The Development of School Leadership Preparation Programmes in England and the USA

Abstract

Formal school leadership training in the USA has its origins in the 19th century when the first university programmes were developed. Since that time the academic community has played a central role in the preparation of school principals and superintendents; Murphy has suggested that other nations might avoid ‘pitfalls’ by analysing this historically and intellectually extensive experience. In contrast, systematic school leadership training in England is a contemporary phenomenon; its origins are to be found in the pioneering work of university academics in the 1960s and 1970s but, more recently, central government has introduced national programmes which have threatened to arrogate the training of headteachers. Whereas university education departments in the United States enjoy a sophisticated inter-relationship with state andfederal government, the English educational system faces the dangers posed by the development of two potentially competing paradigms of school leadership development, one university-based and ‘academic’, the other national and based on an adapted ‘competency’ model. This article outlines the historical development of school leadership training in the USAand England, examines parallels between the two experiences and attempts to elicit lessons for both nations.