Abstract
During the last decade education systems have been undergoing a long process of restructuring from a model of educational
management that was deeply rooted in the past to a strategic management model that is focused on the future. The present study
aims to make a contribution in this direction. Firstly, we review the current scenario of change, and explore sustainable
improvement in education as priority objective in educational management, making it clear that the most significant changes are
those that are focused on improvement and on the educational establishment itself. Secondly, after finding that at both national
and international level there is a growing consensus in the research about the existence of certain key elements that are necessary
in order to achieve this improvement these being strategic educational management and effective educational leadership we
describe the distinctive characteristics and the main components of this type of management in education. The paper ends with
several implications for improving educational practice. In particular, some basic competences for the professionalization of
educational management are outlined