Creating and Developing a Collaborative and Learning-Centred School Culture: Views of Estonian School Leaders

Oct 15, 2026

The study examines how Estonian school leaders perceive and enact activities aimed at creating and developing a collaborative, learning-centred school culture. Data come from semi-structured interviews with nine school leaders and are analyzed through thematic content analysis. Results show only three leaders emphasize shared values and shared leadership, while learning-process development is understood as important but not consistently realized. Organizational and teacher development is described as unsystematic and lacking continuous process monitoring. Findings recommend leadership development programs focused on the views, knowledge, and skills needed for such a culture.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The school leader’s role in creating a learning-centred collaborative school culture

doi: 10.26529/cepsj.1029 Creating and Developing a Collaborative and LearningCentred School Culture: Views of Estonian School Leaders Katrin Poom-Valickis*1, Eisenschmidt Eve2 and Ann Leppiman2 • The present study aims to analyse how school leaders perceive their activities in creating and developing a collaborative school culture that promotes the school learning process. The data were collected in semistructured interviews with nine school leaders and analysed using thematic content analysis. The results revealed that only three of the school leaders focused on the shared values and shared leadership necessary for creating a systematic and analytic approach to organisational and teacher development. The school leaders understood the importance of leading the development of the learning process, but this did not take place as expected in practice. Organisational and teacher development seemed to be unsystematic or not based on the continuous monitoring of processes. The findings of our study indicate that development programmes for school leaders should concentrate more on shaping the views, knowledge and skills needed to develop a collaborative and learning-centred school culture. Keywords: school leaders, collaborative school culture, learningcentred leadership 1 *Corresponding Author. Tallinn University, Estonia, [katrinpv@tlu.ee](katrinpv@tlu.ee). 2 Tallinn University, Estonia. 218 creating and developing a collaborative and learning-centred school culture Vzpostavljanje in razvijanje sodelovalne in na učenje usmerjene šolske kulture: stališča estonskih ravnateljev šol Katrin Poom-Valickis, Eisenschmidt Eve in Ann Leppiman • V raziskavi skušamo analizirati, kako ravnatelji šol dojemajo aktivnostivzpostavitve in razvoja sodelovalne šolske kulture, ki spodbuja šolski učni proces. Podatki so bili zbrani s polstrukturiranimi intervjuji devetih ravnateljev šol in analizirani z uporabo tematske vsebinske analize. Izsledki so pokazali, da so se le trije ravnatelji osredinjali na skupne vrednote in deljeno vodenje za ustvarjanje sistematičnega in analitičnega pristopa pri organizacijskem razvoju in razvoju učiteljev. Ravnatelji sorazumeli pomen vodenja razvoja učnega procesa, a se to ni odražalo vpraksi. Organizacijski razvoj in razvoj učiteljev sta bila nesistematična ali pa nista bila osnovana na stalnem spremljanju procesa. Ugotovitveraziskave kažejo, da se morajo razvojni programi za ravnatelje šol boljosredinjati na stališča, znanje in na veščine, ki so potrebne za razvoj sodelovalne in na učenje usmerjene šolske kulture. Ključne besede: ravnatelji šol, sodelovalna šolska kultura, na znanje usmerjeno vodenje Introduction Previous research has demonstrated that changes in teaching do not occur if the organisation is not oriented to the learning and development of its members (Opfer et al., 2011). The collaboration of teachers influences the quality of teaching and consequently the learning outcomes of students. However, such collaboration depends on whether the school management has created favourable conditions for it to thrive (Kruse & Louis, 2009; Woodland et al., 2013). Estonian schools provide interesting contexts to study leadership, as they show high academic performance and achievement levels in international assessments, such as PISA (OECD, 2019) . Interestingly, however, the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) (OECD, 2014) points to a poor culture of collaboration among teachers and a lack of substantive feedback on their teaching activities. Although not designated as head teachers, Estonian school leaders have a high level of autonomy, with authority to appoint and dismiss staff, negotiate working conditions, and make decisions about school finances, educational priorities and development plans for the school (Estonian Parliament, 2010). They are the main actors in designing the school curriculum, which is based on the national framework, and in supporting teachers’ profess

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the study?

To analyze how school leaders perceive their activities in creating and developing a collaborative school culture that promotes the school learning process.

How were the data collected and analyzed?

The study used semi-structured interviews with nine school leaders, analyzed using thematic content analysis.

What do the findings indicate about development practices?

Many leaders understand the importance of leading the learning process, but learning-process development is not realized as expected in practice; organizational and teacher development appears unsystematic and not based on continuous process monitoring.

Oct 15, 2026

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