Changing Leadership for Changing Times

Citation

Leithwood, K., Jantz, D. and Steinbach, R. (1999), "Changing Leadership for Changing Times", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 13 No. 6, pp. 301-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem.1999.13.6.301.4

This is a text that should be read by anyone seriously interested in improving school leadership. Kenneth Leithwood in particular has maintained his informed and insightful account of the topic of leadership. The central issue that this text concerns itself with is the area of transformational leadership. Leithwood (et al.) construct a compelling argument through the use of case studies and quantitative research as to why the techniques involved in transformational leadership will assist school leaders in meeting the challenges of the next century.

Leadership is an important issue in the literature on the governance education. All too often texts covering this topic restrict themselves to regurgitating the material from the classical management literature. The strength of this text is that Leithwood and his colleagues explore in a discerning manner how leadership is a cultural, and symbolic phenomenon; as well as also being instrumental and behavioural. It is this that makes the text more than just another text providing for the mushroom growth in management courses in education.

This is the first text that I have come across in the Open University Changing Education series. If the other texts, particularly the forthcoming titles by Bob Lingard and Peter Tomlinson match the quality of this work, then clearly the series will provide a valuable contribution and resource to this area of education.