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Since 1979 colleges of education in Israel have been re‐conceptualized as academic institutions. The reform includes professional advancement of teacher educators through the creation of four academic ranks. One of the criteria for moving up the hierarchy from one position to the next is engagement in research activity. What benefits can be derived from the growing involvement in research and how can it impact on the individual and the institution? Responses to a questionnaire administered in one college of education indicate that there is agreement among teacher educators that research work can contribute to their need for professional growth and self‐actualization and can contribute to their teaching. However, they agree that research work does not contribute to the development of leadership skills and, although teacher educators are partially ranked for promotion through their research activity, there does not seem to be any increased involvement in the decision‐making processes at the college.

The growing impact of women in the workforce has kept the leadership style of women on the research agenda. Reviews some of the current thinking on women and leadership, drawing on general and educational management literature. Particular attention is paid to management in education because of: the continued pressure on the higher educational sector generally to be publicly accountable that indicates a specific need for effective leadership; the fact that at the school level, leadership is a central theme in the literature on organizational improvement and educational reform; and education is a field numerically dominated by women, yet despite some evidence of a growing willingness of women to take up leadership positions in the field, educational leadership is still a male preserve. Concludes with a synopsis of some of the factors that may account for differences in leadership style.

This paper aims to consider what all‐women networks have, and might offer, in terms of support and development of women in educational leadership.

The study draws on two case studies of such networks in education in England, the first, a regional network for women secondary school principals, and the other national, for women leaders in higher education. Network theories are employed to trace the type, origins, functions and evolution of networks for women in educational leadership. The two case studies, drawing on interviews, observation and documents, are part of a larger research project on the support and development of women leaders at work.

Two networks emerged at the beginning of the 1990s in the context of second wave feminism and the isolation experienced by women in leadership roles. The interview data show how strong the support function has been and continues to be, but despite this, these networks appear to be in terminal decline. Amongst reasons for the decline is the aging profile of the membership accompanied by lack of interest from younger women who may believe that gender issues are no longer relevant. Finally there is less support for the networks from universities and local authorities than was the case in the past. However, the strength of findings about the level of support has practical and social implications for women leaders.

The findings relate to only two case studies in one cultural setting.

The originality of the paper is in the application of network theory to the field of education.

Mentoring is an important mode of professional development in many countries. It involves an experienced colleague supporting the development of a new principal. Reports the findings of one aspect of a major national research project on mentoring and teacher education in England and Wales. Considers the nature and purpose of mentoring and examines the “match” between mentor and the new headteacher. Reports on the benefits of mentoring for new principals, mentors and the educational system, and discusses certain limitations of this approach to professional development. Presents several conceptual models of the mentor relationship and reports that the dominant normative conception is that of peer support. Concludes that mentoring is valuable in supporting principals as they adapt to their new role but it may lack the rigour to be a really effective mode of professional development.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which elementary school principals in Israel deal with teachers who are “challenging” in their behaviour, that is those who are perceived as under‐performing. This is an important and under‐researched area of educational management.

Interviews were carried out with 40 elementary school principals, every fourth school being sampled in the northern district of Haifa. They were asked to recall a particularly difficult teacher and their shortcomings and then asked about the measures they took, in chronological order, to solve the problem.

The findings indicated that the principals preferred supportive measures or making changes to the organization rather than confronting the teachers. More than half the principals had started by ignoring the difficulties. In the end most did discuss the situation with the teacher and that sometimes involved direct criticism. In half of the cases the teacher left the school by the end of the year.

The research findings are limited as they only relate to the views of the principals, leading to the possibility of researcher empathy with the principals. Further research might investigate the teachers perspective.

From a practical point‐of‐view, the current findings indicate that elementary school principals need to be better equipped with knowledge, managerial skills and sources of assistance to solve personnel difficulties.

This paper adds to the limited literature on the subject of under‐performing teachers and reveals the resulting personnel difficulties faced by principals.

The critique of western ethnocentric notions of leadership presented in this paper is informed by debates on issues such as gender and educational leadership that have produced meta‐narratives that explore and explain women and men's ways of leading. One of the troubling aspects of western leadership theories is the claim that the functions and features of leadership can be transported and legitimated across homogenous educational systems. Despite changes that have been made in definitions and descriptions of educational leadership to provide a focus on gender, there is the implicit assumption that while educational leadership might be practised differently according to gender, there is a failure to consider the values and practices of indigenous educational leaders. Thus, the construct of educational leadership needs to be more broadly theorised in order for knowledge of indigenous ways of leading to emerge.