This book describes and analyses the organisation, functions and development of national educational authorities and agencies and the influence they have on local schools in 20 countries around the world. It examines the governing chain in the respective countries from both a theoretical and descriptive perspective. It does so against the background of the stability and rigour of the governing chains having been challenged, with some researchers considering the chain to be broken. However, the view that comes to the fore in this book is that the chain is still present and contains both vertical implementation structures and intervening spaces for policy interpretation. How schools become successful is important for the individual students as well as the local community and the national state. A vast quantity of research has looked at what happens in schools and classrooms. At the same time, national governance and politics as well as local prerequisites are known to exert influence on schools and their results to a high degree. Societal priorities, problems and traditions provide variety in how governance is executed. This book provides an international overview of the similarities and differences between educational agencies and how their work influences schools.

This book provides a unique map of the focus and directions of contemporary research on school leadership since 2000 in 24 countries. Each of these directions has its own particular cultural, educational and policy history. Taken together, the various chapters in the volume provide a rich and varied mosaic of what is currently known and what is yet to be discovered about the roles and practices of principals, and their contributions to the improvement of teaching and the learning and achievement of students. The particular foci and methodological emphases of the research reported illustrate the different phases in the development of educational policies and provision in each country. This collection is an important addition to existing international research that has shown beyond any reasonable doubt that the influence of school principals is second only to that of teachers in their capacity to impact students' progress and achievement and to promote equity and social justice.

This book describes and analyses the organisation, functions and development of national educational authorities and agencies and the influence they have on local schools in 20 countries around the world. It examines the governing chain in the respective countries from both a theoretical and descriptive perspective. It does so against the background of the stability and rigour of the governing chains having been challenged, with some researchers considering the chain to be broken. However, the view that comes to the fore in this book is that the chain is still present and contains both vertical implementation structures and intervening spaces for policy interpretation. How schools become successful is important for the individual students as well as the local community and the national state. A vast quantity of research has looked at what happens in schools and classrooms. At the same time, national governance and politics as well as local prerequisites are known to exert influence on schools and their results to a high degree. Societal priorities, problems and traditions provide variety in how governance is executed. This book provides an international overview of the similarities and differences between educational agencies and how their work influences schools.

This book provides a unique map of the focus and directions of contemporary research on school leadership since 2000 in 24 countries. Each of these directions has its own particular cultural, educational and policy history. Taken together, the various chapters in the volume provide a rich and varied mosaic of what is currently known and what is yet to be discovered about the roles and practices of principals, and their contributions to the improvement of teaching and the learning and achievement of students. The particular foci and methodological emphases of the research reported illustrate the different phases in the development of educational policies and provision in each country. This collection is an important addition to existing international research that has shown beyond any reasonable doubt that the influence of school principals is second only to that of teachers in their capacity to impact students' progress and achievement and to promote equity and social justice.