ABSTRACT

A number of scholars have suggested frameworks which facilitate a study of headteacher careers. Such a framework allows a comparison of what has happened to a large number of different heads. However, those who have collected data from headteachers about their careers before and during headship have expressed reservations about whether all headteachers pass through the same stages and whether there is a clear transition from one phase to the next. The framework that we have put together at the end of this section has helped us organise the examples we have gathered from contemporary headteachers in chapters 9, 10 and 11.