ABSTRACT
Chapter 13 looks at an example of leadership development for school improvement across a whole city’s education system. David Woods surveys the impact of The London Challenge, which managed to turn London around from the lowest-performing region in the country to the highest, from 2003 to 2011. Although the transformation of London’s schools cannot be attributed to any single element or methodology, Woods describes and evaluates some of the strategies that led to its success, some of which echo those described in other chapters above. In particular, he describes how the initiative fostered and nurtured a collective sense of responsibility for the whole system among London’s headteachers; encouraged networking and sharing of good practice, collaboration rather than competition; and set up an impressive range of leadership development programmes and training in coaching, peer review, and peer support.
