School leadership in England: Reflections on research activity between 1997 and 2017

Trevor Male

Abstract

This is a theoretical and reflective examination of research into school leadership in England which concludes that activity has been both constrained and limited throughout the last 20 years. A review of school leadership development from 1997 indicates that the main government agencies have identified skills, attributes and behaviours, yet these have not been the consequence of robust empirical research. This outcome is compromised further by the way in which two mainstream academic UK journals, which ostensibly focus on the field of leadership in education, have less than 20 per cent of published papers in the years 2014 and 2015 on school leadership in England. I conclude, based on the samples of outputs examined, that this represents an alarming lack of evidence underpinning our understanding of the demands of school leadership in the rapidly changing nature of education in England. From this discussion, I call for two outcomes: greater opportunity for publication of domestic research within UK journals and national conferences and a determination from major agencies and institutions to support more substantial, detailed and focused research into school leadership.

Male, T. (2018) School leadership in England: Reflections on research activity between 1997 and 2017. Educationalfutures, [online] Vol. 9(1). Available at: https://educationstudies.org.uk/?p=9711 [Accessed 18 Apr, 2024].

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Volume 9(1) 2018

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