Leadership and trust in education – the often missing magic glue

This article examines the trend across the world to move towards centrally controlled education systems driven by a political desire that students might attain and schools be judged by a narrow range of measurable attainment targets with policing by inspections. It argues that this has emphasized management rather than leadership and that there is a need to refocus on more aspirational achievement aims for young people and schools. It defines and argues for integrity in both leadership and management and makes the case for the signifi cance of the way in which leaders lead. A transactional approach leads to the erosion of trust and transformational leaders in contrast build this up. The article explains why trust is so important and explains how trust can be developed in and by leaders and mangers. It finishes by outlining the challenge of developing leaders and managers of high-trust school cultures