, 2010 ) and a work in progress ( Eacott, 2011 ).

This also resonates with the educational literature about loosely coupled systems . There is evidence that loosely coupled educational organizations continue to exist and that resistance to change is a characteristic of school organizations ( Hautala et al., 2018 ). Strategic leadership gains relevance since leaders need to consider how to manage their loose and tight configurations and, hence, reinforce simultaneous personal and organizational dimensions related to school improvement. It is time to expand the research into more complex, longitudinal, and explanatory ways due to a better understanding of the constructs. This scoping review was an attempt to contribute to this endeavor by integrating and systematizing educational literature about strategy and strategic leadership.

Author Contributions

MC-collected and analyzed data, write the paper IC, JV, and JA-guided the research process and reviewed the paper.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for the support to this publication (Ref. UIDB/04872/2020).

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.706608/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: strategy, strategic leadership, school leadership, scoping review, education

Citation: Carvalho M, Cabral I, Verdasca JL and Alves JM (2021) Strategy and Strategic Leadership in Education: A Scoping Review. Front. Educ. 6:706608. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.706608

Received: 07 May 2021; Accepted: 23 September 2021; Published: 15 October 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Carvalho, Cabral, Verdasca and Alves. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Marisa Carvalho, [email protected]

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Reflections on educational leadership for sustainability: a Brazilian case study

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Large-scale socio-environmental education to foster a culture of sustainability and transform degrading situations is considered a matter of worldwide urgency. Considering this, we present and discuss results from a thesis that investigated the potentials and challenges of a participatory methodology, capillarity architecture, to educate sustainability leaders used on a socio-environmental training programme for public servants from a Brazilian Higher Education Institution. Capillarity architecture, launched by the Brazilian Federal Government in 2005, is a methodological strategy that encompasses participatory action research and collective networks of educators for training in an exponential format. The participants in the process undergo training while developing educational practices for their university peers. The overall study included 2500 individuals, who were assigned to one of 160 learning collectives in seven university campuses. The research method includes a participatory-research approach, a focus group, participant observation and discursive textual analysis of process documents. The results are discussed considering two points: (1) Impacts of capillarity architecture on the university experience and; (2) Challenges and tensions between the commitment to leadership formation on a large scale and the search for emancipation in EE. It can be concluded that even considering the permanent risk of impairing quality in exponential Environmental Education training, capillarity (in its critical principles) allows for: gains in autonomy, critical reflection, exchanging experiences and repertoires within the university, educating new leaders, in addition to the concomitant engagement of a larger audience. The results of this project also provide us with evidence that leadership formation in sustainability is influenced by the access or not of the participants and coordinators to material conditions (budget, infrastructure, personnel). The relevance of promoting concrete investments in environmental education and training towards sustainability is indicated, so that large-scale training can take place in territories that have significant social inequalities. Capillarity architecture questions the traditional format of organisational training. It provides for the exchange of experiences among its participants, elaboration and development of courses in the socio-environmental area in a collective way, based on problems and social relations of the local territory. These are fundamental aspects when we think about leadership formation on a large scale in broad policies, which involve different cultures and diverse socioeconomic conditions worldwide.

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1 Introduction

There is a general consensus, even considering so many social inequalities and plurality of views, to recognise the need for socio-environmental education of as many people as possible to transform degrading situations in life and in the world [ 23 , 31 , 34 , 43 ].

Nowadays, environmentalisation is required in all sectors of society, including universities. As public assets, they play a central role in the development of critical thinking and in incorporating the issue of sustainability in all their educational processes, in the initial training of students, undergraduate courses, research, extension and management [ 4 , 5 , 44 ].

Numerous relevant experiences related to environmental education developed in Brazilian universities can be identified [ 40 , 41 ], highlighting the collective experiences of educating local socio-environmental sustainability agents [ 32 ], from the ACES Network, to promote university environmentalisation among 11 partner institutions, including some from Iberoamerica [ 41 ] and the University Network of Environmental Education Programs/RUPEA [ 14 ].

Various institutional initiatives in Environmental Education (EE) are recognized in Brazil [ 43 ], but warn of their specific and sporadic characteristics, limiting their impact on the community and changing university management, research, extension and teaching. Another study [ 9 ] also present an overview of environmentalisation in Brazilian universities, agreeing that initiatives are, in general, specific, and do not have a regulated and policy-oriented institutional articulation.

Thus, there is still no institutionalisation of the environmental issue in different organisations “considering the profound political transformations demanded by environmentalism”. On the contrary, there is “fragility of the broader, cultural, societal and structural discussion on the topic” ([ 14 ], p. 264) and prevalence of disseminating norms and campaigns that hold individuals accountable and blame them and their choices concerning environmental degradation. This resistance by universities to move forward with the environmental agenda within “their own home” is also related, in the author’s view, to material and technological progress, to human domination and utilitarianism over nature. Moreover, the environmental issue, which requires another relationship with nature and rethinking the production system, “goes against the tide” [ 14 ].

According to two other surveys [ 4 , 5 ], few Brazilian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) present environmental policies and sectors responsible for the environmental area. The authors conclude that projects related to environmentalisation of campus management are still more common than structural changes in courses; curriculum transformations or teachers´ pedagogical practices. They also identify a multiplicity of factors and reasons that prevent or hinder the development of sustainability culture in HEIs. Among them are the following: individual and collective resistance to sustainable actions, lack of interdisciplinarity between courses, non-integrated data systems that make it difficult to obtain information concerning teaching, research and extension developed in university faculties. According to the authors, the very existence of pluralism and diversity of understanding about sustainability between the different segments also interferes with implementing sustainability in HEIs,

In international studies [ 10 ], it is clear that after decades of EE in universities, actions are still restricted to volunteering, without concretely including the theme in the institutions’ decision-making, challenging change in HEIs’ organisational culture. Hence, showing the importance of training personnel. Another published recent research [ 30 ] addresses the influence of governance on the ways in which sustainability is perceived and practiced in a higher education context. Moreover, based on various studies they point out the lack of adequate personnel training to deal with issues related to sustainability, which ensures appropriation of related concepts, to include them, in fact, as part of their daily work. It was found that employees tend not to be very knowledgeable about basic sustainability concepts and are uncertain about their practical implementations. Furthermore, they indicate that there are still many challenges in terms of integration between sustainability and governance in these institutions. In addition, in another related study [ 31 ], the researches note that there is a demand of university lecturers themselves to be educated in sustainability. They point out applying concepts to real world problems as being important in Sustainable Development Education (SDE), recognising the value of using engaged and specific learning in each local context. In addition, they require SDE in undergraduate and postgraduate courses as learning objectives.

Amid a certain trend of more prescriptive programs or based only on specific and voluntary actions of environmental education in universities, the object of study of this article is a project proposed to challenge the normative and depoliticised perspective of education and to assume an emancipatory trajectory with its participants. It is an ambitious and innovative project seeking democratisation of EE with the engagement/commitment of all public servants of an HEI, through a “capillarity architecture”.

The term “capillarity architecture” is defined as a methodology for educating environmental educators on a permanent, continuous and network basis, aimed at the totality of inhabitants of a given territory [ 44 ], based on two viewpoints—PAP Footnote 1 , Footnote 2 and simultaneous performance of networked collective learning [ 12 , 13 ]. This concept has roots and influences in progressive references and in the popular Latin American organisation. Footnote 3 This perspective “breaks with the idea of profession and training of specialists, bringing EE to the field of citizen praxis to be exercised by all people on a daily basis”, in the search “for another form of production and consumption, of organisation and relationship in human societies, different from the hegemonic capitalist order in modernity” ([ 44 ], p. 30).

According to these authors [ 44 ], in critical EE, capillarity architecture can fulfil two roles in HEIs.

that of educating the institution itself, so that it incorporates environmental issues in its daily life—environmentalisation of the Institution, found in its teaching, research, extension and management activities; and to contribute to educating society environmentally—an environmental project of the country and the educational actions committed to it (p. 25).

Thus, leadership formation does not make the leader the centre of attention but invites him/her to take part in the protagonist exercise of motivating/cooperating and helping the collective of participants in transforming degrading realities, while at the same time exercising humility and stripping themselves of vanity on a daily basis. Leaders also need to learn how to develop, conduct and socialise strategic, participatory, incremental and articulated plans, which allow shared construction of strategies, objectives and directions [ 44 ].

It was by sharing the critical perspective of environmental education, under the influence of the aforementioned public policy [ 36 , 37 ] that the PAP project was developed at the university that participated in this study. Capillarity architecture is assumed as a methodological strategy aiming to democratise EE within the institution, for all its employees.

The project was developed considering the efforts from an environmental agency of the public institution involved and various partners who contributed with important results together with the participants, becoming a reference for several other universities that seek to expand environmental education in their community [ 5 , 6 , 35 , 42 ]. It was a training process designed to be developed during working hours, having institutional approval and support [ 46 , 47 ].

Based on data from a broader survey [ 45 ], this article addresses the contributions of the capillarity methodology to the socio-environmental formation and strengthening of sustainability culture in an HEI. This rich experience, however, did not take place without contradictions and resistance from the academic environment and there were challenges within the coordination group itself, which made us reflect on the development, in a dialectical perspective and to investigate the complexity of leadership formation regarding sustainability.

The results are discussed from two viewpoints: (1) Capillarity architecture and its impacts on the university experience and, (2) Challenges and tensions between the commitment to leadership formation on a large scale and the search for emancipation in EE. Finally, it is shown how this experience enables one to offer reflective parameters for leadership formation in different spaces, organisations and cultures. An assessment of the capillarity architecture in a concrete experience like this can provide a valuable contribution to thinking about the preparation of leaders for sustainability at a global level.

2 Research methods

This study contains data from qualitative research [ 45 ] using a participant research case study, in which the researcher developed the project at university. Participant-research, despite presenting a wide range of social practices, theoretical and methodological foundations, encompasses, in general, the objective of promoting “the production of knowledge of both the researched subjects and the researcher, searching for transformations of a given reality” ([ 7 ], p. 5) This type of research requires delving into the intersubjectivity of the collective dialectic, by prioritizing the historicity of the phenomena, praxes, contradictions and the subject's action on their realities [ 8 , 15 , 17 ].

The research data Footnote 4 [ 45 ] were collected or produced in face-to-face meetings in the project's coordination group, in planning and evaluation meetings, in focus groups and their resulting documents (recording transcription or memories of meetings), as well as notes from participant observation by the researcher from 2013 to 2015 (Table 1 ).

A focus group is a collective interview technique [ 21 ] which was chosen with the purpose of enhancing dialogical and reflective moments for the participants and for the researcher in understanding the meanings attributed by the coordination group to the main issues of the PAP project, including capillarity architecture.

Based on the discursive textual analysis [ 38 ], we carried out the interpretation of the data based on Critical Theory concepts. Several excerpts from the documents of the corpus were presented, with manifest and other latent aspects on the theme of capillarity regarding public servant training. The validation of the comprehensions reached was sought in the relationship between theory and practice, in the “acceptance of a reality understood as dialectic, in a permanent movement of overcoming” [ 38 ].

Many authors [ 3 , 8 , 22 , 24 , 26 , 48 ] assert that research is a political action in Critical Theory as research actions are closely related to the researcher’s values, requiring a dialogical and transformative method, facilitating the transformation of reality. This type of research must also carry out a permanent self-criticism, reviewing its foundations, assumptions, praxis and concepts searching for emancipation in society [ 48 ]. Likewise, for Critical Theory “contradictions are constitutive parts not only of the subject who thinks reality, but also of the objects that compose it” ([ 11 ], p. 135).

3 Research results and discussion

3.1 capillarity architecture and its impact on the university experience.

Capillarity architecture gains life and functionality in an institution considering the formation and performance of learning collectives in four consecutive phases, from PAP1 to PAP4. The PAP1 collective coordinates the process and in the formation and direct supervision of seven PAP2 collectives, which comprise groups of experienced public servants in seven social campuses. PAP2 collectives develop and coordinate 31 face-to-face courses in their work units for the PAP3 collectives, which in turn, are committed to developing educational actions involving other PAP4 employees [ 35 , 42 ] (Internal Project Report, 2016).

The training took place as face-to-face and meetings and was aimed at the PAP 2, 3 and 4 collectives. Practices were monitored on the campuses. The general training program for the PAP2 collective had three dimensions; the first was a conceptual repertoire (with a set of contents on sustainability, education and environmental management, to be further developed); a situational repertoire (including orientation for carrying out participatory socioenvironmental diagnoses in the workplace, identifying specific problems and needs of each territory) and the promotion of a socioenvironmental educative action with other public servants on the campus (Internal Project Report, 2016).

The support materials were made available on a virtual academic platform, comprising scientific articles, books, forms and guides used in face-to-face classes. As support to the planning of educative actions and continued reflection on educational activities, tutorials were given to the PAP collectives. This took place from the PAP1 (or other invited teachers) to the PAP2 collectives and from the PAP2 to PAP3 collectives, concomitant with the planning and carrying out of educational activities. It is noteworthy that each PAP2 collective had the autonomy to develop a 20-h classroom course for the PAP3 collective (plus 20 h of monitored practices) based on the issues raised in the socio-environmental diagnoses made at their campus of origin. Likewise, the PAP3 collective was able to choose the themes that would be addressed with the PAP4 collective [ 35 , 42 ].

The PAP Project had institutional funding and support in various different aspects, which were fundamental for the costs incurred by intercampus meetings and external speakers; acquiring basic equipment (computers, cameras, tablets, etc.) on some campuses; hiring professionals, granting scholarships and offering internships for the support team; the articulation of partners and managers; institutional certification and promoting intervention projects during working hours ([ 35 ]; Internal Project Report, 2016).

Among the results of the project at the HEI, the coordination group highlighted the promotion of 31 face-to face courses (40 h) on socioenvironment, promoted by the 92 PAP2. Moreover, 533 PAP3 participated in these courses. The PAP3 collective’s Education and Environmental Management actions totalled 127 interventions, in which 1853 PAP4 participated in the seven campuses. The total number of participants was around 2500 people in the period from 2013 to October 2015 (Internal Project Report, 2016). A website was created and a book about the project was also published by the PAP collectives. The following qualitative results that emerged from this study can be indicated: recognition by the university community of the importance of continuing this training; strengthening the autonomy of the PAP2 collective, both in planning and in the collective development of an educative action. It also notes that some public servants, in contact with other campuses and areas, have broadened their views on the university's organisational structure and its internal dynamics. Among the contents learned by PAP 2, 3 and 4 collectives are those related to environmental management, Education, society, culture, Psychology and social action. Many civil servants´ engaged participation in meetings and experiential experiences of the process can also be highlighted [ 42 ].

Other publications [ 5 , 6 , 35 ] and the following excerpts from the focus groups confirm these results, showing signs of strengthening groups and links between civil servants, developing a capacity for constant assessment of their training process itself, as well as a broadening of their perception of the complexity and diversity of organisation and power relationships of the campuses involved.

Fisális: As one of the PAP commented, “Since I have been here, for 30 years, I have never seen people meeting in the laboratory”, therefore, there is nothing more integrating than the simple fact of people from each area on the campuses [sic] sitting in a circle talking, and which is even one of the pillars of Environmental Education. Good meetings enhance the empowerment of subjects [...] (Focus group transcription, May 4, 2015).

As the specific study [ 29 ] notes, the PAP 1, 2, 3, and 4 engaged actions in each local context, are very important in Education for sustainability because they enable specific learning considering the challenges and problems of the place.

The PAP1 collective assessed that capillarity: “makes it possible to reach people who might not be able to access much information”; it expanded the “perception of the surroundings and thereby created new links between public servants, departments, units and campuses; it was “a strategy that offered various contributions” (Memory of meeting, 13 August 2015).

In a publication by the PAP1 group [ 6 ] affirm that even the specialists in sustainability and environmental education of the project's coordinating group—the PAP1—were able to significantly grow in the project's development process, expanding their experiences, their self-assessment capabilities and their own way of dealing with diversity at the university.

Based on the documents and publications of the project, three collaborations of capillarity architecture stood out in terms of reflecting on training sustainability leaders, namely: (i) they provided a large number of educational interventions for sustainability, concomitantly and sequential (from PAP1 to 4), during the short period of 2 years; (ii) they provided actions rooted throughout the institution, in its seven campuses and different sectors, for employees from different areas of expertise and knowledge; (iii) a conduct of leadership was required from all its participants, who had to design, mediate and develop courses for their co-workers, considering leadership and responsibility.

3.2 Challenges and tensions in the capillarity praxis in the HEI

The main challenges for training environmental educators in capillarity architecture at the HEI were:

3.2.1 Networking within a hierarchical institution

Capillarity architecture presupposes a horizontal relationship between learning collectives, and that is why from the first meeting of the project, its viability within a hierarchical organisation, such as a Brazilian university, has been questioned.

I didn't know PAP and I think it is ambitious. It is a very democratic project, for a not very democratic institution. We have to prepare and be aware of this so as not to underestimate resistance (Inhame, transcription of the meeting on 28 March, 2013).

In view of this, the organisers sought an institutional articulation, considering the “importance of the proposing organ of the joint project with the institution's managers, support for training their employees and allowing them leave to participate in the process” (Memory of meeting, 28 March, 2013).

Some excerpts show PAP1 collective´s daily dealings with the hierarchy in the institution. They illustrate the time and commitment of the group to carry out each task, passing through different sectors, waiting for authorization.

Moringa: […] bureaucratically, hierarchically I don't know if we can ask the director first to inform people and then send it to the boss, I think it has to be the other way around, his boss has to inform people and then the director. Pana: Isn't the director in charge? [or] Isn´t it the boss who gives orders and defines things? Umbu: Yes, but ... did you send the first letter? [No]. So, the first letter goes to the director, it is the director of the proposing body who will talk to the boss […] (Transcription of the meeting, 30 September, 2013).

The hierarchy associated with bureaucracy in the HEI management requires various articulation strategies and takes up a large chunk of the group's time that should be dedicated to teaching and related to the PAP collectives in the process. For example, the waiting time to hire a professional to work on the project (for 3 months, without employment) ranged from 3 to 9 months.

Quinoa: ... Sometimes you even have the resources, but you can't hire anyone, so this is a problem with rules, bureaucracy rules. (Transcription of the focus group, May 5, 2015).

The issue of hierarchy and bureaucracy as the core of the institution's functioning is complex and is related to its history and political-economic relations in Brazilian society. Brazilian universities underwent a university reform during the military dictatorship (1964–1985), adopting vigorous science and technology policies and establishing immense bureaucracy “restricting the freedom of both teachers and students” [39, p.15], having influenced “scientific and technological production” [39, p.16] and the functioning of institutions since then.

It is worth noting that the search for democratizing EE by the capillarity “arrows” was, contradictorily, faced with the hierarchy and bureaucracy existing in the HEI, not represented in its design.

Dialectically, the capillarity architecture hierarchy was problematised by the PAP1 collective.

Baru: But [...] that PAP4 with PAP4 thinking about the exchange not only base-periphery-centre, but periphery-periphery; if it is from the inside out, it is hierarchical. Pupunha: You can say. Why be afraid of the word hierarchy? [...] It is nice that they [have] representations that show, at the same time, the complexity coming and going, but also that they do not hide the fact that there is a hierarchy, yes. PAP1 PAP1 is not going to give certification, PAP1 PAP1 is going to give certification (PAP1 PAP1 and PAP2 PAP2), right? So, like, there is a hierarchy. We are not going to deny the existence of a hierarchy, but we are making a process that tries to really encourage self-management, autonomy, the deconstruction of hierarchy that has no meaning. But, we will not deny that there is a project that is being planned by people for other people to get involved, it’s not being planned at the end; it is not being demanded at the end, right? It is being planned, what is written here (transcription of the meeting of the coordination group, 22 August, 2013).

Unlike a hierarchical relationship of power, here Pupunha emphasises the importance of a “hierarchical” relationship of responsibility for the process, of competence and authority in the field of EE that the coordination group needs to have, to promote adequate planning and ensure theory and practice in the subjects under study. Freire [ 16 ] discusses the tension between freedom and authority in educational practice, highlighting the most difficult position to be based on democratic ethical principles (equality and solidarity), founded on authority by professional competence and not by authoritarianism.

To sum up, PAP1 collective’s differentiated responsibility in capillarity architecture seems to us to be a fundamental indication of quality assurance in training processes, in which the necessary competence in the area of EE is not exempt, even in a non-formal context.

The discussions raised by international studies [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] also emphasize the importance of ensuring quality in sustainability training in higher education, so that such concepts are in fact implemented in practical actions in the work environment. Likewise, as their studies point out, this project also sees the need for greater integration between sustainability and governance so as to streamline the implementation of sustainable actions in the institution, without having to face so many hierarchical barriers and bureaucratic procedures.

3.2.2 Political-institutional issues and material structure in EE

Regarding political and institutional issues, the group had to deal with the changes of the university’s administration that took place during the second year of the project, in the middle of the PAP2 collective´s training. The times, deadlines and changes in the institution had been a matter of concern for the group since the beginning, as Capim Limão points out: “It is important to have a schedule, of the activities, a schedule of disbursement of funds, right? Because then you are making it all difficult in the next administration” (Transcription of the coordination group meeting, 22 August, 2013).

Capillarity training implied continuity over time, more in-depth and articulated training, which requires commitment from the institution, regardless of the change of manager. Footnote 5 In addition, a financial crisis was announced at the institution, which would interfere greatly in the following months of the project and cause a major change in its schedule. All public universities in the state of São Paulo were affected by the change/decrease in transfers from the collection in the State's ICMS tax Footnote 6 in the period. This context led to further budget cuts in the PAP project. Approximately 30% of the forecast was approved. Therefore, the budget for communication, production of teaching materials and other items had to be relocated and the number of professionals hired was reduced Footnote 7 (Internal Project Report, 2016).

The project’s dependence on the possibility of temporary hiring presents and confirms the demand for more professionals in the area of EE. It also illustrates the precariousness in the work of the environmental educator, who lives (in general) off temporary contracts in Brazil [ 27 ].

Moreover, in the context of this crisis, the Voluntary Exit Incentive Program (PIDV in Portuguese) resulted in 2760 technical and administrative employees (more than 15% of the staff) Footnote 8 self-selecting themselves for termination. This occurred simultaneously with course registrations being made available for PAP3. There was general discouragement among the civil servants as the work environment scenario was reconfigured and as colleagues were leaving, many of their routines would change significantly in their sectors.

In the day-to-day development of the project, the problems related to the socio-political and economic conditions of Brazilian education appear, thus identifying various material issues, such as: the precariousness of temporary hiring; the civil servant strike in São Paulo State and the voluntary dismissal plan that occurred in the period. This scenario generated a climate of insecurity for the coordination group regarding the conditions for continuity of the project so as to address this issue constantly in the group’s planning meetings.

The institution's budget crisis is linked to state, national and global political issues and consequences of the capitalist system are revealed in the institutional daily life. Hence, the importance of unveiling the appearances of reality and considering these elements as having an impact on any training process in order not to evaluate the “successes and failures” only as the responsibility and (in)competence of those involved [ 1 , 33 ].

The specific context of this project and its material conditions modified during the development of its actions give us clues about the relevance of considering the unequal conditions in which training projects for sustainability occur at a global level and that differentiated investments, according to these needs, need to be provided to break basic obstacles for leaders to access socioenvironmental training and to be able to act with ease in their territories [ 18 , 19 , 20 ].

3.2.3 Differentiated workload

According to Table 2 , the distribution of the workload in this project decreased in the capillarity wheel—in the centre-periphery direction of its design. It was higher among the PAP1 collective and lower in the PAP4 collective. The decrease in workload also reflects the reduction of content worked in the activities. The PAP1 collective emphasises this aspect when they assess that “capillarity brings the challenge of guaranteeing the training of people who go into the final stages” (in this case, the PAP4 collective) (Memory of meeting, 13 August, 2015).

According to the PAP1 collective, the educational actions of the PAP3 collective together with the PAP4 were “more laborious and demanded more from the PAP1 and PAP2 collectives and the support teams involved”; PAP3 “had problems executing and transmitting [knowledge] to PAP4 due to the limited amount of techniques and knowledge gained”; they thought it was “difficult to find available time to prepare interventions”; struggling to “mobilise people to participate”. “We can identify several very interesting, relevant, innovative interventions” … It is also possible to observe some poor, innovative, precarious interventions … The majority of which can be classified between these two extremes “(Memory of meeting, 13 August, 2015).

Even with a reduced workload, however, we highlight two characteristics in the PAP4 collective’s training, provided by the capillarity methodology. The first is that some people from the PAP4 collective were able to develop theoretical and practical analyses in their courses and workshops (technical visits to environmental management initiatives; practical workshops for composting organic waste, reusing water from air conditioners; pesticide packaging recycling, etc.), mainly in activities that included debates between invited experts (on “sustainable mobility”, including lectures by architect engineers from the campus and researchers in the area and “scarcity of water and actions for the quality of life”, and talks given by lecturers from the Nursing Faculty, among others). The second positive characteristic of capillarity is that it provides a progressive approach to new people in the area, including those who are learning about sustainability for the first time [ 45 ].

Faced with these issues then, the challenge still remains in this methodology of: expanding the training of those who had a lower workload—PAP3 and PAP4. This aspect that can be overcome (in part) in the continuity of education in forthcoming years, with the change of capillary level from some PAP4 to PAP3, in a procedural mobility of the PARs in a centripetal sense.

And more than the workload involved in each PAP group, it is up to the organisers to commit to the depth of the meetings held. From the point of view of Critical Theory, capillarity training will be emancipatory as long as it incorporates a permanent individual and collective self-critical movement of its participants. This reflective action involves “dialogical fecundity, hermeneutics of horizontality; accept dissent and lead to its problematisation”, “with decisions increased and supported by clarification” ([ 49 ], p. 162).

3.2.4 Large-scale training

In order to reach 16,509 public servants, it would be necessary to engage 128 PAP2, 4495 PAP3 and 12,970 PAP4 collectives, in addition to the PAP1 group formed by 40 people (teachers, higher education technicians and support staff). The coordination group did not give up on this goal (Table 3 ), although it always worked by adjusting the schedule and tasks in view of the material conditions they had at the time.

Among the results of the project at the HEI, the coordination group highlights the promotion of 31 face-to face courses (40 h) on socioenvironment, promoted by the 92 PAP2. Moreover, 533 PAP3 participated in these courses. The PAP3 collective´s Education and Environmental Management actions totalled 127 interventions, in which 1853 PAP4 participated in the seven campuses. The total number of participants was around 2500 people in the period from 2013 to October 2015 (Internal Project Report, 2016). Footnote 9

Some notes and memories of meetings reveal an issue about the size of the public, in addition to pointing out the “need to reduce the workload of PAP2 and extend the duration of the project from 2 to 4 years” (Subgroup meeting memory process design/theoretical analysis, May 2013).

Aguapé: Guys, I just have one question: should we continue with this goal of 16 thousand? Because we feel a sense of failure ... because it was really cool, there were 600 people, 700 to register, Footnote 10 that's a lot, but at the same time we were a bit frustrated because we didn't reach the three thousand [PAP3 ] expected, so, I don't know, if we should decrease our goal, so that we can achieve it.

Capillarity architecture raises several challenges and tensions if the coordination team is not proportionally large to its demands for tutoring, institutional articulations, administration, secretariat and pedagogical actions.

The comparison between the goals initially planned and the results achieved reveals a great mismatch in relation to the number of PAP3 and 4, followed by PAP1 (coordinating group). The PAP2 group participating in the project was the closest to what was planned. In order to understand these differences, it seems essential to consider the several limiting factors of the project, discussed in the previous categories, such as the lack of certain material conditions and insufficient size of the project's coordinating team; institutional bureaucracy and political issues (which required more time to proceed with each step of the project). In addition, the difference in components in the PAP1 group can be explained by the fact that the work in this project is characterised as “university extension”, still little valued and without status in the curriculum of Brazilian teachers (who also already have many other demands for teaching and research). As a result, many who were invited to the coordinating team declined to join [ 45 ]. Concerning PAP2, it seems that the fact that the greater dedication and time spent by PAP1 to the process occurred in the first phase of capillarity work (in institutional articulation, dissemination, mobilisation and training of PAP2) has interfered in this result. It was necessary to obtain enough subscribers and develop actions in the training process, with a greater workload. In general, PAP2 was given greater independence in the dissemination and development of the following phases (to mobilise the participation of PAP3 and after PAP4), whereby the PAP1 group was dedicated to tutoring the groups. The diversity in the preparation, leadership and work autonomy of each PAP2, 3 and 4 group may have influenced the number of participants in the whole project. In any case, this difference between the initial goal and the achieved one expresses an initial ambition that is disproportionate to the possibilities of the participating groups (who were quite engaged), requiring future plans to be revised.

The results obtained in other survey [ 31 ] suggest that sustainability policies, certification, organisational structure, budget, reports, the sustainability team, staff training, as well as resources to support their implementation are key components in the consolidation of sustainability in HEIs. Having teams responsible for this topic at the university, with qualified professionals in the area, is a key point for promoting sustainability. The lack of this support can become a barrier, just as the lack of support from superiors also compromises the commitment of the rest of the administration.

At the same time, capillarity architecture can move towards an understanding and mass use of methodology in sustainability training, as Cambuci emphasises: it is “exponential training… you train ten, then each of these ten trains ten” (transcript from the focus group, 8 April, 2015).

The critical Theory [ 3 ] warns us about the risk of the emancipation proposal moving towards that of the numerical conquest of the general public, in the eagerness to promote a far-reaching project. Thus, the current use of the term “a multiplier system approach in teacher training” should be cautious, due to the possible qualitative loss of the process and the impoverishment of experience when the focus of the work becomes “multiplication of leaders”. Hence the need for this methodology to be carefully mediated with self-critical reflections, with procedural planning and assessments, commitment to participatory socio-environmental diagnosis in the territories of action, articulation of practices with theoretical analysis. Ensuring exercises of critical self-reflection [ 25 , 28 , 33 ], within the educating collectives is an antithesis of instrumental training propagated throughout society.

Reference researches in the diffusion of this methodology in Brazil ([ 13 ], p. 347) point out that, regardless of their numerical perspective, capillarity must guarantee the “opening of networked collectives as an ethical condition, implying the opening to new content and new members, with its consequent sustainability in the territory and expansion autonomy”. It must also commit to “the establishment of public communicative spaces that allow for the disalienation and imaginary institution of sustainable societies”.

The emancipatory potential of capillarity architecture is when planners and subjects (not objects) of planning are articulated, in an ethical-democratic process that transforms “any member of the collective into a planner and, therefore, into a co-governor who represents him/herself in the collectives” ([ 49 ], p. 162). Furthermore, social emancipation presupposes an immanent self-reflective social criticism and the socialization of objective conditions favourable to human development. Therefore, education for emancipation is, above all, a political education, an education for contradiction and resistance [ 2 ]. This is our permanent challenge when we propose to train leaders, on a large scale, for sustainability.

4 Considerations for educational leadership for sustainable development

The present experience of training environmental educators within the scope of the Brazilian HEI in this study enables us to point out some reflective parameters for the formation of leaders in different spaces, organisations and cultures.

Capillarity architecture has the potential for a greater rooting of EE in the different HEI segments, as it mobilises many dialogical circles in the respective PAP1, 2, 3 and 4 collectives. It provides different levels of participation and theoretical-practical analyses, even with the workload decreasing from PAP1 to PAP4. It provides more university employees with an initial contact with the theme of sustainability. In addition, such actions end up increasing environmentalisation of university management and enable implementation of exemplary sustainable procedures and practices both for its own community (students and teachers) and for the whole of society.

Encouraging meetings and dialogue also risks reflection and critical action at university. This seems to be a nodal, dialectical point in this methodology. What, on the one hand, can move at all times in the multiplication/repetition of superficial actions, leading to qualitative losses on the initial proposal for socioenvironmental training, also allows for the development of autonomies and openness to new aspects within an organisation.

Some limitations of the capillarity architecture methodology, experienced in this case study, give clues to implementing new experiences in the training leaders for sustainability, such as: (i) the increasing reduction of the training load from PAP1 to PAP4; (ii) a very demanding performance to a reduced coordinating group, with insufficient material conditions; (iii) difficulty in reaching the entire public of a given territory/ institution in one part of the project. Such challenges can be overcome with continued processes in which PAP4 can become PAP3 in subsequent editions; ensuring material conditions and investments to support the actions; hiring professionals who work fully in the project, with the consequent expansion of the team; having appropriate valuation of the participation of lecturers, students and technicians with an impact on the professional curriculum; improvement of the institutional articulation to avoid mismatches of administrative procedures in the process and with adaptation of the desired goal to the concrete possibilities of its realization.

The results of this project also provide us with evidence that leadership formation in sustainability implies dependence on inequalities in material conditions (budget, infrastructure, personnel). Therefore, the relevance of directing concrete investments in environmental education and training towards sustainability is indicated, so that large-scale training takes place in territories that have significant social inequalities.

Nevertheless, capillarity architecture questions the traditional format of organisational training. It provides the exchange of experiences among its participants, elaboration and development of courses in the socio-environmental area in a collective way, based on problems and social relations of the local territory. These are fundamental aspects when we think about leadership formation on a large scale, in broad policies, which involve different cultures and diverse socioeconomic conditions worldwide.

As emancipation, in contrast to an idealised dream, is a dialectical process with concrete possibilities to be realised, it encourages one to know that, despite numerous obstacles, it is risky to happen in these intricacies and causes concrete transformations towards socio-environmental sustainability.

Data availability

Data supporting the conclusions of this study are available in Federal University of São Carlos-SP/Brazil, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study and therefore are not publicly available. Data are, however, available from the authors upon reasonable request and with the permission of the participating research subjects.

The acronym in Portuguese is used in its original form in this article because of its resonance.

The concept of PAP is characterised by Orlando Fals Borda as a methodology that involves participant-action-research, adult education, scientific research and social or political action, based on a critical perspective of analysis, diagnosis of reality and everyday practice searching for transformations [ 8 , 17 ].

In 2006, a public policy to educate environmental educators was introduced in Brazil, including some technical guidelines and national articulation for the formation and performance of collective educators in capillarity, in a perspective of critical and popular training on a large scale. The technical reference document addresses contents and principles that refer “to schools of thought such as Hermeneutics, Critical Theory, Environmentalism and Popular Education” (p. 8). It also indicates the following as methodological strategies: psychosocial intervention, PAP, communicative action, learning collectives, culture circles, and the learning community, among others [ 36 ]. Hence, the spread of the term “capillarity architecture”, which is analysed in this study.

All data collection actions, as well as the general project for this research, were approved by the UFSCar Ethics Committee, associated with its registration on Plataforma Brasil , of the National Research Ethics system/SISNEP.

It should be noted that, in this case, the new manager of the proposing environmental agency continued the project.

Tax on the circulation of goods and provision of services.

In total, six extension scholarships (10 h of performance per week), six interns (20 h of performance per week) and five educators were hired (20 h of performance per week) for the project.

Electronic message from the university administration on 25/08/2020.

Internal Project report (2016); We do not mention it in detail in the references so as to preserve the anonymity of the institution participating in the research.

From PAP 3.

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Sudan, D.C., Zuin, V.G. Reflections on educational leadership for sustainability: a Brazilian case study. Discov Sustain 3 , 4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-022-00072-z

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Reflections on school leadership

With the recent publication of the Developing your school with Cambridge guide, aimed at school leaders and teachers, it is a good time to reflect on what school leadership really means.

Everything about a school needs to focus on student learning with the dignity and development of each individual at its heart.

While schools have much in common, every school is a unique community and leadership needs to be situational and come from within. Outstanding school leaders strive to improve both the components and the dynamics of the system. This includes a concern for curriculum, assessment, the school’s culture and values, the role of parents and the community. Above all school leadership should be focused on improving learning through developing better teaching as teachers are the most powerful influence on student learning.

Good leadership is a necessary condition for educational excellence

The best schools understand the difference between leadership and management, viewing leadership as a process rather than a position of authority. Great leaders get the best out of the system by creating, implementing, monitoring, reviewing and refining goals practices and policies so that student learning outcomes are continuously improved. It also involves, in the words Geoff Southworth , the ‘liberation of talent.’ Teachers and students, fully supported, are leadership resources of enormous power and potential. For this reason leadership is best viewed as a collective responsibility and widely distributed.

Accountability and standards are critical

School evaluation practices, teacher appraisal and professional development systems need to reflect the complex nature of the educational process. They should involve teachers as reflective practitioners conscious that they have a role in improving both their own and institutional practice. Involvement breeds confidence, commitment, ownership and dignity.

It can result in raising a wide range of educational standards as well as creating a culture of excellence based on the needs of the school at that particular time. All leadership is situational; inexperienced teachers need more directed support from experienced colleagues and progress needs to be benchmarked to meaningful targets with individuals held to account.

While every school is unique and leadership should ideally come from within, there is particular value in sharing practice and experience with schools supporting each other as critical friends.  One example of an initiative that focuses on developing networks and the capacity for school leadership is Leadership for Learning [LfL] at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. This is a vibrant network concerned with learning and leadership, and the connection between the two.  LfL has developed a framework of ideas, principles and processes that have been successful in different contexts throughout the world and which are currently being practised by 16 Cambridge schools working with the Faculty of Education.

LfL practice is based on the following beliefs:

• Learning and leadership are a shared enterprise, as much as an individual one
• Leadership should be ‘distributed’ and exercised at every level
• Collaborative modes of working strengthen both teams and individuals
• An independent, critical perspective, informed by research is vital
• The status quo and received wisdom should be persistently questioned

Nurturing student leadership has never been more important in a world where education is even more about ‘’ providing young people with the competence and self-confidence to tackle uncertainty well.’’ Employers are desperate for students who are adaptable, able to be ‘intelligent in the face of change’ [Claxton, 1990], able to work together and lead teams effectively.

Leadership starts with ‘knowing yourself’ and developing self-confidence, empathy and resourcefulness. This cannot be taught but it can be nurtured and needs to be infused in every day school life and culture rather than become a mere marketing slogan. Schools are part of a community and must acknowledge their responsibility to contribute to and play a leadership role in community life. Learning and leadership do not begin or end at the school gate.

At Cambridge we will be working on improving the support and training we provide in the school leadership area. The potential for networking and sharing research-based international best practice is unique amongst our diverse range of schools. There is something very powerful about a community of schools and partners in so many different countries and contexts sharing practice and learning from each other.

Claxton, G [1990] Teaching to Learn: A Direction for Education. Cassell Education, London. UK.

MacBeath J. and Dempster, N. (Eds.) (2008) Connecting Leadership and Learning: Principles for practice. London: Routledge

Southworth, G. [2011] Speech given at the Cambridge Teachers Conference on School Leadesrhip

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