What kind of people run our schools? What makes them behave as they do? What kind of an example do they set? How can headteachers live up to expectations? What makes them fail? What keeps the profession in good standing in the taxpayer’s eye, and what undermines it? Ethical Leadership for a Better Education System: What Kind of People Are We? sets out a new vision for school leadership, moving beyond ‘leadership styles’ and ‘best practice’, to the motivations of school leaders. It proposes a way for the profession to embrace, develop and maintain ethical standards.

Chapters:

Explore the 2017–18 Ethical Leadership Commission, considering the core values and virtues, principles and behaviour we should expect from our school leaders

Provide a clear, ethical code for thinking about reinforcing ethical standards among school leaders

Look at the tensions between professionalism, accountability and in loco parentis

Discuss structural change in the education system over 20 years

Open discussion and reflections on the dilemmas facing ethical leaders and how to tackle them

Demonstrate a way through the accountability pressures headteachers face, drawing on personal experience

Place practical issues within the context of the whole system

Considering the future vision of educational leadership, Ethical Leadership for a Better Education System will appeal to all levels of school leaders, existing and aspiring. It should help everyone who leads in school, and everyone who cares about the models we set before the nation’s young.