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The defining characteristic of this study's contribution to educational research is the dual perspective - both technical/rational and cultural/political - that it brings to bear on Ofsted's school inspection process. This longitudinal investigation has two aims: test the claim that Ofsted inspection leads to "school improvement" and to illuminate the process of inspection-induced change. The fieldwork took place in six large secondary schools inspected during the year 1996-1997 and drew on the reactions of teachers at all levels within the schools. The thesis begins by examining Ofsted's technical/rational perspective of "school improvement", using the implementation of schools' "key issues for action" as an indicator of change and "school improvement". Three questions are put about the implementation of inspection recommendations: "Which factors in the inspection process, school and immediate environment influence a school's response to the "key issues for action"? Do "key issues for action" become the school's agenda for change and improvement? Does implementation lead to change and improvement in all areas of the school's activity? The study identifies how factors in the inspection process, the school and the immediate environment interact to influence the implementation of key isssues. The six case studies of implementation of inspection recommendations, concerned both with teaching and learning, provide rich descriptions of the schools' response to Ofsted's agenda for teaching and learning. As the investigation progressed teachers' meanings towards Ofsted inspection and "school improvement" were brought within its scope. The research identifies political issues raised by the participants and charts the emergence of political themes relating to the implementation of "key issues for action". The discussion places the two different perspectives within a framework of social theory and develops the dual research method as well as the requisite processes and procedures. The investigation offers tentative conclusions about Ofsted inspection and concludes by considering the implications for Ofsted's current inspection practice.

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This research is a case study exploring interview and focus group data using template analysis to investigate the influences on success for year 10 boys in a rural secondary school. 'Success' is seen in broad terms defined by the five outcomes of Every Child Matters. As background, views from year 10 boys and KS4 students were collected to provide an overall profile of student perceptions of, and influences on success in Every Child Matters outcomes. In the main study, interviews with nine year 10 boys nominated by teachers as 'successful students' in the context of Every Child Matters were analysed for themes relevant to their perceptions of influences on this success. Teachers' perspectives on their success and influences on achieving it were studied as representing a 'school view' of successful students. Within the context of Every Child Matters, the nine student participants linked their success to influences relating to confidence, motivation, security in a Safe Base in school, resilience and independence. They viewed the role of teachers and the whole school ethos as being highly influential. They also emphasised their personal ability to overcome difficulty and change their lives, and felt that their individual contribution to their success was important. Teachers felt that conformist attitudes, motivation for success, an ability to overcome difficulty and individual personality were important characteristics of these successful boys. Discussion focused on the predominant role of the school ethos and relationships between students, teachers and parents as providing a 'safe base' for the boys. This 'safe base' offered them motivation for achievement, including the building of identity and growth of resilience. The apparent difference in perception of influences on success between students and teachers was discussed in relation to teachers' ability to recognize their role in building a Safe Base for their students. In conclusion suggestions are made about how through different aspects of their role, Educational Psychologists could help other schools to achieve the outcomes seen in this school in the context of Every Child Matters.

This thesis researches headteacher leadership in secondary schools identified as facingchallenging circumstances. It adopts the hypothesis that headteachers with strong transformational leadership behaviours are more effective in raising standards of student attainment than headteachers with other types of leadership behaviour. The thesis focus is original as few educational studies link headteacher leadership behaviours to measurements of student attainment and none have been done on schools within the English education system that are designated to be facing challenging circumstances. The research design examines the leadership qualities that headteachers possess in challenging schools. Secondly, it considers the extent by which effective headteachers are transformational. Third, it investigates the relationship between headteacher leadership behaviours and student attainment. Finally, it explores the possibility of outlining a set of model behaviours that may work in similar schools to positively impact upon student attainment levels. The evidence is drawn from a quantitative research design based upon teaching staff and headteacher responses from eight schools. All eight schools were deemed by their last inspection (OFSTED) to be offering at least a satisfactory level of education with the current headteacher being in post for at least three years and leading the school at the time of the inspection. The schools were divided equally into two groups enabling comparisons to be made between those schools raising student attainment in line with national improvements and those schools raising student attainment at least twice as quickly. The conclusions of the study do not enable a model of good headteacher leadership practice that guarantees an effective transition for schools away from a formal classification of facing challenging circumstances to be established. However, the research has established a number of elements that constitute effective leadership behaviours and attributes in such schools. In addition, it has been able to demonstrate that where these elements have been employed in their greatest intensity, the greater has been the school improvement in terms of student attainment.

This study explores second-level schools that display liberation leadership characteristics in order to determine the extent of their responsiveness to strategic management so as to determine how their principals are coping with the unprecedented number of changes they have experienced in the last 5 to 8 years. The aim is to investigate schools that are effectively enhancing their educational provision by the courting of strategy management through the intervention of liberation leadership. As an entry point, the research draws on aspects of the concept of strategy management as propounded by Davies et al. (2005) and on the work of Kouzes’ and Posner’s (2002), among others, regarding leadership practices to investigate a possible symbiotic relationship between strategic management and liberation leadership. Liberation leadership is regarded as a sine qua non of strategic thinking. Few would disagree that there are probably as many styles and facets of leadership as there are leaders; also, all schools are involved in planning of some sort but few engage in strategic management planning. Second-level school principals (in two counties in the south of the Republic of Ireland) were first surveyed and then a select sample was interviewed in-depth in order to explore if there were key factors in school leadership that contributed to strategic management in their schools and to further explore any quid pro quo relationship between these concepts. In other words, the study looked for practices through which factors associated with liberation leadership express themselves in strategic management and as such are coping quite well with their environment. The findings of the research indicate that there are leaders who - Are liberational in their approach, who go beyond the status quo, go beyond the ‘normal’ and ‘usual’, who do ‘things differently’ and who provide more than what is expected: leaders who engage in strategic thinking and who do the right things, right - Are embracing and indeed cultivating change: 90% of the interviewed principals support change, creativity and innovation quite a lot, in their schools - Engage with the elements of the strategic process, albeit not necessarily because of a deliberative and proactive approach towards strategy management. They stumble into the process inadvertently as part of what they do as liberation leaders; the process is neither structured nor formalised. Recommendations are put forward to help make the schools more aware and more responsive to strategy management and liberation leadership and to address some of the issues that arose throughout the interviews.

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