The transnational trend towards school autonomy has been enacted in England through the academies programme. The programme is poised to enter its third phase of expansion in light of government commitment to the conversion of all state-funded schools to academies. This article considers the moral implications of the expansion of the programme that…

To what extent can heads use an inclusive values-led approach to school development in the face of pressures from Ofsted and their Local Authority to focus almost exclusively on attainment outcomes? We explore leadership of school improvement in a qualitative study of 10 head teachers in the English county of "Preshire," who worked with…

The research reported in this article contributes new understanding of leadership in the context of change, by investigating how the views, values and professional practices of those in leadership roles were revealed, interplayed and changed during a period of turbulence in a school in England. The governors of the school proposed changing the…

Research to date about the English government's policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the "macro" level of national policy and at the "micro" level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part, explores changes at the "meso" level--the locality. The article…

Formal and informal partnerships have become key features of education policy and practice in many countries and managing such collaborative arrangements is an important dimension of the role(s) of leaders of educational organizations. Recent research has shown both the tensions and conflict that can develop in partnerships as well as the…

The "moral imperative" of school leadership has been identified as seeking to bring about social justice in ensuring all children are given the opportunity to succeed in education. Empirical research among 18 headteachers in a single local education authority in the English Midlands shows that some headteachers simultaneously work within…

This article reports findings from a study of headteachers and spirituality. It is intended to give some insight into the importance of spiritual experience as a phenomenon which enables leaders to be better resourced internally and find deeper meaning, and to provide evidence of the significance and influence of spiritual experience for…

This article investigates the perceptions of English headteachers to questions addressing the setting of goals and the effects of external pressure on headteachers. The research utilizes semi-structured interviews with headteachers from a variety of contexts. These interviews were used to write individual headteacher "portraits", which…