Leading Within and Beyond the School: A Multilevel Distributed Perspective on Leadership Practice in Rural Pakistan

Most empirical research on distributed leadership has focused on schools as the primary unit of analysis, with limited attention to leadership practice across classrooms, schools, and district offices. Drawing on a multilevel distributed leadership framework, this qualitative case study examined leadership practice in rural primary schools in Pakistan. Findings indicate that leadership responsibilities were distributed across levels, coordinated through communication and collaboration, and sustained through administrative routines and policy processes. The study extends distributed leadership scholarship by highlighting leadership as a system-wide practice shaped by interactions among actors operating at multiple levels of a resource-constrained education system.