This presentation draws on a study of school leaders' experiences of Christian education ethos development. The research provided insights into the complexities of headteacher leadership within schools with a Christian character. I discuss these complexities and make recommendations for school leaders seeking to develop a school Christian education ethos in a culturally and religiously diverse modern Europe. I outline a practical methodology that school leaders can adapt to investigate the influence of their vision and espoused values on pupils' school experiences in all schools, with or without Christian character. This methodology promotes the pupil voice and can provide valuable insights into their sense of belonging within their school communities.

The research comprised two studies in England. The first focused on the leadership experiences of a new secondary headteacher in a recently opened Christian Free School. The second focused on a long-serving primary Church Academy headteacher. Using creative data-collection methods, I  elicited a small group of pupils' views of their education within the school's ethos. The research stemmed from my interest in leaders' development of education ethos as a former headteacher of two primary schools.

A review of the literature on 'ethos' indicated that 'ethos' was difficult to recognise, define and measure in the context of schools. I developed a working definition of 'ethos' building on McLaughlin's (2005) conception of education ethos as an identifiable entity which defines the school's climate or character. My definition of education ethos represented what members of the school community stood for, its value system, its practices, and the purposes of education. Ethos represented the nature of the interactions between community members. I distinguished between education ethos as an aspirational entity sought by leaders and an entity experienced by community members (McLaughlin, 2005). I was interested in the intended and experienced education ethos within Christian education.

In England, the economy, marketisation of schooling and international comparison of schools in England with those in other countries using international league tables placed school leaders under increased pressure to achieve excellence in all aspects of the school's work. Although there has been a global focus on standards for economic competitiveness, there has been agreement on the importance of leaders creating positive school ethos. Since 2010, successive Conservative governments have focused on furthering headteachers' leadership autonomy and enhancing parents' choice of schooling. Autonomy concerns the extent to which those at lower levels of the system can make decisions independently of those at higher levels.

Policy initiatives have emphasised the creation of academies and Free Schools. These schools can give leaders greater autonomy over education, facilitating ethos development and introducing innovative curriculum design and teaching approaches. However, there was a risk that the ongoing demands of statutory school inspections and public examinations stifled such innovation. An issue was how externally imposed accountability frameworks limited school leaders' autonomy (Forrester and Gunter, 2009; Fink, 2010). Leaders seeking to develop innovative educational practices in the research schools needed to feel they possessed the capacity, confidence, and freedom to exercise autonomy. Headteachers had to decide how much they should comply with externally enforced accountability criteria.

The Church of England and Catholic Churches articulated an agenda which defined what was meant by Christian distinctiveness. Changes to the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) reflected the Church of England's agenda for excellence in Christian education. A distinctively Christian ethos based on Christian values was important. Leaders faced challenges in conveying the meaning and importance of the school's Christian values to the school community. They should enable pupils' holistic development, including academic achievement.

I used an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009). Data collection methods provided detailed first-person accounts of leaders' experiences in developing Christian education ethos and pupils' experiences of that ethos. In IPA, the researcher makes sense of participants' interpretations of their experiences by bringing their unique lens to the encounter. I used my leadership and teaching experience to inform the research design, negotiate access to the research participants, and build leaders' trust in the research process. I delved beyond surface-level school policy responses using semi-structured interviews to gain leaders' honest thoughts and feelings about their leadership experiences. I interviewed fifteen leaders across three schools, which included a pilot study school, the headteachers, deputy headteachers, teacher leaders, and the chair of the governing body of each school. Ethical considerations were necessary at all stages of the research process. My insights as a former headteacher added credibility to my interpretations of participants' perspectives. Nonetheless, I sought to take a reflexive stance to ensure I critiqued my influence on the research process and the findings. I developed inclusive data collection methods to maximise pupils' engagement with the research and gain insight into how they experienced school leaders' attempts at establishing a distinct school education ethos. Pupils completed three draw-and-write tasks and one photo-elicitation task. They considered what it was like to be a pupil at their school, what made their school special, and what they would like to achieve to make their school proud of them. The photo-elicitation task invited them to photograph what they valued about their school and analyse their data to rank the aspects they appreciated most. The tasks enabled pupils aged five years and over to discuss their education confidently. I spent time in school observing the interactions between community members to promote an understanding of the research context. I worked with sixteen pupils across the three schools. The data analysis entailed identifying inductive themes for each participant, followed by themes across each leadership and pupil group. I interpreted participants' experiences using Bronfenbrenner's (2005) Person-Process-Context-Time model of human development, Wenger's (1998) view of learning as experience in communities of practice and Lukes' (2005) dimensions of power. I focus on using Lukes' (2005) dimensions of power, which offered a comprehensive approach to analysing how leaders exercise power over individuals or groups.

The findings indicated both headteachers experienced tensions in developing a Christian education ethos because external pressures limited their autonomy. The headteachers' values were crucial in defining the vision for their schools' education ethos, but both encountered challenges in their deployment depending on their circumstances and contexts. The headteachers strived to provide an excellent education within the broader educational context. Both headteachers perceived themselves accountable for their school's success in the educational marketplace. The Free School headteacher faced challenges from the governing body when negotiating a vision focused on excellence, justice and learning in a Christian manner (Astley, 1994). By contrast, the governing body's vision focused on Christian nurture and education about Christianity. The Academy headteacher experienced challenges in his conceptions of Church education from the SIAMS inspector, who ultimately realigned his approach to education ethos development. By comparing the data sets of leaders with pupils, I found congruence between the headteachers' intended school ethos and the pupils' experienced ethos. Despite the headteachers experiencing internal struggles with their leadership identity, the pupils' data indicated they understood the headteachers' values. These values helped them appreciate what their schools stood for and their expectations. It led to a powerful sense of belonging. This sense of belonging was about them experiencing comfort in being who they were and feeling emotionally and physically safe (Riley, 2017). Lukes' (2005) dimensions of power helped understand how leaders used power to develop and implement their Christian ethos vision. Ideological power, Lukes's third dimension, was significant in understanding how leaders built relational trust amongst pupils and embedded school values. Headteachers needed to monitor changes in the school's context, including the community members' concerns and value positions and maintain the trust–power relationship within a range of policy constraints.

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