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Education reform aimed at achieving improved student learning is a demanding challenge for leaders and managers at all levels of education across the globe. In 2010, the position of Assistant Regional Directors, School Performance (ARD-SP), was established to positively impact upon student learning across public schools in Queensland, Australia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of the role and leadership understandings of ARDs in Queensland in order to understand more fully the tensions and opportunities they face within this reasonably newly created position.

This qualitative study is based on interviews with 18 ARDs and two of their supervisors to gauge a better understanding of the nature of the role as it relates to leadership and management in the Queensland context.

Interview data revealed three key themes pertaining to the nature of the role and these were performance, supervision, and professional challenges. A key finding was that the notion of supervision was experienced as problematic for ARDs-SP.

This study has limitations and these include a sample that focused on ARDs within one State of Australia and one schooling system (i.e. public education); and interviews were the primary data collection source.

Although there have been studies of supervisors of principals (referred to as superintendents, directors) in other countries and other systems, this study is a first to explore the tensions and opportunities faced by executive leaders in Queensland.

In the past, leadership scholars have tended to focus on leadership as a force for good and productivity (Ashworth, 1994; Higgs, 2009; Padilla, Hogan, & Kaiser, 2007). However, recently attention has been given to the ‘dark side’ of leadership (see Higgs, 2009; Judge, Piccolo, & Kosalka, 2009). The aim of this chapter is to explore dark leadership from the perspective of the narcissistic leader using a fictional character from a popular film.

Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 1994 (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) as an operational definition of narcissistic personality disorder we explore the psychology of the narcissistic leader through a fictional character study in a popular film.

We have created a psychological profile of a narcissistic leader which identifies specific behavioural characteristics within a toxic organizational culture.

This study has implications for employees within any organizational culture. It is significant because it can illustrate how dark leadership can impact negatively within organizations.

The use of actual living persons on which to base case study material in the study of dark leadership is problematic and constrained by ethical issues. However, the use of characters in fiction, such as contemporary film and drama, represents an excellent source of case study material. Given that little empirical works exists on narcissistic leaders and leadership, the chapter adds originality and value to the field.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research into the ethical dilemmas faced by school heads from seven independent schools in Australia.

Data for the research were gathered by semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with the Heads, all of whom were experienced school leaders. All the schools had religious affiliations.

The findings are broadly consistent with the conclusions reached in other Australian and international studies dealing with school leaders which suggest that ethical dilemmas, usually concerning issues to do with staff or students, are so common now that they have become the “bread and butter” of educational leaders' lives. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the struggles school leaders experience when faced with such dilemmas and the forces at play as they seek to resolve them Typically, the dilemmas are not about “right” versus “wrong”, but “right” versus “right” options.

It is clear that the ethical dimensions of the work of school leaders require further investigation as ethical dilemmas are almost a daily occurrence for them as they strive to make complex decisions in the best interests of their school communities.

Professional development in the areas of ethics and ethical decision‐making for school leaders is indicated. Problem‐based learning offers potential in this regard.

The research reported in the paper adds to, and builds on, the growing body of research into ethics in education, particularly how ethical issues emerge when school leaders are required to make complex decisions in contexts where individual, group and organisational interests may be in conflict.

This paper aims to explore the leadership values and practices of Confucius in the light of transformational leadership theory.

This paper is literature based.

The paper discusses four key dimensions of transformational leadership theory: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration and uses these as a framework for exploring the values of and teaching approach used by Confucius. The key message of the paper is that educational leaders have much to learn from a Confucian leadership style that is fundamentally transformational in nature and encompasses moral/ethical, socially critical, and democratic dimensions.

The paper presents a case study of an English as a second language (ESL) school and identifies several practical suggestions for ESL leaders to consider if they are to follow the tenets of Confucius's teachings.

The paper is original as it links the values and practices of Confucius to transformational leadership theory and considers how this theory might look in practice for leaders within a contemporary ESL school context.

To draw on a structured review of the literature on formalised mentoring programs for principals with the purpose of exploring their nature and the positive and negative outcomes for the parties involved.

The methodological approach utilised in this paper was a structured review of the literature which is a pre‐determined set of criteria, namely a set of coding categories, used for analysing research papers. Forty research‐based papers constituted the structured review and major coding categories utilised in this paper were positive and negative outcomes of mentoring programs for mentors and mentees and factual data relating to the research focus of the sample.

Both positive and negative outcomes of mentoring were reported in the 40 research‐based papers, with substantially more papers reporting positive outcomes. Frequently cited positive outcomes for mentees included support, sharing ideas and professional development, while, for mentors, networking, professional development and the opportunity to reflect were noted. Frequently cited negative outcomes for mentors and mentees were lack of time to undertake mentoring and personality or expertise mismatch.

The findings highlight the necessity for planners of programs to ensure that mentors are trained; the matching process is executed to eliminate potential incompatibilities; and time for mentoring is factored into program implementation.

The major contribution of the paper is that it makes a strong claim about the specific outcomes of mentoring programs for principals, thereby providing a clearer picture regarding its potential as well as its caveats.

The central argument in this paper is that ethical school leadership is imperative in a context of increasing performance-driven accountability. The purpose of this paper is to focus on school principals’ perceptions of how they understand ethical leadership and how they lead the ethical use of data.

This study utilises semi-structured interviews with six state school principals (one primary and six secondary) to explore their perceptions of ethical leadership practices; and how they balance current competing accountabilities in a context of performance-driven accountability.

There were four key findings. First, principals used data to inform and direct their practices and their conversations with teachers. Second, while ethics was a central consideration in how principals’ led, practising in an ethical manner was identified as complex and challenging in the current context. Third, Starratt’s (1996) ethical framework proved to be relevant for interpreting principals’ practices. Finally, all of the principals referred to dilemmas they faced as a result of competing priorities and all used a variety of strategies to deal with these dilemmas.

While there is a small body of research that explores school leaders’ understandings of ethical tensions and dilemmas, there is little research that has focused on school leaders’ understandings of the ethical use of data. This study, then, contributes to this area as it provides a discussion on school principals’ leadership practices in the current climate driven by data use.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of some salient research relating to mentoring for women managers.

The paper draws mainly upon writing and research from the UK, USA, Canada and Australia to explore some of the issues that continue to be pertinent for the mentoring of women managers.

The paper explores some of the early arguments promoting mentoring for women in the light of more recent research. From the literature, three key issues that have important implications for women in mentoring relationships are considered. These are identifying the nature and focus of mentoring relationships; managing cross‐gender mentoring and negotiating the power dimension that underpins the mentoring relationship.

The paper provides a discussion of the practical implications of three key issues that are significant for women managers.

The paper draws together work in the field and distils a number of issues and their implications that require further attention and discussion.

The research reported in this article formed part of a university/industry collaborative grant in which the role of leaders in managing cultural change across an industry site was investigated. The focus of the article concerns the leadership of a district director in a rural setting in Queensland. The study was shaped by the interests of the district director who sought feedback on her leadership style and influence on principals in the district. A team of researchers from the School of Professional Studies in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology conducted semi‐structured interviews with a sample of six principals with whom she had worked over a period of one year to gauge their perceptions of her influence on their thinking and acting. A key finding of the research was that that well‐led conversations can be an effective professional development strategy for learning, growth and change in educational leaders.

Discusses the findings of a study that investigated how the learning of innovative practices might best proceed in small businesses. The recent implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in Australia presented an opportunity for understanding how small business operatives learned to implement a new practice. The procedures comprised semi‐structured interviews with 30 small businesses about how they had learned about and implemented the GST. A case study was written about each small business' experience that were verified for their accuracy by each small business. These case studies became the data source. It was found that the small business operatives that appeared to have learned most about the GST were those who were highly engaged in the task of learning about the GST – active learners and also accessed high levels of support from localised sources. A typology comprising dimensions of support needed and engagement by small business operatives was synthesised from the findings and is discussed.