Effective Leadership and Reflective Practice

School principals' work, like that of teachers, has intensified and become more complex in recent times as ideologically driven external interventions by government in the curriculum and management of schools have increased. There has been a greater focus upon raising standards of student achievement for social and economic purposes and, alongside this, assessing teacher and school performance through a range of formal accountability measures. As the emphasis upon rationalistic means-ends approaches to education has grown, models of school effectiveness have been characterised by segmented rather than holistic approaches to the education of students and many teachers have become disenchanted with their work. Whilst much has been written about the important role of principals in creating and sustaining learning cultures in changing times, there is relatively little empirical research on the nature and characteristics of 'good' leaders who are also 'effective' and 'professional'. Drawing upon a larger research study of school principals the paper identifies five kinds of reflection necessary for effective leadership in successful schools.