Leading Schools in Rural Communities: In Search of Collaborative Leadership

Rural school leadership demands approaches that differ appreciably from traditional leadership models. One primary way that these differences manifest is in the emphasis in rural schools on sharing leadership responsibilities with internal and external shareholders—an emphasis that is linked to rural-specific challenges (i.e., smaller organisational scale) and rural-specific opportunities (i.e., closer community connections) and demands collaboration. The chapter provides a brief overview of the leadership opportunities that exist at the intersection between rural assets and rural challenges, and centres collaborative leadership as crucial to promoting and maintaining healthy and successful schools. The discussion synthesises salient theoretical and empirical work on collaboration and school leadership to position responsibility as essential to addressing challenges and embracing opportunities in rural schools and communities. Building on that synthesis, we suggest how collaborative leadership competencies and skills might inform the practice and preparation of school leaders and offer two authentic stories from rural leaders who embrace school-community collaboration. In the final section, we recommend research that could advance the practice of collaborative leadership to solve “wicked challenges” in leading the rural school.