Talking leadership

Practitioners from schools, colleges and local education authorities present what for them are current issues of debate and activity from within their research and/or practice. It is argued that talk which is about the interplay between teaching, practice and research is core to being a leader, doing leading, and experiencing leadership. Through talk we describe, create meaning and devise strategies. Each practitioner from the 'Talking Leadership' session at the Birmingham Seminar presents a short text of what they talked about in their session, and this is followed by a thematic analysis based on a critical reading of the accounts. A key theme illustrated by these accounts are the tensions generated within professional practice from being presented with externally determined generic models of organisational leadership while trying to hold onto a more preferred educational and values based leadership.