In recent years, leadership and professional learning and development have become part of an international lexicon associated with school improvement. Much is now known about the significance of leadership in raising expectations around pupil attainment and achievement and in fostering the conditions for effective learning for children and young people in school (Grissom et al. 2021). However, across the world there are difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified senior school leaders. Scotland provides a good case study of such a system because it has been grappling with issues of headteacher recruitment for over a decade and the current policy programme is focused on reforming the governance of school education. Reducing the ‘poverty related attainment gap’ for young people has become the mantra of the Scottish Government over the past few years and headteachers (school principles) have been focused on as key actors in realising educational policy ambitions. In Scotland headteacher preparation is now seen as an essential element in readying teachers for this role, reflected in the fact that since August 2020, there is a statutory requirement for aspiring headteachers to gain the Standard for Headship (General Teaching Council for Scotland, 2021), mainly through a masters level programme called Into Headship. This paper presents the findings of a research project which explores the lived experiences of a cohort of aspirant school leaders undertaking the Into Headship programme, to understand how engaging in this process impacted and influenced their leadership development, practices and their preparedness for the headteacher role. An ecological model of agency (Priestley et al. 2015) has been used to shape the research design and to analyse the data. Ways in which this sustained learning programme impacted the agency of the participants in developing their professional identity and leading school improvements were considered. This paper concludes with a futures-oriented stance considering what lessons can be drawn from this research to enhance the development of future principal preparation programmes. This is done by examining how the underpinning values, concepts, design processes and practices of the programme, impacted the agency of participants in terms of equipping them with strategies to navigate their way through political tensions, competing demands and expectations in leading school improvement and the effect this had on their knowledge and understanding of strategic leadership and their own professional identities.

Grissom, J. A., Egalite, A. J., & Lindsay, C. A. (2021) How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research. Research Report. Wallace Foundation. GTCS. (2021). GTC Professional Standards for Teachers. [online] Available at: https://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-standards/professional-standards-for-teachers/