Student Leadership Development: A Functional Framework

Abstract

This article presents a longitudinal, qualitative case study of a student leadership program in a Catholic secondary school in Perth, Western Australia. Data were collected over a period of three years through multiple methods, including one-on-one interviewing, focus group interviewing, document searches, field notes, and researcher reflective journaling. Through the analysis of the longitudinal data, key characteristics of seven models of leadership presented in the literature—transac-tional leadership, transformational leadership, charismatic leadership, servant leadership, distributed leadership, Christian leadership, and student leadership— are compared with those found in the leadership program of the school. This article contributes to the growing body of school-based leadership literature, and may in-form school leaders and staff responsible for the development of student leadership potential.