Leadership and leadership development in education

Leadership development has become a substantial part of the landscape of teachers’ continuing professional development. In England, which is where this study will be mainly focused, a series of central government reform initiatives has placed increasing pressure on headteachers and other senior staff to deliver central government requirements in both a high-quality and cost-effective way One consequence of this has been an increasing central government emphasis on school leadership, which has led to the field being strongly dominated by one government-funded agency, the National College for Leadership in Schools and Children’s Services. This was originally founded as the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) in 2000, and its remit was expanded to cover all Children’s Services in the autumn of 2009. It is impossible to review the field of leadership development in education in England without paying considerable attention to the work of the College, and indeed its influence has extended internationally, because it has been widely seen as an exemplar of effective leadership development (see OECD 2008; Chapman and Fullan 2007; Hopkins and Higham 2007).