ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a meta-view of the state of the field of educational leadership and consider how the research undertaken within this book contributes to the current state of the field and helps to shape the future directions of the field. Critical perspectives in contemporary educational leadership research are built on a strong foundation and history of theoretically informed research. Critiques of the field have made reference to a recent “theory turn” and suggested that critical, theoretically informed research has become more mainstream within educational leadership research. In an exploratory mapping of the field, Courtney, Heffernan and McGinity found that critical leadership research was not as marginalised as they had anticipated when setting out to conduct their systematic examination of the leadership literatures.
