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Becoming a successful school leader: developing new insights

This book is a topical addition to Routledge’s collection on educational leadership. As the title suggests, it aims to develop new insights for practising and aspiring leaders who have to guide teams of increasingly diverse and fluid staff and students through the broad and ever-changing environment of a range of educational settings. There is a strong focus on reflection embedded in practice but the authors, Krishan Sood, Sheine Peart and Malini Mistry, are all experienced practitioners and their understanding of leadership challenges is demonstrated right from the start, with a recognition of time pressures. Chapter 1, therefore, begins with a map of how to use the book to best advantage by choosing and ordering further reading of appropriate chapters. Although the book has common contemporary themes running throughout, including the demands of multi-agency working, inclusion, globalisation and ethical considerations, each chapter focuses on a key aspect of management, including policy and governance, recruitment and staffing, succession planning, organisational accountability and quality assurance and best practice in responding to the voice of the broadening range of service users and providers, be they pupils, parents or other professionals. The authors’ responsiveness to the needs of potential readers is maintained in each chapter with clear aims, overviews and sub-headings. This effectively makes what could have been a rather dry academic text into something far more accessible and discursive, whilst remaining critically informative and academic in nature. Current literature and legislation are robustly linked to theory and set within a timeline of historical practice which helps to demonstrate the functional and purposeful implications for effective planning for the future, developing understanding of why policy should be applied and how to design personal strategies for their application. I particularly liked the idea that understanding the process of learning, which was analysed here in terms of Early Years practice, could be reapplied by leaders in developing and motivating their own staff teams. It is this entrenchment of pedagogy at the heart of a managerial approach which is particularly enlightening. In an educational climate of change and uncertainty, such a vision has the potential to forge valued and valuable partnerships within a holistic staff team which not only supports effective leadership but also the ultimate development of improved outcomes for children and young people. For this reason, I believe this book would be beneficial not just for aspiring or practising leaders but also for undergraduate students and those newly qualified who would perhaps gain from increased awareness and understanding of why their educational setting operates as it does and the role they can project in supporting and changing leadership in practice.