‘Positive Disruption’: The Courage to Lead in Times of Reform in England

This chapter proposes a fresh analytical perspective to investigate how a school principal has initiated and sustained the ‘positive disruption’ of governance, structure and culture in one organisation over time. Our findings draw upon a series of in-depth interviews with various teachers, school leaders and students in an inner-city case study primary school serving one of the most socioeconomically deprived communities in the country. Turning policy innovations into opportunities for improvement, this principal translated and transformed external accountability demands into an internally assumed and then collegially shared value. This is achieved through developing successful leaders at different levels in the school system. One significant finding is that success in the school is an evolving, dynamic and resilient process of change and improvement. In this sense, relational capital, as necessary social foundations for change, leadership capital, and the courage to enact values and disturb norms are essential ingredients. Findings of the case study point to the importance of successful principals’ passion, systems-oriented vision, and risk-taking capability in enabling them to act as ‘positive disruptive’ leaders who prioritise the personal over the functional and lead with the courage to reveal vulnerability and create improvement focussed community.