Leading great schools

In the opening line of his book, Jim Collins states that ‘good is the enemy of great’ and argues that one of the reasons why we don’t have ‘great schools is because we have good schools’ (Collins, 2001). The vast majority of our schools, he suggests, never become great because the vast majority become quite good. If we accept this argument and ask what it takes for schools to become great schools rather than good schools we inevitably come back to leadership. The research base is unequivocal; leadership is an important lever in organisational change and development. It is a substantial force in organisational transformation. But what type of leadership is required to give us great rather than good schools?