The past decade witnessed a growing research knowledge-base in the field of education leadership administration and management. The development manifests in different ways: first, there has been a growing number of theoretical and empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals. Second, more and more countries have developed master programmes in this field and probably the number of PhD research has also increased, as it holds true in some of the countries we investigated. Moreover, various comprehensive handbooks were published (e.g. English, 2005; Leithwood, Chapman, Corson, Hallinger, & Hart, 1996; Leithwood & Hallinger, 2002) and a third International Handbook of Governance, Leadership, Administration, and Management in Education (edited by Prof. Dr. Stephan Gerhard Huber) is now calling for chapter ideas and proposals and many colleagues from the ECER leadership network are contributing to the comprehensiveness of research in our field by sharing their research findings. Third, more regions and countries have been conducted research (Ärlestig, Day, & Johansson, 2016; Bolden, 2011; Gumus & Akcaoglu, 2013; Hallinger, 2011a, 2011b, 2013, 2014, Hallinger & Bryant, 2013a, 2013b; Huber, 2004; Prøitz, Mausethagen, & Skedsmo, 2017; Tian, Risku, & Collin, 2016). Finally, the first reviews and mapping approaches of research on education leadership administration and management were undertaken: the first and most of the attempts of mapping were done by Hallinger (single authored or co-authored with colleagues like Walker and Bryant (Hallinger, 2011a, 2011b, 2013, 2014, Hallinger & Bryant, 2013a, 2013b), and a series of conference symposia about mapping within the ECER Leadership network in the years 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 (and 2010 at AERA) were organised and chaired by Huber and colleagues (Huber, 2010; Huber, Skedsmo & Muijs, 2010; Huber & Skedsmo, 2011; Huber, Skedsmo, Hiltmann, Schneider, 2011). A juxtaposition of country reports was published in 2016 edited by Helene Ärlestig, Christopher Day and Olof Johansson with contribution by many colleagues from the ECER leadership network.

However, compared to the growing diversity in research topics and the expanding terrain of research contexts, there is still a lack of review studies to capture the evolvement and changes of the research field. Even more so, high-quality review studies with clear review frameworks and robust review methodologies are still scarce. Most existing reviews only examined a small number of studies, and secondly, they tended to draw review conclusions at the face value (Boote & Beile, 2005; Hallinger, 2014). Moreover, compared to the large number of scholars who conduct theoretical and empirical studies, there have been only very few researchers who published review studies.

Hallinger’s (2013) systematic review framework was applied in analysing review studies. The eight criteria for systematic reviews include statement of purpose, conceptual framework, sources and search procedures, data extraction, data analysis, presentation of findings, limitations of the review, and implications of the review (Hallinger, 2014, p. 559).

In response to the above-mentioned gap in literature, this symposium aims to organize the discussion on mapping the field of research on education leadership administration and management. After a short introduction to the symposium we will present three papers, the first focussing on the methodology of literature reviews and mapping approaches in ELAM, the second papers analyses research from a thematical perspective, the third will have a regional perspective. Hence, this symposium acknowledges the established knowledge-base but also contributes to the further development of the research field.

After a discussant has summed up the three papers and discussed emerging issues as to mapping in particular, we will invite the audience to share further perspectives on research on education leadership administration and management.

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