2000 and 2004) in England and Wales, offering a checklist of skills, knowledge
and attributes of effective headteachers and describing the desired key
outcomes of headship. These standards, along with the Hay McBer Models of
Excellence (1999), underpin the leadership programmes currently available in
the UK and, less explicitly, the developing programme in New Zealand.
This article reports on seminal developments in new headteacher/ principal
training in England and New Zealand and argues that there are policy
similarities between the two countries. The authors wish to suggest that the
creation and implementation of comparable school leadership training
programmes has formed part of an increasing governmental interest in the
importance of leadership development in the two countries that is welcome. The
authors contend, however, that there are inherent tensions, dilemmas and
dangers in these developments since such centralised initiatives can create an
‘orthodoxy’ of leadership development practices because both governments
have created the expectation that those who undertake leadership training for
headship or principalship will comply with mandated requirements in order to
conform to centrally defined norms. We suggest that fundamental questions
concerning the nature of leadership and the knowledge base of professional
leadership, leadership training and professional development remain about that
should be posited in order to better inform the practice of leadership preparation
in both locations. The structure of the article is based on the model developed
by Brundrett (2001) and provides an enumeration of the development of
leadership programmes in England, a similar adumbration of developments in