This text provides a study of the education policy scholarship of leadership. It examines the ways in which concepts of educational leadership and management have evolved historically and culturally, reviewing contemporary debates about the nature of school leadership. The question of what school leadership could and should be is at the centre of political, ideological and educational debate in many societies. These debates involve cultural conservatives, New Right marketeers, democrats and community educators, feminists and critical theorists as well as school governors, headteachers and teachers, parents, community members and school students. These debates are reviewed and the theoretical context is illuminated by fieldwork accounts derived from the research participation of 88 headteachers working in English schools, both primary and secondary. Such accounts provide an insight into the challenges of contemporary school leadership as headteachers face new power relationships, new curriculum responsibilities and management and marketing cultures which generate moral, ethical and professional dilemmas for many of them.