Looking Into Primary Headship

Book excerpt: This is both a study of leadership and a research methods text. It offers an analytical description of a primary headteacher at work over the course of one school year. Using a mix of participant-observation and interviews, the book provides a portrait of this head's approach to his work - his background, beliefs, the school as a context, what he did, how he dealt with change and development, power and the personal dimension of headship. The portrait is matched to the contemporary literature and an hypothesis is formulated about primary headship and is then used to critique existing ideas about school leadership. The book also suggests ways of developing heads and school teachers.