Nowadays educational effectiveness and quality of education is a topical concern for educators and policy makers. Research on pedagogical leadership is one of the main aspects of the educational process (Day, 2009; Salmi, 2009). A deeper insight of the way pedagogical leadership is understood and implemented in first class educational institutions is an important contribution to the task of scientifically defining what a true educational institution of quality is.

The objective of this study is to present the way pedagogical leadership and quality are understood and implemented in an educational institution with high quality standards inLatvia, as an example of good practice. This objective is articulated around two main research questions: (1) what the different sectors of the institution (head, teachers, researchers and students) think about the importance and evidence of the different dimensions of pedagogical leadership in their institution; and (2) how do they perceived the main features of the quality of this educational Institution.

The theoretical framework of the study is the reference model proposed byS. Gento(Gento, 2002) for Pedagogical Leadership and Quality of Education. According to this conception, the educational leadership has been analysed through the following dimensions: charismatic, emotional, anticipatory, professional, participative, cultural, formative and administrative leadership. In the proposed reference model, the “quality of an educational institution” is defined by four identifiers and seven predictors of quality. The identifiers are the educational product, the student’s and staff’s satisfaction and the impact of educational product in different contexts. The predictors of quality are Availability of material and personal resources, Institution’s organisation and planning, Management of resources, Educational methodology and the head’s researchers’ and teachers’ Leadership.

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