This article presents the findings of a study into the leadership practices of Hong Kong principals working within an environment of increasing accountability. The study set out to investigate the relationships between sets of principal leadership practices and the levels of "alignment," "coherence and structure" and "support for students" in the…

We discuss the ways leaders may nurture collective relationships within culturally diverse staff bodies. We organise our discussion around five key, interrelated issues. These are how leaders position themselves within the school's cultural milieu; how they structure work for collective capacity; understanding collective work; giving expression to…

A lack of analysis and research into primary education in general, and primary school leadership in particular, has left primary practitioners exposed like never before to the vagaries of policy-makers and unpredictable contextual pressures. The purpose of this article is to initiate discussion on the state of primary school leadership in Hong…

Trainers and developers of school leaders across the globe are currently searching for models of best practice leadership development programmes. Are there generic features and principles of design underpinning such programmes? This article argues that corroborative evidence of what works in leadership training and development--to influence…

A traditional preoccupation with the immediate and short term on the part of school leaders has recently given way to recognition of the need for, and importance of, strategic leadership. However, this article expresses a number of concerns about recent thinking on strategic leadership, in particular, the view that vision and school improvement…

The educational management field has developed along ethnocentric (Anglo-American) lines. The five articles in this issue indicate possible directions for developing a comparative school-based approach to school administration. Key constructs, useful frameworks, and data-collection instruments to facilitate rigorous comparative analysis are…

Builds a case for comparative and international educational leadership and management, arguing that developing conceptual frameworks and instrumentation are imperative to keep the field abreast of globalization trends. Proposes a conceptual framework structured around interrelationships between societal and organizational culture and four key…

The educational leadership field has not kept pace with globalizing events in policy and practice. Discusses major issues (transfer of ideas, clarification of cultural concepts, cultural assumptions in management, politico-cultural contexts, and tensions between indigenous cultures and reform tenets) raised in this special issue and expresses them…

Proposes, justifies, and applies a framework for analyzing leadership stories. Although stories hold rich opportunities for understanding school leadership, they are often wasted because they are neither noticed nor interpreted. The CII Frame guides story interpretation by exploring the context, intuition, and influences leaders communicate via…