ABSTRACT

We know that leaders make a difference to the effectiveness of an organization, be it a commercial organization or a school. For example, studies into so-called excellent commercial companies in America have described what the leaders do and how this affects the work and life of those companies (see Peters and Waterman, 1982; Peters and Austin, 1985). With reference to schools the ILEA undertook research which identified twelve key factors of effectiveness in junior schools, the first of which is ‘purposeful leadership of the staff by the headteacher’ (ILEA, 1986; Mortimore et al, 1988). Other research into school effectiveness has identified some of the features associated with successful leaders (see Reid, Hopkins and Holly, 1987). However, whilst looking at what leaders do is very important and later in this chapter we will focus on this, it is first necessary to consider what leadership is.