This article reports on outcomes from a study funded by the National College for School Leadership designed to explore leadership talent identification, development, succession and retention in contextually different primary and secondary schools in England. It draws upon this larger project and offers evidence not seen before elsewhere. It deals specifically with issues pertaining to the leadership development of existing staff given increasing reports of leadership shortages and falling numbers of applicants for leadership posts in the school sector. In response to this leadership crisis, a new and urgent interest in leadership succession planning and its management has emerged within the United Kingdom and also internationally. Succession management incorporates the idea of creating and maintaining a pool of leadership talent by identifying individuals with talent, helping them to develop and fostering their retention either within individual schools or within the profession as a whole. As pressure is increasing for schools themselves to become more proactive in helping to grow the leaders of tomorrow, how do they perceive themselves as training grounds for leadership development and what lessons can be learned from present successes and possible shortcomings? Feelings of disenchantment with leadership roles, particularly with the role of the head, have been recognised for some time and this disenchantment has recently been further emphasised by estimates in England that 43 per cent of incumbent deputies and 70 per cent of current middle leaders do not aspire to headship. The present study seeks to establish the perceptions of heads, middle leaders and classroom teachers concerning effective and ineffective mechanisms of leadership development and the drivers and barriers to the development of leadership talent prevalent within their own schools. It aims to offer insights from a variety of contextually different schools that will be of interest to incumbent as well as aspirant leaders and all those concerned with the development of the next generation of school leaders. (Contains 1 table.)