`This is a useful book and well written reflecting the author's considerable experience in the field' - National School Improvement Network News `Management Skills in Schools is a terrific digest of many important issues, built around a clear structure that helps the reader absorb information quickly. For the sheers scale of the references to educational gurus, it's worth the cover price: here is everything you need to quote' - Geoff Barton, Friday Magazine, Times Educational Supplement `This book provides an invaluable resource for everyone who is concerned with leadership and management in schools. As well as dealing with key issues and concepts it gives practical advice on strategies and techniques which can be deployed. It will enhance and complement existing skills as well as importing new ideas which will provide professional stimulus for the reader' - Sir Geoff Hampton, Dean of Education, Director of the Midlands Leadership Centre, University of Wolverhampton `For the discerning leader wanting to develop their personal management skills this is a "must have" resource. Whether working through Personal Management Skills independently or used as a professional development tool with a group of middle managers in a school this book will make a difference to how leaders work in schools' - Coleen R Jackson, Director, Roehampton Education Leadership Centre University of Surrey Roehampton `This is a timely collection of resources for those in middle management positions in schools. It brings together ideas on self management in addition to a comprehensive collection of materials on leading teams of staff. Particularly noteworthy are the sections on strategic decision making, action research in school improvement, and dealing effectively with conflict' - Brian Fidler, Professor of Education Management, The University of Reading Team leadership is vital element of school success, whether at the level of department, the curriculum area, the key stage, the phase, or in relation to pastoral and leadership teams. The Team leader must be skillful in creating cultures of success, and personal management skills are at the heart of getting the best from team members. In this book Jeff Jones shows how managers in education can contribute to school improvement, and focuses on the essential personal and practical management skills needed to instill a positive team culture, and support colleagues effectively. This book is an essential resource for those who lead and manage teams, at all levels within schools. Dr Jeff Jones has been a senior consultant and head of training and consultancy unit at the Centre for British Teachers CfBT in Reading since 1998, and is the well known author of such books as Monitoring and Evaluation for School Improvement, (2000), and Performance Management for School Improvement (2001)

Our fifth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on the use of data in schools and districts as useful information for leadership and decision making. Schools are awash in data and information, from test scores, to grades, to discipline reports, and attendance as just a short list of student information sources, while additional streams of data feed into schools and districts from teachers and parents as well as local, regional and national policy levels. To deal with the data, schools have implemented a variety of data practices, from data rooms, to data days, data walks, and data protocols. However, despite the flood of data, successful school leaders are leveraging an analysis of their school’s data as a means to bring about continuous improvement in an effort to improve instruction for all students. Nevertheless, some drown, some swim, while others find success. Our goal in this book volume is to bring together a set of chapters by authors who examine successful data use as it relates to leadership and school improvement. In particular, the chapters in this volume consider important issues in this domain, including: • How educational leaders use data to inform their practice. • What types of data and data analysis are most useful to successful school leaders. • To what extent are data driven and data informed practices helping school leaders positively change instructional practice? • In what ways does good data collection and analysis feed into successful continuous improvement and holistic systems thinking? • How have school leadership practices changed as more data and data analysis techniques have become available? • What are the major obstacles facing school leaders when using data for decision making and how do they overcome them?

Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.

Based on an OECD study of school leadership practices and policies around the world, this book identifies four policy levers and a range of policy options to help governments improve school leadership now and build sustainable leadership for the future.

Leading Schools to Learn, Grow, and Thrive provides a unique approach to preparing prospective education leaders by combining theory, research, and practice. Grounded in organizational and leadership theory, this book helps leaders understand their schools and districts from multiple perspectives and develop their own leadership aspirations, approaches, and missions. Well-known authors Brazer, Bauer, and Johnson present authentic practical problems, illuminate them with appropriate theory and research, and give readers opportunities to solve common puzzles as a means to grow wisdom about how to lead, especially when confronted with complex challenges. This book is an invaluable resource for aspiring leaders, one that readers will reference as they proceed through their leadership coursework and keep close at hand throughout their leadership career. Special Features: eResources—complementary resources for instructors and students, including a set of authentic role-playing scenarios accessible from https://www.routledge.com/9781138039100 Vignettes—introduce the reader to real-life dilemmas that impact teaching and learning and provide a central reference point for discussions of theory, research, and practice. Theory and Research—frameworks and examples inform common leadership challenges, helping readers expand their knowledge and experience base to explore situations similar to their own contexts. Puzzles—real-world situations test knowledge and provide opportunities to practice ideas for effective leadership. Thought Partner Discussions (TPCs) and Extended Web Activities (EWAs)—additional thought activities, opportunities for reflection, and suggestions for discussion provoke puzzle solving.

School leadership and management are fundamental components of school improvement. This is the first study of its kind to relate the principles of effective leadership to the broad spectrum of school life in Ireland. A key resource for school leaders in their personal and professional study, this book critically appraises issues in leading and managing schools. The editors bring together an array of renowned scholars to inform and stimulate the debate on the future of leadership development in Irish schools. Each author explores different perspectives and sets a framework for rethinking school.

Leadership within educational settings is widely regarded as essential for organizational effectiveness and the improvement of learning outcomes. Through an extensive review of theory and practice, Helen Gunter explores the contested field of leadership studies. She describes and critiques the different contributions made by · education management · school effectiveness · school improvement · critical studies. Leadership is examined as function, as behaviour and as leadership relationship, from students as leaders, through to headteachers. The author provides an up-to-date review of current thinking about leadership, which challenges the reader to engage wit