ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book is about the emotional and psychological experience of school leadership. It aims to explore what being a school leader means and feels like—in particular, the felt experience of life as a headteacher. The book describes both the pressures and the rewards of the role, together with some of the ways that headteachers and other school leaders have found to sustain and develop themselves in what has become an increasingly complex, challenging, and highly accountable role. It explores psychodynamic approaches to supporting and developing school leaders and senior leadership teams. The book also discusses trends and approaches to school leadership development more generally, including the impact of personality preferences; influences from the business world and other sectors; the growth of mentoring and coaching as a leadership intervention; the design and evaluation of leadership development programmes; and a case study on whole-system development.
