Introduction

This is a book about change, change in the nature of school leadership as required by the nature of future schools. As with any change, the problem is one of gap reduction. In this case, the gap is between the nature of school leadership which will contribute productively to future schools and the nature of current school leadership. Accordingly, these are the issues addressed by the two chapters included in the first of the three parts making up the book. Chapter 1 develops the perspective on leadership for future schools explored in detail in Part 2 of the book: this perspective is based on currently emerging ideas about expert leadership now and in the future. Chapter 2 describes what is known about the present state of school leadership, a description grounded in a systematic review of research on school leadership carried out over the past fifteen years. Taken together, these two chapters clarify the extent of the change required in developing expert leaders for future schools.