Primary School Leadership in England: Policy, practice and theory

This article looks at the relationship between school leadership theorising, practice and policy making in England. The article is organised into four sections. In section one a brief review of contemporary theorising is presented which focuses on transformational theories since these represent the favoured perspective on school leadership among academic writers. The next section presents an overview of recent and current Government policies for school leadership and improvement and the underlying assumptions of the policy makers are identified. In the third section recent research into the views of primary heads about headship and school improvement are examined, their role perspectives analysed and parallels between the role expectations of policy makers and practitioners highlighted. The fourth section draws together the previous three sections, observing that although primary headship is being transformed, it is not becoming transformational and argues that the practice of headship is being shaped more by policy makers than by theorists. The article concludes that the power of policy makers influence upon practitioners' educational leadership thinking needs greater acknowledgement and attention.