Educational Leadership for Results or for Learning? Contrasting Directions in Times of Transition

Educational leadership, like educational systems and schooling, is steered by the national political, professional and social contexts in which it occurs. In recent years, managerialist values have informed the policies of many governments and “new public management” challenges the ideals of “progressive humanistic leadership” in schools in many countries. The former approach is driven by results and demands for accountability whereas the latter favours an holistic, child-centred approach to leadership in which educational leaders at both system and school levels adopt a proactive, empowering and participative approach based on humane values of personal and organisational learning. Newly professionalised educational managers in the transforming systems of central and east Europe face the difficult task of reconciling these two differing directions. Scholars, researchers and developers of educational leadership have a key role to play in helping to deepen understanding of the dilemmas created by these contradictory trends.