School Leadership in the 21st Century

Citation

Cain, J. (2005), "School Leadership in the 21st Century", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 533-533. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513540510617472

For both the researcher and the practitioner in education, this new and completely revised work on school leadership provides a concise review of the issues currently being faced. The editors have welded together a series of chapters that address the current issues and force a consideration of what the future might hold.

Dip into any chapter and you will find something thought provoking, something you could do in reality or something you might never have thought of!

The contributors very successfully keep the reader engaged by presenting theory, evidence and practical application in such a way that the overall impact is one of being talked to and encouraged rather than being lectured at.

Educational leadership models are crisply explained and practical help and guidance is at hand for school leaders who are trying to negotiate the shark‐infested waters of school improvement.

Although the book contains coherent and relevant guidance on how to lead and survive the pressures put on school leaders, the authors remind us continually that we are about children's education and not just ticking boxes.

Hopefully, this selection of contributions will provide a rationale for breaking out from an educational management world of “painting by numbers” where, as Caldwell states, “the performance of significant numbers of students falls short of expectations” to more enlightened ways of meeting the needs of children in the twenty‐first century.