A systematic review and thematic synthesis of research on school leadership in the Republic of Ireland. 2008–2018
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-11-2018-0211 |
| Date | 04 November 2019 |
| Published date | 04 November 2019 |
| Pages | 675-689 |
| Author | Gavin Murphy |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
A systematic review and
thematic synthesis of
research on school leadership
in the Republic of Ireland
2008 –2018
Gavin Murphy
University College Dublin School of Education, Dublin, Ireland and
University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to review and generate themes evident in research on primary
and post-primary (secondary) school leadership in the Republic of Ireland (Ireland) from 2008 to 2018.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper follows the steps of a systematic review and thematic synthesis.
Findings –Following the review, six themes are identified and described, summarising the most current
school leadership research in Ireland.
Practical implications –Potential future directions of research are identified.
Originality/value –No review of research on school leadership in Ireland is currently available and this is
timely given the policy context’s recent focus on school leadership. The steps taken to conduct the review are
clearly outlined.
Keywords Principals, Leadership, Educational administration, Educational research, Republic of Ireland
Paper type Literature review
1. Introduction
This paper reviews the last decade of research on primary and secondary school leadership
in Ireland. The paper is structured in the following way. First, the Irish school leadership
policy context is introduced. Reasons explaining why a review of the literature is timely and
practical are subsequently outlined. Second, a review framework and methodological
concerns are shared. Third, six thematic findings are described. To conclude, some gaps and
silences in the literature are identified to inform future directions of school leadership
research in Ireland.
National emphasis on school leadership reflects the international evidence base that has
consistently demonstrated the substantial indirect effects of school leadership on students’
educational achievement (Day et al., 2016; Leithwood et al., 2008; Robinson et al., 2008).
However, a limitation in the field remains that research tends to be dominated by “Anglo-North
American-Antipodean publications”(Sugrue, 2015, p. xx). Consequently, there is an impetus in
the field to expand the literature to reflect national and local contexts (Hallinger, 2018) to inform
future knowledge production. Mapping the literature –methodologically, thematically and
regionally –is important (Ärlestig et al., 2016) and methodological and thematic trends are
charted in this regional review. There is an impetus in the field to expand the literature to
reflect national and local contexts (Hallinger, 2018) given the prevalence of international policy
borrowing (Clarke and O’Donoghue, 2017; Harris et al., 2016). Besides this, several actors have
heavily influenced the development of the school leadership and policy context in Ireland
historically. Significant influence has been attributed to religious authorities (Fischer, 2016; Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 57 No. 6, 2019
pp. 675-689
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-11-2018-0211
Received 14 November 2018
Revised 13 March 2019
15 April 2019
29 April 2019
Accepted 1 May 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
The author would like to thank to Ciaran Sugrue, David Gurr and Orla McCormack for comments on
earlier drafts.
675
School
leadership
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