Exploring distributed leadership practice in Nigerian secondary schools

A growing body of research on distributed leadership shows that it effectively improves school effectiveness in developed economies. However, due to centralized education systems, the full benefits of distributed school leadership have not been fully appropriated in developing economies. This study investigates the realities of distributed leadership practices as applicable in selected Nigerian secondary schools. Lensed with Distributed Leadership Theory, the study is located in the qualitative strand of the interpretivist paradigm. In a case study research design, a combination of purposeful and snowballing sampling techniques was adopted in selecting twelve participants comprising three school administrators and nine classroom teachers who participated in semi-structured interviews. The results show that distributed leadership is perceived and practised as delegation and distribution of roles by the superordinate to the subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the principles of distributed leadership theory. It was also revealed that teachers with no formal portfolio were assigned leadership responsibilities. Lastly, the findings showed that participants acknowledged the existence of the School Management Team in their school. Still, most are unaware of their roles in school leadership and how they impacted their jobs. Recommendations were made based on the findings.