This key text in educational leadership focuses on the significance of the context and culture of schools.

This book identifies the cultural and moral foundations of country-specific educational governance and school leadership and presents the principles of justice and the diversity of common goods that guide leadership practices in schools. It contributes to an existing research field that studies diversity and ethical leadership in schools. The social dimension of school leadership is not limited to issues related to equality and equity, or social inclusion. The capacity of leaders to promote civic-mindedness and social cooperation, consensus and acceptance of others, the right balance between freedom and duties, and reciprocity of obligations, are essential to maintain democratic rights and facilitate the life together while respecting ethnic and cultural differences. Therefore, the book gathers contributions from a range of international authors capable of reporting these moral and cultural features, while broadening the research perspectives on school leadership.

This book explores how to be fully cross-cultural and intercultural with research and theory building in educational leadership. It adopts an integrated approach to the examination of common issues across and between cultures and contexts. Each chapter examines an issue or a set of issues that builds on evidence from a minimum of three countries across at least two continents. The data collection methods are consistent for all countries and therefore allow meaningful conclusions to be drawn across the field. All six continents are represented in the book, including both developing and developed countries, to ensure an open dialogue and an innovative approach to lay the foundations for future research.

This book is a comprehensive account of the latest, most successful approaches to leadership, development, planning, and continuous improvement. Concepts covered include world-class schools, site-based management, empowerment, participatory and visionary leadership, school/business cooperation, total quality and outcome-based management, professional development, and transforming schools. Educators interested in school reform and leadership issues.

This text calls for a broader approach to comparative educational administration: one which uses culture as the principle means of analysis. The articles collected by Allan Walker and Clive Dimmock detail the educational practices and outcomes of other systems while taking into account the mediating influence of culture. In this way, these essays stress the specific aspects of the cultures studied, and map out common ground for the study of administrators' values, beliefs, and actions.

This book is aimed at school leaders, middle managers and teachers who want to understand more critically about how the organizational and interpersonal processes of leadership affect the quality of learning and teaching. The book considers how leaders at all levels in schools - from the most senior manager to the classroom teacher - negotiate and work together to construct, sustain and improve successful learning and promote a sense of community among the students and staff who are members of the school. This is a timely book as there is renewed recognition of the importance of distributed leadership in developing creative schools and an emerging recognition of teachers operating as leaders and managers of students' learning. Another key element is the recognition of the importance of middle managers in schools as pastoral leaders and subject leaders who can shape effective learning and teaching. Whilst other books have looked at the processes of school leadership (ie strategies and functions), the focus here is on people and the quality of relationships and how they can impact on the success or failure of school processes. It offers insights into why some strategies employed by educational leaders work and others do not.

This book shows how school leaders at all levels – from the most senior manager to the classroom teacher – can help to build learning communities through collaborating and negotiating with their colleagues, students and students’ parents and carers, as well as with external agencies and local communities, to sustain and develop the enjoyment of successful learning among the members of a school. It looks at how positive cultures can be constructed that support inclusive and exciting teaching, enthusiastic teachers and engaged students, parents and carers. Drawing on research, the book examines topics such as the nature of leadership, especially distributed and teacher leadership; the politics of education management; the construction of inclusive cultures in schools; school improvement; and the construction of collaborative and inclusive work groups. It uses a range of critical perspectives to examine processes of change and the relationships of people in school communities to each other and to their social, economic and policy contexts. The book argues that it is essential to develop inclusive education in order to promote student engagement, social justice and equity within formal education. Understanding Educational Leadership is key reading for teachers, headteachers, school leaders, policy makers, Education students and practitioners, and others who have an interest in improving schooling.