The theoretical background has been taken from the literature on the quality of education, the quality of educational institutions and the leadership exercised in educational institutions. Particular attention has been given to reports on the quality of education in general and in relation to the European countries. Studies on educational leadership have also been object of consideration to define the theoretical framework.

Purpose of the research is to study the relevant components and indicators of the quality of educational institutions and of the dimensions of an educational leadership. The analysis of both topics tries to improve the quality of such educational institutions by enhancing an authentic educational leadership. The report on ‘Improving School Leadership, elaborated for the OECD by Pont, Nusche and Moorman (2008) declares that the leadership in educational institutions has become a priority in the educational politics of the OECD and in the countries being part of this organization, due to the fact that it plays a fundamental role in the improvement of the educational practice.

If the quality of education is today a need widely felt by people and societies for their own development and progress, no one educational system could be considered as of true quality, accommodated to the needs of individuals and the corresponding society, if it does have the necessary resources, the processes and results appropriate to the quality paradigm and, even better, to the paradigm of total or integral quality.

Although there are different interpretations of the concept of quality, in general (Hopkins & Lagerweig, 1997; Murgatroid & Morgan, 2002; Müller-Using, S. 2010; Scheerens, 1992; Stoll & Fink, 1996), we understand that ‘quality’, with the meaning of integrality or totality is “the trait attributable to individuals and collective entities whose structural and functional components meet the criteria of maximum suitability expected from them and that produce contributions or results valuable in the highest degree and accommodated to their own nature” (Gento, S., 2002: 11).

The difficulty of defining the quality of education can be easily deduced if we consider that there are a number of definitions in educational literature (Gerecht, 2010; Pérez & Martínez, 1989; Orden, 1989). We consider education as “the conscious promotion, implemented by an interrelated and participatory way, of the valuable condition of the whole dimensions of a person who must tend to his/her own satisfaction and to the satisfaction of those with whom he/she lives in a given context and environment that should be protected and, as possibly, improved”

To synthesize conceptions (Hodson & Thomas, 2003; Lomas, 2007; Smith & McGregor, 2009; Wrigley, 2006 ), we offer our own definition of an educational institution of quality as the one “where the available resources, the carried out processes and the achieved results accommodate to the ideal theoretical model of perfect functioning in an educational institution” Of course, this implies that the particular model of perfect functioning should be defined by the specific particular institution, although some other models could be a valid reference.

There are also a number of descriptions of the profile of a leader (Álvarez Arregui & Pérez Pérez, 2011; Bolman & Deal, 2008; Branson, 2010; Fullan, 2004; 2011; Ogava & Bossert, 2000). Our opinion is that an authentic leader is: “the person or group of people with the ability to release, from inside, the energy existing in other human beings, so that they voluntarily carry out the necessary effort to -in the most possibly effective and comfortable way- achieve the goals they have decided to reach for their own dignity and the dignity of those they live with in an environment and context they should properly care”

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