Conceptions of Learning Leadership in Remote Indigenous Communities: A Distributed Approach

Abstract

Policies to address Indigenous disadvantage in Australia have long advocated for more equal partnerships between home and school characterised by collaborative relationships built on mutual trust, respect, and shared responsibility. This chapter describes a model of distributed leadership that embraces social-democratic notions of leadership in order to promote teachers as leaders and empower parents and community members. It reports on a community literacy program established in a remote Indigenous community in far north Queensland that engages families in their young children's literacy learning. We argue that the model of distributed leadership presented is not limited in its applicability to an early childhood setting. Instead we suggest it has the potential to provide a useful model for implementing a distributed leadership approach in a broader school setting. The implications are far reaching and imply a fundamental redistribution of power and influence within the school as an organisation.