Rationale One of the more pervasive policy agenda pursued nationally and promoted internationally by various agencies, has been ‘autonomy’ (Coghlan & Desurmont, 2007). In an English context, researchers typically point to the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) as a decisive moment that heralded a seismic shift with enormous consequences for the educational landscape (see, for example, Whitty, 2008). However, as evidence of general presence rather than actual impact of a policy of autonomy, the recent OECD publication on Improving School Leadership (Pont, Nusche and Moorman, 2008) states: School Leadership is now an education policy priority around the world. Increased school autonomy and a greater focus on schooling and school results have made it essential to reconsider the role of school leaders (p. 3) Apart from making explicit the connection between a policy of autonomy and its general import for school leadership, it continues: There is much room for improvement to professionalise school leadership, to support current school leaders and to make school leadership an attractive career for future candidates. The ageing of current principals and the widespread shortage of qualified candidates to replace them after retirement make it imperative to take action (p. 3) From the perspective of this proposed symposium, while we share many of the concerns articulated immediately above, we report on a major investigation of a policy of autonomy and how it has played out in five different types of secondary schools. The four papers draw on national and international literature reviews; secondary data analysis of international comparative data; comprehensive data sets generated in five case study schools, as part of an in-depth investigation into the realities of autonomy . The intention is to interrogate key concepts and connections and to document in detail the perspectives of practitioners (principals and teachers) while also seeking to connect the manner in which autonomy, leadership and school improvement have fared under the encompassing policy umbrella of autonomy, through the agency of the actors involved. While each paper has its own integrity, the intention also is that their impact is cumulative. They will report on work in progress undertaken by the authors at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, though they bring four different national perspectives to bear on the English context. Additionally, the symposium is intended to connect with researchers with similar interests in diverse national context with a view to developing an international research project.

This is a mixed methods study, combining: document analysis, secondary analysis of national and international data bases, and all that is entailed in ethnographic and case study work in 5 seleced secondary schools

To paint a comprehensive picture of the realities of the working lives of teachers and principals under the twin policy towers of autonomy and accountability, with the key purpose to establish the impact of autonomy on learning outcomes, and the intend to develop a more robust, accurate and locally sensitive set of indicators to measure autonomy and outcomes.