ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the exploration and clarification of controversial but major issues of debate and concern in educational leadership begun in Chapter 1. In so doing, it contributes towards the building of a conceptual framework and helps provide a backdrop to subsequent chapters in this book. Chapter 2 is structured as follows: first, it attempts to clarify the perennial question of how important traits and dispositions are in leadership, arguing that in general, commentators in the field of school leadership have tended to mistakenly underplay the importance of traits. There is sufficient evidence to support the claim that greater attention needs to be paid to traits and dispositions as important influences on leadership and its successful practice. Second, personality, cognitive capacity and social intelligence are highlighted as being of particular importance in the exercise of leadership. Third, the discussion on various themes in both Chapters 1 and 2 raises a further perennial question, namely, whether leaders are born or made. Chapter 2 addresses this thorny but fascinating question, and suggests how it can be addressed. Fourth, recent research trends have highlighted the dichotomy between tacit knowledge and traditional academic research knowledge – an issue considered worthy of more discussion within the field of school leadership, since there are compelling reasons for thinking that both are crucial in understanding leaders and leadership going forward. In the fifth and sixth sections of the chapter, two other themes of central concern to school leadership are discussed – namely, new patterns of leadership going forward and, in particular, distributed leadership; and the extent to which leadership practices differ according to context and culture.
