School leaders in highly disadvantaged urban communities across the globe walk a tightrope, caught between the needs of communities and the requirements of national policies. This article aims to enrich our understanding of the potential of school-community relationships. It examines the policy discourse on urban schools and the practice of…

This article is based on the results of an exploratory study of experiences of 2 urban school principals about leading schools with immigrants from war-affected countries in Africa. It examines how they perceived their preparation for multicultural leadership, and explores lessons that leadership development institutions can learn from their…

Education Action Zones (EAZs) have formed one of the key elements of government policy in trying to drive up standards and disseminate best practice. However, the initiative has been subject to a sustained critique and questions have remained as to the efficacy of such networks of schools. This article reports on study of one EAZ in the north-west…

How leaders learn to become leaders has been an area of much research. When asked what were the key experiences in learning leadership, leaders often speak of the importance of "on-the-job" experiences, yet these experiences are rarely fully detailed in the research literature. The importance of "apprenticeships" and being…

Describes a year-long project involving four British inner-city elementary schools that linked children's and teachers' learning and significantly changed classroom practices through staff development. Reformers should start with modest goals, convince teachers of benefits, hold regular review sessions, create opportunities for teacher…