52 3.3. Methods The research described in this paper has an exploratory and qualitative research design. Data were gathered by interviewing school principals about their leadership practices during collaborative innovation. The research described here is the first study of a larger research project on the effects of a Dutch school program, which is further explained under the heading ‘Sample’. We will proceed with studying the relation between leadership practices and outcome measures such as distributed leadership, teachers’ teaching skills, and student achievement in follow up studies. 3.3.1. The Dutch context We explain two characteristics of the Dutch educational system that may reinforce school principals’ struggles in leading collaborative innovation: School autonomy and educational sectors. 3.3.1.1. School autonomy Dutch schools operate in a highly autonomous and responsible policy context (OECD, 2014), which has consequences for the role of school principals. Schools are free to pursue educational visions of their choice (Waslander, 2010), and everyone has the right to establish a school (Hooge, 2017). Schools can have their own school board or be part of a larger association of schools, that share a board. School boards in turn mandate school principals to take responsibility for their school’s quality. Due to this highly decentralized form of governance, school principals have a range of responsibilities, including for financial matters and for ensuring that teaching and learning follow the school’s educational goals as well as a national framework developed by the government. The Inspectorate of Education, under the responsibility of the Minister of Education, monitors both the quality of education and compliance with statutory and financial rules and regulations (De Wolf et al., 2017). 3.3.1.2. Educational sectors The Dutch educational system consists of four educational sectors: Primary (students aged 4 to 12), secondary (students aged 12 to 18), and vocational and higher education (students aged 16 and older) schools. Secondary schools are divided into streams, and primary schools recommend a specific stream to each final-year student. Students can choose any secondary school that offers their recommended stream, which provokes a competition among schools for student numbers and corresponding school funds.
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