ABSTRACT
In chapter 2, Peter Earley and Toby Greany provide an overview of current theories and trends within school leadership and the history behind them, drawing upon a range of recent research, including their own. They argue that, although there is no widely accepted definition or agreement about what good leadership looks like in a school, different approaches have been dominant at different times. They describe the current policy context within which school leaders have to operate as an increasingly complex political environment, with high accountability and expectation and subject to unprecedented public scrutiny. They comment in particular on the challenges and opportunities posed by national education policy agendas which promote both competition and collaboration; which aspire to close achievement gaps between children from privileged and disadvantaged backgrounds; and which encourage “system leadership” across a growing number of alliances, federations, and Multi-Academy Trusts, replacing the traditional local education authorities. They argue that school leaders today require higher degrees of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and political literacy than ever before, needing both intellectual breadth and agility to deal with complexity and tolerate ambivalence. They conclude that the provision of appropriate and effective support and opportunities to develop as senior leaders is therefore crucial.
Against the backdrop of Early and Greany’s research-based analysis of the current context and climate for school leadership, chapters 3 and 4 provide the core theoretical and conceptual frameworks that underpin and inform the premise of this book. They explore the internal dynamics of schools as social institutions and some of the conscious and unconscious emotional factors that influence learning, teaching, and leadership. Both authors’ exploration of psychoanalytical and systems psychodynamic concepts are illustrated with examples from their experiences of working in and consulting to leaders in the field.
