Why Leadership? Why Now?

Abstract

The rapid growth of leaders, doing leadership and exercising leadership in Anglophone countries has generated a context in which those outside may wish to investigate with a view to borrowing and developing their own agenda. In this paper I examine the experiments in England by successive UK governments, where I draw on research evidence from a range of projects to both describe and critically examine the agenda. I raise serious questions for policymakers, professionals and researchers who are located within and interested in «Educational leadership in Latin Europe», notably that the purposes, rationales and narratives within England are less about educational leadership and more about functional delivery and outcome measures. I show how this is linked to the wider privatization that is unfolding in England, and I raise evidence about how alternative approaches are in evidence within practice and research. Consequently there is a range of resources that those in Latin Europe might draw on and use to support thinking and strategizing.