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A small‐scale information gathering project in which 11 headteachers were asked to describe their jobs using the “Managerial Roles” model as developed by Mintzberg is described. The article gives some clear insights into how heads view their roles, and will have value for others to review their own activities.

The main purpose of this study is to identify the successful leadership practices of head teachers for school improvement at secondary level in Pakistan.

The study was descriptive (survey type) in nature. It was conducted on a sample of 351 secondary school head teachers, 702 elementary and secondary school teachers working in the government secondary schools of Punjab province. Data were collected using a mixed‐methods research design that included: review of related literature, documents indicating school achievements and student attainment, questionnaires and in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with different stakeholders including the head teachers, teachers, parents and students. The validity and reliability of the instruments was ensured through experts' opinions and pilot testing in mid‐2007; the overall reliability was established at 0.923 alpha level.

The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the head teachers of successful schools developed a common and shared school vision and promoted a culture of collaboration, support and trust. They empowered others to lead and distributed leadership responsibilities throughout the school; involved different stakeholders in the process of decision making; developed and maintained good relationships among different personnel of school community. They emphasised the professional development of teachers as well as themselves, and involved parents and community in the process of school improvement.

The findings of this article may be useful for other countries of almost similar socio‐economic status, to improve quality of teaching and learning at secondary level.

The paper shows that policy makers, administrators, managers and head teachers at secondary school level may improve school performance by adopting effective strategies for school improvement in Pakistan.

Leadership was the central issue of concern when academic governance regulations were introduced at Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences in 1978. At the time there was considerable debate about the leadership role of Heads which surfaced again in 1981–82 when the authors undertook a review of the regulations. In this paper the authors analyse the review findings and relate these findings to contemporary theory which sees leadership in terms of the nature of the relationships between leaders and followers. They report that in spite of the existence of a uniform set of regulations the leadership styles of Heads of Schools and Departments varied considerably. Nevertheless it was only in those Schools and Departments where discordancy existed in the leader‐follower relationships that dissatisfaction was expressed about the regulations. The authors conclude that regulations by themselves do not determine the quality of leadership and decision‐making even though they may be intended to settle an agreed organization for decision‐making. However, the introduction of regulations can lead to beneficial modifications to hierarchically based superior‐subordinate relationships with more collegial forms of shared responsibility. “A larger slice of the cake isn't enough — we want a share in the ruddy bakery.” (Mrs. Sheila Egan, East Lancs representative at the 1972 National Conference of Technical Teachers, speaking about Academic Government.)

There has been unprecedented change in education in the last decade since the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA), and there is little doubt that these changes in education are causing profound shifts in the nature of the headteacher’s role. This paper investigates the role of the primary headteacher and is based on empirical evidence from experienced primary headteachers, all working in schools in one of the South Wales Valleys. There are three qualitative methods used to gather data: participant observation, interviews and Repertory Grids. The results from the empirical data reveal many changes in the role of the primary head; the most significant of the changes is an increase in management activities. The changes do not support the view that an increase in management leads to a deprofessionalisation; the core values of the primary head remain rooted in their philosophies of education. The results support the view that there is a changing management agenda, a new professional emerging, a New Public Management where the head manages but retains the core education sector values and visions.

Literature suggests that less attention has been paid on teacher's and head of the school's outlook on when to introduce life skills education, which are the most important to be focused and developed first, and their opinion on effort already made to develop life skills among the students. Hence, the present study aims to focus on the teacher's and head of school's perspective with regard to the three most important life skills which need to be developed at the school level.

For the present study, a digital survey tool was developed (Google Form) and circulated across all the states to the Government and private school teachers and heads of school and access of the Google form was open from April 26 to May 7, 2022. A total of 770 school heads/teachers responded the survey spread over 17 different states. To address the objectives of the paper, descriptive and inferential analysis are carried out.

In the participant's view, self-awareness, effective communication and problem solving are found as the top most, second and third most important life skills to be focused respectively. Results reveal that the region, type of schools and gender of the respondents have no significant role to play in the choice of top three most important life schools to be focused the first. However, designation of the respondent's (teacher/head of the schools) and years of work experience in schools are found significantly associated with the choice of top three life skills. Study concludes that as various research studies have highlighted that all the life skills are inter-related so if the authors prioritize at least three identified top most first so others will be some and other way will start developing in parallel and can be taken up subsequently.

This study is based on digital data collected from the teachers and headmasters based on the survey link circulated through different communication channels. Also, sample is not uniform due to varied response rate across the states and therefore number of respondents participated in the survey varies significantly from one state to another state. The findings emerged from this study cannot be generalized at state level. Even generalization at national level needs to be done carefully as samples are not representative. However, this research demonstrates an interesting fact and will help teachers to prioritize top three skills to be implemented first followed by others.

This will help the teachers and heads of schools to use the top three skills that they need to insist by all means at the school level. This will also help the policy makers to keep note of the perception of the teaching community on life skills.

This paper will bring focus on the importance of life skills to the education fraternity.

Less or no attempt has been made to understand teachers/head of school's perspective on initiation of life skills and which are the most important skills to be prioritized first. Hence, the study comes with an original concept.

The purpose of this paper is to study the attitudes of UK head teachers and of librarians to the view that secondary school librarians should have the status of a head of department (HOD).

Questionnaires sent to 77 secondary schools in Cheshire, UK had response rates of 58 per cent from the librarians and of 49 per cent from the head teachers, with follow‐up interviews being conducted with 15 of the librarians.

Most librarians were employed as support staff, although many of them were doing a HOD's job; even when a librarian had this title, they did not often receive the recognition appropriate to such a role. Librarians were more likely to have HOD status in the independent schools sector than in the state‐maintained sector, and there was some evidence that head teachers and librarians have different views as to what a librarian's responsibilities should be.

There has been no previous study of this topic in the UK.

This study aims to explore the impact of school leadership, particularly that of the principal (head teacher), on school improvement in England.

The study adopts a mixed‐methods (MM), longitudinal design to investigate the leadership of a sample of academically effective and improving schools identified from analyses of national assessment and examination data sets. In addition, questionnaire surveys of principals and key staff and 20 qualitative school case studies were conducted. The paper reports results from the questionnaire analyses and changes in measures of school performance over three school years using data from 378 primary and 362 secondary schools. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation models (SEM) test direct and indirect effects of school leadership and school and classroom processes in predicting changes in schools' academic results.

The analyses identified robust underlying dimensions of leadership and school and classroom processes and highlighted strategies and actions that school principals and staff had adopted to raise pupil attainment. The SEM models reveal both direct and indirect effects of leadership on a range of school and classroom processes that in turn predicted changes (improvements) in schools' academic performance.

This original empirical study presents new results on the leadership of a large sample of effective and improving primary and secondary schools in England. A dynamic model is presented predicting changes in schools' academic performance over three years and identifying direct effects of leadership on school and classroom processes and indirect effects on improvements in schools' academic results.

While the original proposals of Local Management of Schools (LMS) had a wide‐ranging agenda for management change, the actual outworking has tended to emphasize the management of devolved financial resources. Looks at the way these new financial responsibilities are handled. Empirical insights suggest that the dominant approach is through a small group of staff, invariably dominated by the headteacher, to absorb the management tasks involved. Draws from a wide range of theoretical literature to highlight the nature and function of the small absorbing group. Uses these theoretical insights to inform the empirical analysis which explores the nature and diversity of the small group “doing LMS” in 24 different schools from three local education authorities. Highlights the importance of the headteacher both in the functioning of this small group as well as providing pointers to its underlying character and nature. Presents a range of critical comments about the strengths, weaknesses and dangers of this handling process as well as providing some wider evaluatory points concerning the value of LMS more generally for the education service.

The purpose of this paper, based upon research carried out between a university and a Local Authority (LA) in the Midlands, UK, is to explore the phenomenon of head teachers working collaboratively across clusters of primary schools, or inter-collaboration.

A qualitative case study approach was taken and the data collection methods co-constructed with the participants.

The head teachers were eager to share what they perceived as an overwhelmingly positive collaborative experience. The findings in this paper illustrate perhaps the most significant discovery, i.e. the role that the collaborative clusters can play in offering emotional support to those head teachers involved.

This research was based within a specific LA, so the findings reflect the values manifested there. Quite different results may have been discovered in alternative contexts.

The personal, social and emotional needs of leaders are often overlooked in research whilst focussing upon the support that they offer to others. This paper explores the solitary role that headship can be and the function that supportive, collaborative clusters can provide in filling that emotional void.