This book explores school leadership through a cross-cultural comparative lens, drawing on data from 16 countries located on five continents. The book gives a voice to both primary and secondary school principals, who discuss the nature of their work and explain their understanding of school leadership, strategies used to support their leadership, and how they 'do leadership' in a time of unprecedented change. The book highlights a number of important elements in school leadership: that it is personal and internally-motivated; change oriented and entrepreneurial; dependent on the qualities and motivations of school teachers; dependent on environmental factors related to economy, geography, political stability; heavily influenced by policies within and outside the field of education; and dependent on partnerships within and outside education. The book provides an authoritative cross-cultural account of what school leaders regard as school leadership. It will be essential reading for students, researchers and policy-makers in the fields of educational leadership and management, in particular those with an interest in comparative and international research, school leadership, and education policy.

This third book in the Information Age book series, International Research on School Leadership, focuses on the changing nature of instructional leadership in the 21st century. Our goal is to examine instructional leadership from multiple educational and international perspectives. Unlike many leadership books that focus on conceptualizations and personal narratives, the seven chapters provide empirical evidence of how instructional leadership is evolving in the 21st century. From the effective schools research of the 1980s to today's relentless calls for improved student performance, attention has focused on the instructional leadership roles and responsibilities of school principals, headteachers, and educational system leaders. The emphasis on student performance has gone global as evidenced by highly-publicized international studies, such as the Trends in International Math and Science Studies (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), comparing student achievement in different countries. These developments have had substantial effects on school leaders, especially building-level principals and headteachers. Rather than being the only ones overseeing school improvement aimed at increasing student learning, many school administrators are distributing leadership responsibilities to other administrators and teachers on their campuses. To fully understand instructional leadership in the 21st century, the book examines three important dimensions of instructional leadership: (1) the current context for turning around low-performing schools, increasing teacher effectiveness, and providing equitable outcomes for all students, (2) international perspectives of instructional leadership development, particularly the value of teacher coaching and leadership development for aspiring and practicing school leaders in a developing country, and (3) the obstacles instructional leaders confront as they deal with fiscal constraints, political pressure, diverse student populations, and high-stakes standards-based reforms.

Recent research into school effectiveness has corroborated the theory that the school leader plays a pivotal role making their school a successful institution, and is most often cited as the key factor in a school’s development. Reflecting the importance it is given in the today’s education landscape, this book explores the latest trends in school leadership from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Each chapter provides insight into an aspect of current research, with detailed case studies coming from as far afield as Hong Kong and Canada. In the context of the ever-increasing burden of responsibility placed on education management to safeguard and enhance the quality of education they provide, school leadership is now a core concern of policy makers. In addition, most countries are undertaking fundamental education reforms that will have a major influence on the nature of school leadership. Offering the most up-to-date research on this central issue, this book will both inform and shape the debate.

A global education race now pits countries, regions, and school systems against one another. The racecourse has been created by a small number of influential international testing programs, and the popular media announces winners and losers. Fear of falling behind haunts policy-makers and shapes educational priorities around the world. But are we running in the right direction? We all have a stake in education, and as informed citizens we need to understand the increasingly influential and controversial phenomenon of international testing and what it means for students and the future of our schools. The Global Education Race provides educators, parents, and policy-makers with a lively and accessible introduction to the most influential international testing program: PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, operated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The authors draw on the latest research on assessment and education policy to provide a clear account of how the test works and to investigate PISA’s influence on educational goals and practice in schools around the world. The book aims to provoke informed debate about the role of testing, data, and comparison in educational change. Includes a foreword by David C. Berliner and Pasi Sahlberg.

In this important new book, Geoff Southworth, a leading researcher in headship, specifically addresses how school size impacts on the role of the headteacher.

`This is a book packed with ideas and insights. It is informed by evidence from school leaders and provides a valuable overview of many important theories and research findings. A strength of the book is the way it pulls together empirical research the authors have conducted over the last 20 years. Such a long term view offers a new and needed long term perspective on school leadership and enables the authors to show how trends in leaders′ careers, thinking and practice have emerged and unfolded. Researchers and practitioners alike will find something of value in this book′ - Professor Geoff Southworth, Director of Research, National College for School Leadership ′[A]n excellent, well-written, extensively referenced, empirically based contribution to school leadership thinking... Earley and Weindling offer valuable insights for all of us: serving headteachers/principles, advisory and distinct-wide policy makers and aspiring headteachers′ - Journal of Educational Administration By giving a detailed picture of the rapidly developing field of educational leadership, this book focuses on how to become a more effective manager and on understanding the vital importance of the manager′s role in school improvement. Written in a clear and readable style, it contains an extensive exploration of leadership models and management strategies and is based on the latest research. The text is supplemented with case studies of leadership in action. Understanding School Leadership is indispensable reading for those who have a managerial role within their school and for students of educational management.

Focuses on the changing context of education; the changing nature of self-managing schools; their own leadership and management skills within this environment.