This is a two-part symposium focussed on educational leadership preparation and development and draws upon research from members of the International School Leadership Development Network. The first part has four papers describing programs and ideas focussed on equity, inclusion and social justice, with the second part having four papers focussed on the future through discussion of exemplary existing programs and future trends. The papers in the symposium will eventually be published in an edited book along with other chapters. 

School leadership is a priority in education policy internationally, as it plays the essential role in improving school outcomes by motivating teachers, building teacher capacities, and developing good school climate and conditions (Leithwood, Sun, & Schumacker, 2020). A major finding has been that effective educational leadership is important in enhancing quality and equity in schools (Pont, Nusche & Moorman, 2008; Kemethofer, Helm, & Warwas, 2022). 

Schools in recent times have faced many challenges and there are many challenges ahead such as: the impact of the COVID pandemic; the rise of AI in schools; teacher shortages in many countries; and massive migration driven through refugee crises in many parts of the world. Along with environmental and humanitarian issues, we know that there is major issues to do with school quality and equity (United Nations, 2015).Leadership preparation development is crucial to building qualified and capable leaders for schools who can take responsibility for fostering students who can deal with the challenges of the world in the long run (Harris & Jones, 2020; Lozano, Garcia, & Sandoval, 2023).

In the face of these challenges, we think it is timely to have a futures focused discussion on educational leadership preparation and development. To facilitate this, we have reached out to members of the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN), one of the largest and longest serving international school leadership research networks, and through an interactive development process identified four broad areas of focus that will be covered through 14 papers: 

-       Teacher and middle leader preparation and development.

-       Preparation and development of leadership for equity, inclusion and social justice

-       School, community and university partnerships for leadership preparation and development.

-       Leadership Training Programs for Future Leadership Development

For the two-part symposium at ECER, we have eight groups reporting on their research and writing. 

Part A: School leadership preparation and development for equity, inclusion and social justice

Part B: Future focussed educational leadership preparation and development

This part is focussed on equity, inclusion and social justice, which have become important issues in recent decades and will continue to be the focus of social development globally through efforts such as UNESCO’s ambitious 2030 sustainable development goals (https://en.unesco.org/sustainabledevelopmentgoals). More research is needed to explore these areas in educational leadership development (Vogel, Reichard, Batistič, & Černe, 2021). In this symposium three papers directly address equity issues: Patricia Silva and colleagues describe the educational leadership preparation and development issues concerning social justice in the complex society context of Catalonia in Spain; Helene Ärlestig and Olof Johansson explore school leadership development in Sweden from a democracy perspective; and, Ian Potter explores leadership for equity in England and the Netherlands using the lenses of context and leader personality. The other paper do so but from a school-community partnership perspective with  Alison Mitchell focussing on Scotland and a program that had school, community and university partnerships focussed on developing critically conscious school leaders and communities. All papers will consider implications for the future leadership preparation and development.

Harris, A., & Jones, M. (2020). COVID 19 – school leadership in disruptive times, School Leadership & Management, 40(4), pp. 243-247 Kemethofer,D., Helm, C., & Warwas, J. (2022). Does educational leadership enhance instructional quality and student achievement? The case of Austrian primary school leaders. International Journal of Leadership in Education, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–25. Leithwood, K., Sun, J., & Schumacker, R. (2020). How School Leadership Influences Student Learning: A Test of “The Four Paths Model.” Educational Administration Quarterly, 56(4), 570–599. Pont, B., Nusche, D., & Moorman, H. (2008). Improving school leadership: Vol. 1: Policy and practice. OECDParis United Nations (2015). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, A/RES/70/1 (NY, NY: United Nations). Vogel,B., Reichard, R. J., Batistič, S., & Černe, M. (2021). A bibliometric review of the leadership development field: How we got here, where we are, and where we are headed. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(5), article 101381