School leadership has undergone enormous change over the past twenty years, with greatly increased responsibility and autonomy. The context of schools and the demands placed on them will continue to change as we address the challenges of the 21st century. Policy developments have also resulted in increased flexibility in the organisational structures of schools. Schools around the country are exploring a range of alternative models of leadership, from co-headship to federations.
Emerging leadership models include:
Next Practice in System Leadership
The ongoing Next Practice in System Leadership project, in partnership with the Innovation Unit, is working with 17 field trial sites to explore radically new approaches to 21st Century leadership and governance. This will complete in March 2008. A number of tools, case studies, podcasts, video clips and reports have already been produced or are being developed through the project to inform the wider schools community about the innovation process and learning from the project.
Models of headship
The New Models of Headship research published by NCSL in 2006 details research into models such as Co-headship, Federations and Executive Heads. Other published and unpublished research by the College has addressed specific models such as primary federations.
Further research
NCSL is currently in the process of commissioning further research aimed at providing further evidence and building our knowledge base on the models described in the PwC report. We are also exploring the potential for a longitudinal study to assess the impact that different models have over time.
NCSL have produced a number of publications and resources which can be found on our models of leadership publication page. Other work around distributed leadership and work-life balance issues also inform this project.
(2.77mb, 180 pages)
find us | press office | vacancies | learning and conference centre | about this site | legal | site map
© National College for School Leadership
