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 book focuses on primary school leadership in the post-conflict and developing country of Timor-Leste. In doing so, it reports on research that has charted a ‘narrative arc’ comprising the historical background to primary school leadership, as well as the current concerns perceived by primary school leaders and the strategies they adopt when dealing with the challenges encountered in their day-to-day work. This exposition reveals the significant progress that has been made in establishing a universal, mandatory, and free Basic Education system during the country’s emergence as a post-conflict society. It also conveys the ‘lived experience’ of practitioners and describes vividly the realities of their work in leading their schools and communities. The book will be useful for researchers in the field of educational leadership, for school leaders, for education policy makers, and for those responsible for preparing, developing, and supporting primary school leaders in Timor-Leste, as well as in other post-conflict and developing countries.

This book investigates the relationship between context and leadership in post-conflict Cambodia. Building on the understanding that approaches to leadership are tightly woven within the contexts that leaders operate, the authors examine the case of primary school leadership in Cambodia. A low-income and post-conflict society rocked by civil war and genocide between the 1960s and the 1990s, the country is – perhaps unsurprisingly – faced with numerous challenges as it engages in the process of national rehabilitation and reconstruction, particularly in relation to the education system. The authors provide a comprehensive historical background to primary school leadership not only in Cambodia, but in post-conflict environments more broadly: informing school leadership preparation, development and support, and facilitating understanding of the context in which school leaders work. This book will be of value to students and scholars of primary school education and education in post-conflict countries, as well as to practitioners and policy makers.

This book presents 10 inspirational case studies of how centre leaders, principals and leadership teams in high-needs New Zealand educational settings have enacted leadership towards a more equitable and democratic society.

This book moves forward the agenda significantly. It enables educational leadership and management discourse to be informed by the latest views that are becoming well established in business and organisational literature in practice.

School leadership is critical to the success for both teachers and students. Yet, the theory and practice the informs the current context of school leadership has been, for the most part, left to each nation and its educational authorities, institutions, and associations. Thus, over the last several decades, global collaboration has not occurred in a significant manner. The purpose of this book is to encourage such discussion, examination, debate, and collaboration of the issues, challenges, and successes found in school leadership from around the world. Specific topics found in the book include international professional learning for school leaders from Canada, China, Europe, and Turkey, offering both theory and practices from the field of school leadership.

This book investigates the localised effects of reform by exploring the impact of a school improvement policy agenda on the work of three experienced principals. It presents three longitudinal case studies within a shared specific leadership context in Queensland, Australia. The case studies enable an exploration of the way the principalship in this context has evolved over time, providing deep insights into the practices and beliefs of three experienced school leaders working in a period of rapid and urgent systemic reform. The nature of global reform policy borrowing means that the research and the findings within this monograph are relevant for international audiences. The book describes a new way to understand and theorise the effects of reform policies and associated pressures on school leaders. Using post-structural theory, it provides a better understanding of the specific effects of reform policy ensembles, particularly when combined with an analysis of the ways policy and discourse work together at a wider level to create an environment that disciplines the principalship. Further, it sheds lights on the means of complying with or contesting policy influences and how the work of leaders has changed over time.