Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to identify the successful leadership practices of head teachers for school improvement at secondary level in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: The study was descriptive (survey type) in nature. It was conducted on a sample of 351 secondary school head teachers, 702 elementary and secondary school…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the secondary Head of Department (HoD) in leading teams producing exceptional education outcomes in Years 7-10 in New South Wales (NSW, Australia) government schools. Design/methodology/approach: Sites where exceptional educational outcomes were believed to be occurring were selected…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revisit a successful school to see how the principal had sustained success over time. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a case study research design similar to the 2005 report. Findings: The old findings revealed a principal who had used direction setting, developing people and redesigning the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop the notion of collaborative practice from theoretical and empirical bases. Design/methodology/approach: The research analysed the concepts of collaboration, reflective practice and the primary task. It also examined the ways of working of 18 primary schools in Wales where the level of student…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to report on the values practised by five effective secondary principals and to seek to identify common values that underpin their work practices. Design/methodology/approach: Principals were observed, each for two days, at work in their schools. From the observations of each principal activities were…

During the 1980s, the established, time-honored theoretic concepts of the past four decades (emphasizing mathematical proof and laboratory science thinking) yielded to newer, richer ways of understanding organizations. Three new streams of thought (effective schools research, the reform movement, and human resources theory) have given…

Purpose: This paper seeks to describe the Swedish compulsory school system and explore a hypothesis about the relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for successful principalship. Design/methodology/approach: On the basis of earlier research, argues that a principal's success depends on how he or she alters school…

This paper looks at the central role of school leadership for developing and assuring the quality of schools, as corroborated by findings of school effectiveness research and school improvement approaches. Then, it focuses on the growing importance placed on activities to prepare school leaders due to the ever-increasing responsibilities they are…