Large, sustained, multi-nation and collaborative research networks are becoming more popular because of their power to produce findings that generalise across contexts and provide contextually nuanced views of a phenomenon (Day and Gurr, 2018). There have been four major projects of this type in educational leadership since the beginning of this century: The International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) is the major project of this type and has been active for more than 20 years. Caldwell (2014, p. xxii) suggested that the ISSPP‘is the most comprehensive and coherent international comparative study of the principalship ever undertaken.’ The ISSPP now has research groups in more than 20 countries. It has contributed more than 200 complex case studies and more than 300 journal papers, book chapters and books. 

The initial purpose of the ISSPP was to explore, through multiple perspective case studies, the characteristics, qualities and practices of principals leading successful schools and how others contribute to school success. Since the ISSPP began in 2001, three strands have developed:

Strand 1. This explored the work of successful principals through multiple-perspective case studies. Some schools were re-visited five years later to explore the sustainability of success. 

Strand 2. This strand considered the work of principals in visible and invisible under-performing schools.

Strand 3. This strand explored the identity formation of principals leading successful schools and did so through individual interviews.

To date, the ISSPP has not relied upon theoretical positions to drive the research. The core methodology relies on extensive multiple-perspective case studies using individual and group interviews (principals, council members, teachers, students and parents), observation, document collection and, in some cases, surveys to better understand principal leadership of successful schools. Whilst it hasn’t relied on theoretical positions, it has, of course, been driven by observations of the strengths and limitations of previous research. 

This symposium reports on papers that form a special issue In the Journal of Educational Adminstration that has just been published - volume 60, issue 1, 2022. The special issue captures some of the rich corpus of research produced by the ISSPP over the past two decades. This special issue explores the work of the ISSPP through papers that reflect upon and critique the research and others that showcase the country's knowledge produced in Cyprus, Israel, Spain, Mexico, the United States, and Sweden. It is a celebration and reflection of a 20-year research program. It provides examples of the rich information generated and reflects on what has been achieved, what has not been achieved, and future developments.

Caldwell, B.J. (2014) “Forward”, in Day, C. and Gurr, D. (Eds), Leading Schools Successfully: Stories from the field, Routledge, London, pp. xxi-xxii. Day, C., Harris, A., Hadfield, M., Tolley, H. and Beresford, J. (2000), Leading schools in times of change, Open University Press, Buckingham, UK. Day, C. and Gurr, D. (Eds) (2014), Leading Schools Successfully: Stories from the field, Routledge, London, UK. Day, C. and Gurr, D. (2018), “International Networks As Sites For Research On Successful School Leadership”, in, Lochmiller, C. (Ed.) Complementary Research Methods in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY, pp. 341-357. Day, C. and Leithwood, K. (Eds) (2007), Successful principal leadership in times of change: An international perspective, Springer-Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Gurr, D. and Day, C. (2014), “Thinking about leading schools:, in C. Day and D. Gurr (Eds) (2014) Leading Schools Successfully: Stories from the field, Routledge, London, UK, pp. 194-208. Gurr, D., Drysdale, L. and Goode, H. (2020), Global research on principal leadership. In Nobit, G.W. (Ed.), The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Educational Administration, Oxford University Press, New York, New York. Moos, L. Johansson, O. and Day, C. (Eds) (2011), How School Principals Sustain Success Over Time. International Perspectives, Springer-Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.