Distributed Leadership in Russian Democratic Schools: The Case of Private Educational Organizations

Principals of Russian schools devote less time to quality management of education than to the administrative and economic part. The trend of transition of the role of the principal to the position of the administrator carries risks of negative impact on the effectiveness of the school and, as a consequence, school education as a whole. At the same time, power in the traditional school is concentrated in the hands of formal leaders. However, there are different approaches to school management that have a democratic vector of development. The purpose of the study is to identify and describe effective management practices of distributed leadership in the so-called democratic schools of Russia. The results of the study are based on interviews with 10 principals of Russian democratic schools. The results indicate a high potential for the implementation of management practices of distributed leadership of democratic schools on the effectiveness of school management. The conclusions made are of an applied nature for choosing a management strategy for both public and private schools.