Leaders on leadership: the impressions of primary school head teachers and subject leaders

Styles of leadership which encourage leaders to share responsibilities and authority have been the subject of much recent interest. Initiatives, such as that for encouraging distributed models of leadership, are attracting much attention. Within this movement the head teacher is encouraged to work with staff, utilizing their expertise and initiative in a way which benefits the school as a whole. This article reports research commissioned by the National College for School Leadership and looks at the issues of leadership involved in the primary school sector. Interview data collected from head teachers and subject leaders is reported and consideration is given to the realities of being a primary school leader. The authors will suggest that many of the arguments supporting more distributed patterns of leadership are desirable but that a number of developments need to be considered if this goal is to be realized.