Students are tomorrow’s leaders in the workplace, family, community and in government. Increasingly schools have taken on significant responsibility of nurturing leadership in their students.  Miller (1997) argues that student leadership development is a substantial and vital part of their lives so that they can develop capacity for creating and dealing with change (Miller, 1997). Many of the international studies that might influence change in Bangladesh education focus on the macro levels of policy and theorisations of practice. The studies that examine the micro-levels of deployment of resources and development of teachers and students within a particular school are often not seen as relevant to Bangladesh because of the difference in material and policy contexts. This study reports research at the micro level of critical examination of leadership practice and change within a school. It thus seeks to fill a gap in reported research in Bangladesh context.

Many research studies in western contexts show that school achievement depends on its community engagement where principal, teachers, students and parents are actively involved. This paper reports a part of my Doctoral study that investigates what creative changes through leadership are taking place in an urban secondary school, and how the current social and political, national and international changes impact on students’ development in this school. Thus current paper reports how student leadership is organised to bring success in a particular urban secondary school in Bangladesh. As a researcher from a developing country, I seek to develop a complex theoretical and practical model of student leadership through this study. The following research questions lead this study:

1. How can students be involved in school leadership and change?
2. How is student leadership developed and organised in the school?
3. What are the leadership characteristics that enhance the change process of the school and lead to greater student achievement?

Theoretically this study is framed on Fullan’s works of school change and improvement. For school improvement, change in the school culture is more essential than the physical and structural change. Fullan (2007) argues that changing the existing school culture is more crucial rather than structural change, formal requirements and event-based activities. The students, important stakeholders, play an important role in school culture and in leading a school to success. School culture includes teaching and learning processes, professional commitment and quality of teachers, practice of curricular and co-curricular activities, communication with society and how students practise social norms and values (Fullan, 2007; Stoll & Fink, 1996). Student leadership motivates students to be engaged in creative learning practices and in developing national and global citizen values (Thomson, 2012). If students take a strong role in learning and leading of their community, society and culture, the school is able to develop young people as good humans and work towards better achievements at many levels. There is evidence of relationship between engaging students in leadership and changing school to greater achievement (Smith, 2010). Fullan (2005) argues that the changes must be evolved through school culture and need to be theoretical and practical to be sustainable. 

Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K. (2007). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods (5th ed.). USA: Pearson Education Group, Inc. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education (7¬th ed.). London: Routledge Falmer. Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change. New York: Teachers College Press. Fullan, M. (2005). Leadership & Sustainability: System thinkers in action. California: Crown Press. Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E. & Airasian, P. (2006, 8th ed.). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and applications. Singapore: Pearson Miller, T. K. (1997). The CAS book of professional standards for higher education. Washington, DC: Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. Stoll, L. & Fink, D. (1996). Changing our schools: Linking school effectiveness and school improvement. Buckingham: Open University Press. Smith, L (2008). School that change: Evidence-based improvement and effective change leadership. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press. Thomas, P. (2012). Understanding, evaluating and assessing what students learn from leadership activities: student research in Woodlea Primary. Management in Education, 26(3), 96-103.