Showing papers by "Tony Bush published in 2010"

The Principles Of Educational Leadership And Management

Abstract: PART ONE: LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE Introduction: New Directions in Educational Leadership - Tony Bush, Les Bell and David Middlewood School Leaders' Influences on Student Learning: The Four Paths - Kenneth Leithwood et al Leading with Moral Purpose: The Place of Ethics - Paul T Begley Distributed Leadership: Evidence and Implications - Alma Harris Where to Next for Educational Leadership? - Peter Gronn PART TWO: DEVELOPING LEADERS Teacher Professionalism and Continuing Professional Development: Contested Concepts and Their Implications for School Leaders - Les Bell and Ray Bolam Leadership Development - Tony Bush Managing People and Performance - David Middlewood PART THREE: LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING Leadership for Learning - Christopher Rhodes and Mark Brundrett Building and Leading Learning Cultures - Allan Walker Managing Resources to Support Learning - Rosalind Levacic PART FOUR: LEADERSHIP FOR INCLUSION Leadership for Diversity and Inclusion - Jacky Lumby Leading Educational Partnerships: New Models for Leadership? - Ann R J Briggs Leadership and Educational Networks - Andrew Townsend Community and Leadership in Education - Tracey Allen

Getting to the Heart of Leadership: Emotion and Education Leadership: by Megan Crawford, London: Sage Publications, 2009, ISBN 978—1—84787—169—5 (hbk) £65.00; ISBN 978—1—84787—170—1 (pbk) £21.99

Abstract: Educational leader ship theory has been dominated by rational models for almost a century. School leaders are assumed to operate through a careful professional assessment or diagnosis, followed by consideration of alternatives, and the choice of the most appropriate option. This sequence appears, for example, in most development planning models and is often presented as if it is unproblematic. Megan Crawford’s important new book offers a valuable alternative perspective, based around the centrality of the emotional dimensions of leader ship. She criticises the rational ideal, regarding it as an ‘illusion’. This view is not new (Bush, 1986, 1995, 2003) but she offers a coherent alternative in the form of emotional leader ship. She argues that heads’ ‘professional/ rational’ public ‘display’ conceals the reality of emotion and adds that there is a subtle interplay between the emotional and the rational. Megan’s analysis is based on an impressive review of the literature and 11 case examples of head teachers (five men and six women) drawn from primary and secondary schools. She acknowledges that the sample is small, and not representative, and this is clearly a limitation of the book. The problem is exacerbated by the author’s decision to focus mainly on three of the eleven heads. While this provides rich narrative, to illustrate her argument, it inevitably raises questions about the typicality of these examples. If the approach were widened to include many more heads, would the analysis be sustained? The main value of the book, and its unique selling point, is that it brings emotional leader ship to the forefront. She is right to stress the contested nature of leader ship and the multiple ways of describing and analysing it. The emotional dimension is just one of many ways of portraying leader ship and each model ‘jostles’ for attention with all the others. However, Megan’s powerful argument helps to bring this approach to centre stage. She joins with Denzin (1984) to claim that ‘emotions cut to the core of people’ and adds that it relates to leaders’ ‘innermost values’. She is right to note the emotional ‘strain’ of leader ship and the ‘dissonance and stress’ caused by the multiple demands of headship. Megan’s approach is based around narrative and life history. The book has long passages taken from interview transcripts, which provide insights into the emotional challenges facing heads, including issues with teachers, parents and children. Fear and worry are two of the main emotions experienced in such situations. These examples confirm what Megan describes as the intensity of headship. She adds that leaders often deal with this intensity through ‘emotional regulation’; keeping a calm front. The relationship between emotions and accountability is explored in detail. Megan points to the contradiction between accountability and distributed leader ship, noting that the head teacher is the main conduit for government expectations. She describes the head as the ‘pivotal emotional figure’ in the school and adds that ‘the head teacher as an emotional being is neglected in a target-driven accountability culture’ (p. 106). Megan links what she describes as the ‘sustainability’ of leader ship to the declining interest in headship in England, particularly in the primary sector. There is national concern about this problem, evidenced for example in a national Succession Planning Educational Management Administration & Leadership 38(1)

Accelerating Leadership Development

Abstract: Respondents to Aberdeen's Human Capital Management Trends 2013 study indicate that the ability to identify gaps between current workforce skills and anticipated future business demand is the most important strategy to enable organizational success in the coming year (cited by 47% of respondents). But the current level of readiness, indicated by respondents, is just two thirds of the leaders required by the business in the coming three to five years will be available. To overcome this, organizations are looking to speed up the process of developing future leaders, and help close the gap between workforce supply and business demand. This Brief based on data collected from 117 organizations in November and December 2012 looks at the critical strategies organizations put in place to improve their readiness by accelerating leadership development.

Editorial: Leadership, Collaboration and Learning Outcomes

Abstract: There is an emerging literature on the relationship between school leadership and student outcomes (Leithwood et al., 2006; Robinson 2007). These sources conclude that leadership has a significant impact and that schools with a clear improvement trajectory invariably have highly effective principals. In parallel with such studies, there has been an increasing focus on shared, or distributed, leadership (Gronn, 2010; Harris, 2010). Leithwood et al.’s (2006) study makes seven ‘strong claims’ about successful school leadership. Two of these are especially pertinent for this editorial: