Leadership and Learning

Citation

Davies, B. (2012), "Leadership and Learning", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 223-223. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513541211211644

This is an edited book of 17 chapters with an ambitious objective of linking leadership and learning. It has assembled a truly remarkable list of contributors who bring a raft of experience and insights to the topic. Unlike an increasing number of critical theory books in educational leadership that offer little other than abstract theories this is a highly relevant collection that links theory and practice in a mature and perceptive way. Indeed it solves a major problem for practitioners and students of educational leadership in that it brings together in one place as a source of great ideas.

The first section is entitled “exploring models for leadership and learning” and contains seven chapters. Helen Timpery and Jan Robertson set the scene for the book with their introductory chapter. This is followed by Chris Day “the layering of leadership”, Russell Bishop “how educational leaders reduce educational disparities”, Ken Leithwood “leadership and student learning: what works and how”, Philip Hallinger and Ronald Heck “Leadership and student learning outcome”, Geoff Southworth “connecting leadership and learning” and finally in this section David Hopkins “realizing the potential of systems leadership”. The chapters are accessible and informative and the feature of reflective questions and further reading at the end of each chapter is good, however, it is a pity that some of the authors can only quote their own work as further reading!

The second section entitled “challenges in developing learning‐focused leadership” consists of four chapters. Louise Stoll writes on “leading professional learning communities”, Helen Timperley on “leading teachers” professional learning”, Viviane Robinson, Linda Bendikson and John Hattie on “leadership and student outcomes: are secondary schools unique?”, and finally Helen Widly and Simon Clarke on “instructional leadership: teacher level”. Again this is a good collection of writers that communicate key ideas very well.

The third and final section is entitled “broadening ideas of learning and knowledge development” and consists of six chapters. James Spillane et al, consider “a distributed perspective on learning leadership” this is rather academic and over referenced and loses the flow of the discussion, this is followed by Marianne Coleman “leadership and diversity”, Lorna Earl and Lynne Hannay “educators as knowledge leaders”, Megan Crawford “why the study of emotion matters in school leadership”, Jan Robinson “partnership in leadership and learning and finally Andy Hargreaves “fusion and the future of leadership”. Again a useful collection. It would have been of benefit to see a concluding chapter by the editors summarising the major insights from the book.

Overall an excellent book that adds a great deal to the literature in the field of leadership and learning.