Evaluating distributed leadership

This section presents a number of benchmarking tools to evaluate the practice of distributed leadership outlined in the Practising section of this website.

The benchmarks used in this website have been developed against previously determined reference points. These points of reference have been determined by past practice in Australian higher education institutions. Thus these benchmarks can be categorised as ‘good practice benchmarking’ as the comparators selected is believed to be the best in the area.

The benchmarks are criterion referenced as they define the attributes of good practice in distributed leadership. These attributes were  identified from the experience of Australian higher education institutions who used a distributed leadership approach to improve learning and teaching. 

The method used to undertake the benchmarking in this instance is a mix of a comparison of performance indicators developed from publicly available information and activity-based benchmarking. The latter identifies a typical set of activities selected to illustrate a useful comparison. These results can be considered in relation to the specific activities or may be used as a proxy indicator of an entire institution’s performance.

The benchmarks can also be classified as collaborative benchmarking as they focus on processes that can  aid  collaborative learning and self-improvement. Such learning or improvement is often part of a continuous action learning/action research enhancement cycle.

 A user guide for the benchmarking framework for distributed leadership can be found here.