Leading Schools Successfully Stories from the field

Leading Schools Successfully: Stories from the field considers international research focussing on leadership in schools. Based on the ISSPP (International Successful School Principalship Project) which has conducted over one hundred multiple perspective case studies of successful school principals from more than a dozen countries, the book captures the exhilaration of being a principal who grows and sustains success from those practitioners who are acknowledged as exhibiting outstanding leadership.

Whilst much is known about successful school leaders, the book reinforces the argument that it is neither possible, nor appropriate, to generalise specific strategies that should be adopted to ensure success for all schools at all times in all settings. Instead, success calls for a high level of judgement, wisdom, artistry and sheer hard work on the part of principals, adapting for their particular context the knowledge about leading schools successfully. Reflection sections in each chapter ask the reader to consider further issues which each chapter raises.

Topics considered include:

- the importance of school principals to school success

- turning around under-performing schools

- values-led leadership

-sustaining successful leadership

- leading in multi-cultural settings

- issues and implications for the future.

With international contributions from experts in the field, the book offers a new perspective on leadership in schools and will be of interest to school principals and researchers.

1. Leading Schools Successfully David Gurr & Christopher Day Section A: School Improvement: Sustaining the ‘Turnaround’ in Schools Serving Challenging Communities 2. USA: In Her Own Words: Turning Around an Under-Performing School. Yvonne Minor-Ragan & Stephen Jacobson 3. Israel: The Evolution of Success Ora Bar Yaakov & Dorit Tubin 4. Mexico: From Fragmentation to Community: A Journey of Change Celina Torres-Arcadia & Eduardo Flores-Kastanis 5. Kenya: Rising from Perdition to Performance Teresa A. Wasonga Section B: What New Principals Do: The First Few Years 6. Denmark: A Strength of Purpose: Building Credibility and Trust Lejf Moos 7. USA: The Story of New Principals Thad Dugan & Jeff Bennett 8. Australia: The Developing Principal: The Person in the Professional Joy Doherty, David Gurr & Lawrie Drysdale 9. England: Identity Challenge: The Courage of Conviction Christopher Day Section C: Values and Trust 10. New Zealand: A Values-Led Principalship: The Person Within Ross Notman 11. Cyprus: Trust in Leadership: Keeping Promises Petros Pashiardis & Vassos Savvides 12. Sweden: Teachers Maker the Difference: A Former Principal’s Retrospective Helene Ärlestig & Monika Törnsén (Umeå Universitet, Sweden) 13. Singapore: Building on the Past: Connecting with Others Loke Heng Wang, David Gurr & Lawrie Drysdale Section D: Social Justice 14. Norway: Leadership for Social Justice : Educating Students as Active Citizens in a Democratic Society Jorunn Møller & Gunn Vedøy 15. USA: Culturally-Responsive Leadership: Laura Martinez’ Journey as a Principal Betty Merchant, Encarnacion Garza Jr., & Elizabeth Murakami Ramalho 16. Indonesia: Leading an Islamic school in a multicultural setting in Indonesia Raihani, David Gurr & Lawrie Drysdale 17. Thinking About Leading Schools Christopher Day & David Gurr

Christopher Day is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK, and leads the Teachers' Work and Lives and School Leadership Research groups in the Centre for Research in Schools and Communities.

David Gurr is Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership at the University of Melbourne, Australia.