Introduction and setting the scene

Leadership development and specific preparation for school leadership represents a rapidly growing body of literature and has been of significant interest for scholars in the field for decades. This aspect of the field is concerned with the readiness of those who take up leadership positions and the level of professional development support while in office. Tony Bush has consistently argued over the years that the journey from teaching to leading is ‘an incremental process, which generally involves the gradual substitution of leadership and management activities for classroom teaching’ (Bush, Bell and Middlewood, 2010: 7) . An even more compelling case is made in Bush (2018) , where he posits that headship is a specific occupation requiring specific preparation in view of the increasing complexity of the demands facing school leaders in recent years. Thus, the preparation and development of school leaders has become an important issue for scholars..