Reports of a recruitment and retention crisis amongst teachers in England led the government to develop a Workforce Remodelling strategy for schools. This involved change at both a legislative level, removing administrative tasks from teachers and ensuring all teaching staff had 10% off-timetable for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA)…

English primary schools tend to operate on a rather different basis from secondary schools in terms of middle leadership. Dependent on the size of the school, the majority of primary teachers will have some form of middle leadership responsibility particularly as each of them is likely to hold a responsibility for at least one area of the…

This paper argues that studies of middle leaders have focused too much on their functions and characteristics, taking insufficient account of the influence of social and political contexts on leaders' choices of actions. Use of the analytical framework of Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998) can address this oversight, but it pays insufficient…

Using the perspective of principal-agent theory, we suggest that the target setting process imposed by the government has shifted teachers' focus away from their personal educational priorities. Our evidence suggests that schools with a higher proportion of students with high academic achievement differ in their practice of target setting from…

Examines role of subject leaders in English primary schools. Includes description of what subject leaders do, how they perceive their role, and the differences between the theory and practice of subject leadership. (Contains 22 references.) (PKP)

Styles of leadership which encourage leaders to share responsibilities and authority have been the subject of much recent interest. Initiatives, such as that for encouraging distributed models of leadership, are attracting much attention. Within this movement the head teacher is encouraged to work with staff, utilizing their expertise and…