Strengthening the connections between leadership and learning : challenges to policy, school and classroom practice / John MacBeath, Neil Dempster, David Frost, Greer Johnson and Sue Swaffield.

The policy challenge -- The backdrop to policy reform -- Leadership for learning: an essential narrative in a challenge to policy -- Professional integrity -- Leadership as practice -- Thinking differently about learning and teaching -- Enhancing teacher professionality -- Challenging policy, school, and classroom practice.

"Examining a decade of research and practice, this book makes the case for a radical reappraisal of leadership, learning and their inter-relationship in educational policy. Discussing whether policy direction is progressively constraining the professionalism and initiative of teachers and school leaders, it challenges conventional understanding and argues the case for thinking differently about the way to lead learning. Based on the Leadership for Learning (LfL) Project, the book clarifies, extends and refines Leadership for Learning principles and practices, and their contribution to ameliorating some of the difficult conditions encountered in the contemporary educational policy environment. Starting by discussing the direction and influence of current education policy and its subsequent consequences, chapters move on to explore the framing values informing the Leadership for Learning Projects, particularly focussing on what they imply for commitments to social justice, children's rights and breadth in student learning, and considers how to create favourable conditions for learning. Identifying a disconnect between seminal principles and the nature of day-to-day practice, Strengthening the Connections between Leadership and Learning challenges school policy and practice at a national and local level. It is an essential read for postgraduate students, especially those in leadership in education, as well as for teachers and policy makers in schools"-- Provided by publisher.