This article reports a 3-year case study of a primary school in England, in which a recently appointed principal attempted to build 'collegial professional autonomy' ("Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy," 2, 2015, 20) within a push to improve students' progress and attainment. The research examined the tensions between staff…

This paper provides a basis for a tentative framework for guiding future research into principals' identity construction and development. It is situated in the context of persisting emphases placed by government policies on the need for technocratic competencies in principals as a means of demonstrating success defined largely as compliance with…

This new edition of Successful School Leadership brings in the latest evidence and material to what has remained a popular publication. While the fundamentals of what drives successful school leadership remain the same, new evidence further supports the arguments put forward by Christopher Day and Pam Sammons back in 2016. The growing interest in…

This article examines how values embedded in the biographies of principals of successful schools influence their responses to systemic policy reforms. Drawing on examples from two secondary principals with similarly strong moral purposes but contrasting value positions, the research found that, despite differences in the cultures, practices, and…

Purpose: This article illustrates how successful leaders combine the too often dichotomized practices of transformational and instructional leadership in different ways across different phases of their schools' development in order to progressively shape and "layer" the improvement culture in improving students' outcomes. Research…

The work of leaders in schools takes place in shifting and sometimes conflicting reform contexts which tend to increase and intensify their professional work and personal lives as they seek to influence a range of stakeholder groups and individuals in processes of school improvement. Such diverse and sometimes competing demands of policy, local…

Working with partners including the Department of Education at Oxford University, the Centre for Equity in Education at the University of Manchester, the University of Glasgow, the University of Nottingham and the Hong Kong Institute of Education, "Education Development Trust" has commissioned a series of reviews of international…

Drawing upon findings of a four-year national research project on variations in the work and lives of teachers in England, this paper provides empirical evidence which contributes to understandings about the importance of resilience in teachers' work. The experience of resilience as perceived by teachers in this research was that it was neither…

School leaders are under considerable pressure to demonstrate the contribution of their work to school improvement, which has resulted in the creation of a wide range of literature which addresses leadership in the context of school improvement. This review pays particular attention to issues including transformational leadership,…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of school leadership, particularly that of the principal (head teacher), on school improvement in England. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a mixed-methods (MM), longitudinal design to investigate the leadership of a sample of academically effective and improving schools identified from…

In this paper the authors provide a synopsis of their results to date by organising them in response to four questions. These are questions about: leadership actions that account for sustained improvement or effectiveness in their school over at least several years; how the influence of these actions is exercised; differences among heads'…

This paper extends the introduction to the authors' study of successful school leadership and how it influences pupil outcomes begun in the Editorial introduction. Critical to an appreciation especially of the external validity of their results is an understanding of the policy context in which the English leaders in their study found themselves;…

This article reports early case-study data gathered from 20 schools involved in the "Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes" project. We present and discuss the perceptions of headteachers and other school leaders regarding leadership factors that directly and indirectly affect pupil outcomes in these improving schools. Included are…

This article discusses the methodology adopted for the formative evaluation of aspects of the London Leadership Strategy (LLS). The LLS is an ambitious example of a program designed and supported by the National College of School Leadership in England (NCSL) to enhance leadership and management so as to improve the quality of education and raise…

This paper reports multiperspective research on 10 successful, experienced headteachers working in a range of urban and suburban schools of different sizes (with different school populations and free school meals indices of between 20% and 62%). All had raised the levels of measurable pupil attainments in their schools and all were highly regarded…