Sustainable leadership for sustainable school outcomes: focusing on the capacity building of school leadership

Much is said of the importance of leadership for sustainable school improvement, but what of sustainable school leadership? Is it possible to sustain school improvement when the personnel change? Research in schools that have successfully engaged with the IDEAS Project, across several Australian education systems, has revealed notable attributes of capacity building for effective leadership in schools. IDEAS is a whole of school improvement project led by the Leadership Research International (LRI) team of the University of Southern Queensland based on principles of organisational alignment, leadership and professional learning where the principal and teacher leaders work mutualistically, with shared purpose and allowance for individual expression. This article presents evidence of sustainable school leadership when principals and their teacher leaders relentlessly continue to build capacity for pedagogical development and implementation toward enhanced school outcomes. More convincing is the evidence that strengthens the phenomenon of capacity building for sustainability in spite of a change of personnel; therein lies the reality of sustainable school leadership for sustainable school improvement