Turnaround Leadership in Southeast Asian Countries: Leading School Transformation

Professor Kenneth Leithwood, University of Toronto, Canada

Featuring qualitative evidence from schools in 11 Southeast Asian countries, this book provides a carefully grounded and much needed non-western perspective on the meaning of successful school leadership and the culturally sensitive task of improving the performance of underperforming schools. It is an excellent resource for both practicing school leaders and researchers.

Professor Coby Meyers, University of Virginia, United States

The rapid improvement of underserved schools—and the students they serve—remains a critical topic worldwide. Liu and Thien’s focus on Southeast Asia is a timely and comprehensive account of various challenges to leading school turnaround in an array of contexts. The attention paid to system, school, and teacher leaders in these challenging circumstances offer important insights into how such efforts can be successful in Southeast Asia and elsewhere while illuminating the various complexities to overcome.

Professor Jingping Sun, University of Alabama, United States

What distinguishes successful school leaders from others is the breadth and accumulation of practices and strategies they enact and employ, as well as the frequency and intensity with which they apply them effectively with precise timing to achieve success, driven by resilience, passion, contextual intelligence, political acuity, and above all, a strong moral purpose. As Walker and Dimmock commented, our understanding of educational leadership remains incomplete if the bulk of theory and practice in the field are drawn from Anglo-Saxon countries. This explains the unique contribution of this book, which broadens our understanding of educational leadership to turn around schools in Southeast Asian countries.