TY - JOUR AB - This paper proceeds from the basis that leadership can only be understood in context and by viewing it from the inside. In particular, it argues that the contextual complexity of small school leadership warrants attention from researchers, policy makers and system administrators and describes the nature of this complexity as depicted in the literature. It then reports a study being conducted in two states of Australia which examines the ways novice principals of small schools located in rural and remote areas make sense of, and deal with, the contextual complexity of their work. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of the study for promoting understanding of small school leadership and for developing authentic means of professional learning. VL - 42 IS - 5 SN - 0957-8234 DO - 10.1108/09578230410554061 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230410554061 AU - Clarke Simon AU - Wildy Helen PY - 2004 Y1 - 2004/01/01 TI - Context counts: Viewing small school leadership from the inside out T2 - Journal of Educational Administration PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 555 EP - 572 Y2 - 2024/03/28 ER -