Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the book and its intended purposes. We first describe the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), its underlying theoretical framework, the research methodologies employed, the project’s limitations, and how analyses of the project’s data and findings evolved from the first phase of the study to its current focus. Next we describe briefly the educational contexts of the seven nations from which the cases for this book were drawn—Australia , Cyprus , Denmark , England , Norway , Sweden, and the United States, focusing specifically on key economic, social, and cultural factors, such as demographic diversity, that distinguish one setting from another. Finally, we explain why leadership for organizational learning and capacity building , instructional leadership, and culturally responsive leadership practices were selected for analysis in this book. We conclude by discussing the implications of these three issues for improving the preparation of future school leaders.
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Notes
- 1.
To address culturally responsive practices , two schools with more diverse student bodies were added to the study in Norway .
- 2.
For more details about the ISSPP see Journal of Educational Administration, 2005, 43(6) and Leithwood and Day (2007).
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Jacobson, S.L., Ylimaki, R.M. (2011). Comparative Perspectives: An Overview of Seven Educational Contexts. In: Ylimaki, R., Jacobson, S. (eds) US and Cross-National Policies, Practices, and Preparation. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0542-5_1
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