A report is presented of a project conducted to study the influence of headteachers on teaching for a changing society. Particular consideration was given to the implications of the project's findings for the training of headteachers as leaders for educational change. Surveys identified the nature of existing courses for headteacher training in Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, and the United Kingdom. These courses were analyzed for the following features: (1) courses designed to make a headteacher into a democratic leader; (2) courses aimed at providing headteachers with diverse knowledge and information; (3) courses designed to develop general areas of competence; (4) courses providing specific skill training; and (5) courses designed to enhance the headteacher's self-concept. Descriptions are presented of the survey findings on headteacher training in the six countries. Findings indicated that headteacher training has developed very rapidly in scope in these European countries. It was also noted that there is a potential conflict between a growing recognition of the need to prepare headteachers as managers of change and an increasing trend towards viewing the head as an accountable servant of local or central government. (JD)