This paper reports upon findings from two sets of case studies of perceived “successful” school leaders in challenging urban contexts. Each school leader is viewed by peers and administrators as making a significant difference to the quality of school education locally. The findings are obtained from a joint research project conducted by the Universities of Lodz (Poland) and Sheffield Hallam (UK) on perceived successful school leadership in challenging urban contexts (2008-2011). The paper focuses on formative experiences and turning points in these school leaders’ biographies. The main research question is: What can be learned from perceived “successful” leaders’ professional development by reconstructing their career stories?

The paper is based on the assumption that formative experiences, and among them the turning points are critical parts of their lives and using them as a main focus for research provides a valuable and insightful tool for getting at the core of school leaders’ motivations, values and ways of working in the pursuit of educational progress for pupils in challenging urban contexts. The paper aims at conceptualising and researching formative experiences in school leaders’ lives, and special attention is paid simultaneously to: these teachers attaining the role of school leadership; and the importance of leadership to their own learning and professional development. The paper focuses on the impact of specific formative experiences on these leaders, and the learning process relevant to their leadership development.

Although over the past thirty years or so, scholars focusing on educational leadership and management have developed a knowledge base of leadership effects on learning (Bossert, Dwyer, Rowan and Lee, 1982; Hallinger and Heck, 1996), research generally still supports the conclusion that school leadership exerts a measurable, albeit indirect, effect on student learning (Hallinger and Heck, 1996; Leithwood et al, 2006; Robinson, Lloyd and Rowe, 2008). School leadership is viewed as achieving these effects through strategic actions that focus on changing a constellation of socio-cultural, structural and academic processes directly impacting on student learning outcomes. So much leadership research focuses on the impact leaders make on their followers, organisation and society, with research attempting to answer the question whether and how school leadership impacts students’ learning in practice. But there is a dearth of empirical work that addresses antecedents of leadership at play in leaders’ learning and their professional development (Avolio and Gibbons, 1988). 
This paper firstly examines the nature of the task facing school leaders in challenging urban contexts in Poland and England. Secondly, we give an overview of methodology and methods employed. Thirdly, we report on formative experiences of school leaders who work in these contexts, given that there is general agreement amongst researchers that leadership experiences are a major route in practitioners’ own development as leaders (Avolio, 1999; 2005; Colingwood, 2002; Janson, 2008; Kempster, 2006; Kotter, 1988; London, 2002; Lord and Hall, 2005). Finally we draw some conclusions about potential lessons to be learned about the fostering of school leadership for practitioners in these and other similar challenging urban contexts.

Avolio, B. J. (2005). Leadership Development in Balance. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Avolio, B. J. & Gibbons, T. C. (1988). Developing Transformational Leaders: A life span approach. In J. A. Conger & R. N. Kanungo (Eds.), Charismatic Leadership: The elusive factor in organizational effectiveness (pp. 276-308). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. (1998). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Colingwood, H. (2002). Leaders remember the moments and people that shaped them. In D. Goleman, W. Peace, H. Collingwood (Eds.), Harvard Business Review on Breakthrough Leadership (pp. 1-24). Harvard: Harvard Business School Press. Janson, A. (2008). Extracting leadership knowledge from formative experiences. Leadership, 4(1), 73-94. Kelchtermans, G. (1994). Biographical methods in the study of teachers’ professional development. In I. Carlgren, G. Handal, & S. Vaage (Eds.), Teachers’ minds and actions: Research on teachers’ thinking and practice (93-108). London: Falmer. Kempster, S. (2006). Leadership learning through live experiences: A process of apprenticeship?. Journal of Mangement and Organization, 12(1), 4-22. London, M. (2002). Leadership development: Paths to self-insight and professional growth. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Lord, R. G. & and Hall, R. J. (2005). Identity, deep structure and development of leadership skills. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 591-615. Measor, L. (1985). Critical incidents in the classroom: Identities, choices and careers. In S. Ball & I. Goodson (Ed.), Teachers’ lives and careers (pp. 61-77). London/Philadelphia, PA: Falmer. Michalak, J. M. (2009). Making a difference in challenging urban schools: Successful principals. European Educational Research Journal, 8(3), 387-396. Michalak, J. M. & Jones, S. (2010). Towards Inclusive School Leadership in Highly Disadvantaged Urban Contexts. Edukacja. Studia – Badania – Innowacje, 2, 5-16. Shamir, B. & Eilam, G. (2005). What’s your story? A life-stories approach to authentic leadership development. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 395-417.