Interest in student leadership or leadership by young people has always existed in school and community settings and while there are many programs devoted to leadership development and training, we believe that there is a need for focused research into what young people conceive leadership to be and in what circumstances they would see it being important. This article is speculative in nature. We ask and discuss questions about why there seems to be an upsurge in interest in student leadership and what some of the available literature is saying about student leadership before putting forward suggestions for the kind of research we feel is necessary if our understanding of student leadership, particularly in secondary schools, is to be enhanced.