School Leaders and Learning Cultures in School: The Case for Intelligent Leadership

Abstract

Government policy in the United Kingdom offers new freedoms to the public sector that have enhanced the responsibilities of practitioners and make new demands on the systems tackling the often complex needs of vulnerable children and their families. Rapid changes such as these in national policy contexts require practitioners concerned with child protection to adapt to these changing environments without increasing the risk of failing vulnerable children and their families. Leaders need confidence that professional judgments will lead to the best possible outcomes for children, young people and families. Meanwhile the practitioners they lead need to learn (1) to recognise what it is important to work on, and (2) how to collaborate with others to achieve what really matters. These demands have led to increased attention to building capacity within and across children’s services to develop well-informed, child-focused systems. This chapter presents a view of the ways in which leaders act to promote such learning on the part of their operational colleagues.