Primary School Leadership in Context Leading Small, Medium and Large Sized Schools

Drawing on his research, the author presents an evidence-based picture of leadership in small, medium and large schools. As many headteachers move to larger school often without knowing the difference between the new role and the old, this will help those heads and deputies seeking a headship in a different sized school to understand the issues they are likely to face.

How does school leadership differ in different sized primary schools?This book responds to the urgent need to explore how different contexts influence the nature and character of primary school leadership and shows how headteachers in different sized schools shape their leadership accordingly.Geoff Southworth draws on a trilogy of related research projects, which investigated leadership in small, medium and large sized primary schools, and sets out the main features of leadership in each category. He presents an evidence-informed portrait of leadership is presented, drawing on the views and experiences of heads, deputies, teachers and governors. As well as focussing on school size the book considers the following related issues:* Learning centred leadership - influencing what happens in classrooms* Structures and systems in schools - how leaders use them* Developing leaders and leadership - the importance of building leadership capacityThis informative book sets out in a straightforward way what leaders in different sized schools need to attend to and provides many examples of how leaders can do this. Primary School Leadership in Context will be particularly valuable to headteachers, deputies and subject leaders in primary schools, those who aspire to these positions, and those who are moving schools in search of promotion. Academics and students of school leadership will also find the book useful.

1. What we know about school size and leadership 2. Leading small primary schools 3. Leadership in medium sized primary schools 4. Leadership in large primary schools 5. Learning centred leadership - Influencing what happens in classrooms 6. Structures and systems in schools 7. Developing leaders and leadership 8. Overview and conclusions

Geoff Southworth is Director of Rsearch at the National College for School Leadership , University fo Nottingham.