CURRIE, Graeme

Transformational Leadership within Secondary Schools in England. A Panacea for Organizational Ills? - Canberra, Australia : Blackerll publishing, June 2005

We argue that in the UK, New Labour's modernization policy differs from New Public Management because it is more interventionist, with a social facet, as well as economic. However, in simultaneously attending to social and economic goals, tensions develop that the case of leadership in schools exemplifies. So, for example, principals sidestep policy prescriptions to enact a contingent approach to leadership that takes account of their school's context. However, any discretion in leadership activity appears constrained by government pre-occupation with standards and targets for pupils' attainment. At the same time, leadership is difficult to distribute beyond the principal to stakeholders inside and outside the school.