Making sense of school leadership in the 1990s: being and becoming

‘Effective School Leadership in a Time of Change’ was the title of an international project involving 32 school leaders from three countries: Denmark, England and Scotland. The project was funded by 10 local authorities who each nominated a group of participants. Its objectives were to examine expectations of school leaders across the three countries and, through a collaborative process, to contribute to the professional development of the participants. Over a period of three years the nominated head teachers worked with six researchers from the Royal Danish School of Education, the Roehampton Institute and the University of Strathclyde to explore perceptions of what made for an effective head. Eight of the school leaders were Danish (three women and five men), 11 were Scottish (eight women and three men) and 13 were English (seven women and six men). within the group there was a significant number of heads with less than four years in post and, at the other end of the scale, six with over 10 years experience. Within the sample from the United Kingdom there were 13 primary, nine secondary and two special school heads. All the Danish heads were from Folkeskoles