ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a snapshot of how educational leadership has manifested in Australian states policy development as quick changes in policy language and discourse, rather than through considered and evaluative processes based on research. The growth in international comparisons of educational results has seen this shift in policy-making reflect schooling as part of a market commodity, with the development of government policy based on the assumption that competition and information are the primary drivers of educational and economic improvement rather than research and evaluation. The comparison of the varying definitions of Instructional Leadership (IL) in the succession of Queensland policy documents, papers and regional initiatives supporting principal development, identifies that there was a lack of clarity in both the definition of IL and the processes used for implementation and the development of principal practice. The information presented forms a small part of a broader literature review currently contributing to an ongoing unpublished case study identifying Queensland secondary principal leadership practices.
