Participatory Communication and Shared Leadership: The European Project Learning Leadership for Change (L2C)

Abstract Schools are a complex system made up of not only relationships, infrastructures, and challenges, but also constraints. It seems essential that schools, as complex organizations, work in synergy, according to a shared vision with all the actors involved in the educational process. School management is now part of a process that is increasingly implemented in a shared way; a single person in charge cannot manage the complexity that the school requires. In order to observe and narrate this complexity, the National Institute of Documentation, Innovation, and Educational Research (INDIRE) has carried out several research projects in recent years that focus on the analysis of school leadership. In particular, the European project Learning Leadership for Change (L2C) aimed to promote and support the experimentation of a shared leadership approach in some strategic areas for schools. The results of this project highlighted the importance of the lighthouse leaders in implementing shared leadership, whose main function is to involve all school actors keeping the community active and growing. These more informal teams do not remove the need for the so-called formal intermediate management structures. It is also essential for the shared leadership approach to create sharing networks that include local and regional strategic partners to reinforce the sustainability of these innovative practices.