There are in excess of 5000 English-medium international schools worldwide. This article reports a study of the governing of such schools that explored in particular the implications of ownership and profit motive. The research entailed a questionnaire-based survey of international school head teachers and interviews with representatives of…

Over the past 30 years, school principals have been exhorted to articulate a clear vision as a key tool for stimulating the improvement of teaching and learning in their schools. Over the past decade, as school systems have sought to distribute leadership more broadly within schools, the same imperative has applied to middle-level leaders. Indeed,…

Utilising the labour ideas of Adam Smith and Emile Durkheim as a theoretical basis, the main objective of this study was to investigate the perception that Heads of Physical Education (HoPE) face unique management and leadership challenges. Results showed that HoPE believe that they are overburdened with tasks primarily involving the delegation of…

The aim of the study was to determine if Chinese school principals use influence actions differently from US principals. The concepts framing this study are leader influence actions, societal and local culture. The analysis was conducted with data from two independent studies conducted in each country using the strategic leadership questionnaire…

This article contributes to the growing debate around how we understand and develop multi-agency leadership in children and young people's services. Bringing together a range of inter-disciplinary research, it presents a framework for multi-agency leadership development, which, it argues, is well theorised, multi-level and versed in key field…

This article explores how recent research in education has applied different aspects of "network" theory to the study of school leadership. Constructs from different network theories are often used because of their perceived potential to clarify two perennial issues in leadership research. The first is the relative importance of formal and…

School leadership is significant for student learning, but increased workload and complexity are believed to be in part responsible for the difficulties internationally in managing succession, with experienced leaders leaving the profession prematurely and potential future leaders reluctant to take on the role. This article draws on a national…

The research reported here analysed the role of the chair of the school governing body in England, drawing on a national survey of governors and the study of governing in 30 schools. The role encompassed: being a governor; appointing and working with the head teacher; acting as a change agent; active participation in the school; organising the…

Throughout the world, rapid political and economic change has applied enormous pressure on educators addressing leadership and accountability measures to improve instructional practices and student performance. Decentralisation of central authority regarding school site-based decision-making has drastically changed the educational environment in…

School leaders in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) now have the important responsibility of initiating and implementing school improvement. This raises the question of their leadership capacity and the competencies that are required for school leaders to fulfil this new role. This article focuses on school leadership in T&T. The study presented in this…

Diversity has become a ubiquitous term within education, often harnessed with a second concept, that of inclusion. Despite heightened interest, theorists in education leadership have remained relatively uninterested in multiple aspects of identity and diversity. This article explores the epistemological and methodological implications of moving…

This article considers the challenges and issues facing school leaders in the implementation of Every Child Matters. It outlines the factors that contribute to the effective delivery of Every Child Matters and outlines some of the barriers that make the delivery of this agenda more difficult. The article concludes that school leaders play a…

This article reports on an empirical study of the management of curriculum and instruction in South African secondary schools. Drawing on data collected from 200 schools in 2007, a series of regression analyses tested the relationship between various dimensions of leadership and student achievement gains over time. Whilst the research confirms…

This article is based on a synthesis study of school leadership development conducted for the National College of School Leadership (NCSL) in England. It first outlines a perspective on leadership focusing on the concepts of wisdom, deliberation and higher order capacities. Then it describes and assesses two distinct models of leadership learning,…

In this paper the authors provide a synopsis of their results to date by organising them in response to four questions. These are questions about: leadership actions that account for sustained improvement or effectiveness in their school over at least several years; how the influence of these actions is exercised; differences among heads'…