This special issue explores how school leaders are developed across diverse national systems, focusing on how governance models, levels of school autonomy, and accountability regimes shape leadership preparation. Framed by Lee Shulman’s (2005) concept of signature pedagogies, which considers how professionals learn to think, perform, and act with integrity, it examines whether education, unlike fields such as law or medicine, possesses a distinct pedagogical approach to leadership development.

Despite a growing body of research on teacher education, little attention has been paid to leadership development through this lens. This issue brings together international research that interrogates the surface, deep, and implicit structures of leadership development programs, analysing the knowledge, values, and practices they promote. Contributions span empirical studies, policy analyses, and critical case examples, highlighting the broader epistemological, moral, and cultural dimensions of school leadership beyond narrow indicators of effectiveness.

As global education systems face increased pressure to define and support school leadership, this issue provides timely insights into how future leaders are shaped, and what this reveals about the systems that prepare them.

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Editors

David Godfrey, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, UCL, UK.

Bernardita Munoz Chereau, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, UCL, UK.

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Article list

Editorial

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Research article

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