This paper presents a descriptive analysis of education reform in selected Southeast Asian nations between 1995 and 2007. It reports the results of a purposive survey of elite informants comprising scholars and educational leaders involved in education reform in Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The paper addresses two main…

Through two school case studies in Cyprus, in this paper I explore the role of small internal collaborative networks in promoting school improvement. The analysis of the two cases revealed a series of interrelated themes which indicated issues related to school improvement, and actually, it provided evidence that small internal collaborative…

Introducing an educational innovation into any school context involves some challenge to existing practices. Transition Year is an innovative, optional, one-year programme taken by approximately half the 15-16-year age cohort in schools in the Republic of Ireland. Based on data from an extensive study of TY operating in six different schools,…

This paper examines the importance of understanding different organisational and professional cultures for leaders in extended service settings. It begins with a critical review of key concepts and debates in the organisational culture literature and then shows how different professional groups (education, health and social services) have adopted…

In this article, the authors explore issues of identity, sexual orientation, gender identity, educational leadership and leadership preparation. We discuss professional norms, including attire, and in turn how professional norms might construct panopticons, identity and US public school leadership. We conclude by exploring a consciously queer…

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…

The paper focuses on perceived barriers to the career progression of Muslim male teachers to leadership positions in English secondary schools, exploring the impact of ethnicity, faith and Muslim visibility in the post 9/11 scenario. It draws on a small study of Muslim male teachers (MMTs) from five boroughs in London to explore their experiences…

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…

The article is based on data from in-depth interviews with 13 deputy or assistant head teachers who had taken part in "Investing in Diversity", a leadership course, unusual in that it is designed for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) aspirant school leaders. This course is at present only offered in London and Leeds, but it is intended to "roll out"…

This article presents findings from research on women's educational leadership experiences in Melanesia, a least developed part of the world. Specific context research is needed so that theories and strategies developed that help women access educational leadership in developing countries are grounded in grassroots experience. (Contains 4 notes.)

Fifty years of theory and research offer increasing levels of support for the assertion that principal leadership makes a difference in the quality of schooling, school development, and student learning. In the current context of global education reform, however, recent inquiries have focused on identifying how teams of school leaders contribute…

It has been reported in the literature that the disparities of student achievement within schools are often larger than the disparity across schools. In the secondary school context, analysing student achievement data at department level enables a fine-grained approach to identifying particular departments and teachers within them that are…

In this study we undertook to look at leadership issues specifically in relation to social inclusion, through a series of six case studies in three districts showing high levels of disadvantage. Findings indicated that schools' views on social inclusion could be typified as leaning towards three main orientations: (1) improving achievement and…

The importance of headship to the success of schools is widely acknowledged. This paper focuses on two related aspects, "transition to" and "development during" the first year in post, and identifies and compares research findings with some of the key literature on transition theory and the development of occupational identity. The paper is based…

This article seeks to explain the ways in which leadership makes a difference to the quality of instruction in US schools by reviewing research published since 2000. The review of research is presented in three major sections, organised according to the methodology used in each study. The first section looks into quantitative studies that probe…