Alma Harris taught at Warwick, University College London, Malaya, Bath, and Swansea. Her research and writing on educational leadership, policy, and school reform are internationally renowned. She was a Welsh Government Senior Policy Adviser from 2009 to 2012, helping with system-wide transformation. She co-led the national Professional Learning Communities (PLC) initiative and developed and implemented a master's degree for all newly trained Welsh teachers. In January 2016, she received the ICSEI honorary lifetime award. In 2016, she was appointed to the International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA) to offer policy advice to Scotland’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. See more at https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/alma.harris/

Together with Leithwood, Heck, Mascall, and Spillane, Harris studied the construct of Distributed Leadership. Rather than focusing on particular leadership positions or duties, distributed leadership is essentially concerned with the action of leadership. It's comparable to prolonged, group, and shared leadership practice that increases the potential for development and transformation.

Using leadership experience across the board in the school to create more chances for change and increase the potential for progress is known as distributed leadership. Instead of focusing on the individual and autonomous behaviors connected to people in positions of formal leadership, the emphasis is on interdependent practice and interaction.

Essentially, it is “leadership by expertise” as opposed to leadership based on years of experience or job. Extensive trust, openness, and respect for one another are necessary for true distributed leadership.

• Harris, A. (2004). Distributed leadership and school improvement: Leading or misleading?. Educational management administration & leadership, 32(1), 11-24.
• Harris, A. (2006). Distributing leadership in schools: Challenge or possibility. Boston College, Educational Leadership research, 7.
• Harris, A. (2006). Opening up the'Black Box'of Leadership Practice: Taking a Distributed Leadership Perspective. International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)), 34(2).
• Harris, A. (2007). Distributed leadership: Conceptual confusion and empirical reticence. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 10(3), 315-325.
• Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., & Hopkins, D. (2007). Distributed leadership and organizational change: Reviewing the evidence. Journal of educational change, 8, 337-347.
• Harris, A., & Spillane, J. (2008). Distributed leadership through the looking glass. Management in education, 22(1), 31-34.
• Harris, A. (2008). Distributed leadership in schools: Developing the leaders of tomorrow.
• Harris, A. (2008). Distributed leadership: Developing tomorrow’s leaders. New York.
• Harris, A. (2008). Distributed Leadership: The Evidence ‘. Distributed school leadership: developing tomorrow’s leaders, 42-54.
• Harris, A. (2008). Distributed leadership: According to the evidence. Journal of educational administration, 46(2), 172-188.
• Harris, A. (2009). Distributed school leadership: Evidence, issues and future directions. Australian Council for Educational Leaders.
• Leithwood, K., & Harris, A. (Eds.). (2009). Distributed leadership: Different perspectives. Springer Netherlands.
• Harris, A. (2009). Distributed Leadership and School Improvement: Leading or Misleading? Alma Harris. Educational Leadership and Administration, 3(1), 20.
• Harris, A. (2009). Distributed leadership: What we know. Distributed leadership: Different perspectives, 11-21.
• Harris, A. (2009). Distributed leadership and knowledge creation. In Distributed leadership according to the evidence (pp. 271-284). Routledge.
• Harris, A. (2011). Distributed leadership: Implications for the role of the principal. Journal of Management Development, 31(1), 7-17.
• Harris, A., & Spillane, J. (2013). Distributed school leadership: Developing tomorrow's leaders. Routledge.
• Harris, A. (2013). Distributed leadership: Friend or foe?. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 41(5), 545-554.