4. A fourth source of evidence has explored leadership effects on pupil engagement. In addition to being
an important variable in its own right, some evidence suggests that school engagement is a strong
predictor of pupil achievement.6 At least 10 mostly recent large-scale, quantitative, similarly designed
studies in Australia and North America have concluded that the effects of transformational school
leadership on pupil engagement7 are significantly positive.
5. The leadership succession research indicates that unplanned headteacher succession is one of
the most common sources of schools’ failure to progress, in spite of what teachers might do.
These studies demonstrate the devastating effects of unplanned headteacher succession, especially
on initiatives intended to increase pupil achievement.8 The appointment and retention of a new
headteacher is emerging from the evidence as one of the most important strategies for turning
around struggling schools or schools in special measures.9
Our conclusion from this evidence as a whole is that leadership has very significant effects on the quality
of school organisation and on pupil learning. As far as we are aware, there is not a single documented
case of a school successfully turning around its pupil achievement trajectory in the absence of
talented leadership. One explanation for this is that leadership serves as a catalyst for unleashing the
potential capacities that already exist in the organisation.