Building a positive community culture: the role leader collaborations across primary schools can play in developing community cohesion

This chapter investigates the impact that a collaborative leadership development programme had upon the wider school community. In particular it focuses upon the ways that positive, trusting and respectful relationships enabled a shared vision which still appreciated individual difference. The findings emerged through a small-scale research project which was co-created with 29 leaders who were involved in the programme. It used a mixed-methods approach incorporating audit, focus group and individual interviews with both the leaders (n=29) and facilitators (n=12) of the collaborative sessions. The findings strongly suggest that the confidence and security generated by effective relationships with like-minded peers working towards shared goals has a significant impact upon performance at individual, school and community level. A shift towards community cohesion enabled and encouraged positive development for all of its members. This chapter will be of interest to all school practitioners considering horizontal collaborations with other schools and proves that there does not need to be external involvement for such relationships to thrive and impact positively.