8692 book.qxd 07/07/2008 11:00 Page xvi The essentials of school leadership

Writing for, and editing, the second edition of this book has presented me with the opportunity to act on feedback from readers of the first edition. The intention of the first edition, and indeed this edition, was not to describe every facet of leadership nor to put a new adjective before leadership. The purpose is to engage readers with some of the major themes in the leadership literature to enable them to reflect on their own leadership skills and abilities. Many school leaders have told me that their senior teams have used the book as a leadership develop-ment vehicle. They have used the chapters in the book, usually one per term, as focused reading for the team to enable them to discuss key aspects of leadership. This has provided them with the opportunity to build common understanding and reflect on how they wish to develop leadership in the school. It is this perspective and approach that under-pins the second edition. To continue the leadership discussions all chapters now have four key readings at the end to extend the debate should readers wish to do so. The book seeks, therefore, to provide a contemporary introduction to, and development of, key dimensions of leadership. For each of the dimensions each chapter aims to: be an introduction to that particular perspective be an explanation of the key concepts and ideas about that particu-lar dimension of leadership be a stimulus to engage the reader in a reflection of the significance and application of that type of leadership to their current practice. provide a set of key readings to further extend that particular leader-ship topic. This second edition of the book has continued the remarkable oppor