Matthew Evans-Leaders With Substance: An Antidote to Leadership Genericism in Schools

Matthew Evans is a headteacher, author and blogger.

Leaders With Substance: An Antidote to Leadership Genericism in Schools is available now on Amazon.

Follow @head_teach on Twitter.

Gentle introduction- tell us about your journey to this point and how you came to write this book . 

 As you say at the start , despite the millions of words written on the subject , is leadership even a thing? 

  What remains of leadership and where does that leave this book?  

 Does a belief in generic (hollow) leadership skills serve as a false set of expertise?  

Do we need need clever leaders and how robust is the evidence in this area ?  

 In the chapter on transient turnarounds , you outline some questions that leaders should be asking teachers right now ? Could you share some of this?   

How do we lead best in distracting times ?  

 In chapter 7 what do you mean by curricular genericism?   How do we leave genericism behind?  

 Are schools led by experts? Should they be?

   In portraying purpose you talk about vision citing martin Luther king . Tell us about the good and bad of vision   

Outline what you mean by scripts and cultural memes . I was particularly struck by the deputy and the nqt in the car park .  

How important is the duning-kruger effect in leadership?   

How do we develop the next generation of leaders ? What skills should leadership programs develop?  

 In the indicators of change chapter why should school leaders have their finger on the pulse and not the trigger .  

Could you tell listeners where they can find out more about you and where you will be speaking next ?

Leadership literature is drowning in abstract theories and models of heroic leadership, but an agreed definition of the term is elusive. School leadership suffers from this lack of clarity and consensus. Generic approaches to school improvement dominate the sector, which have left the workforce feeling anything but 'well led'. What exactly should school leaders know and do? How do we put 'substance' back into school leadership?

This book draws on research evidence to explore the specific things that expert leaders know and do, arguing for a notion of school leadership rooted in the realities of leaders' daily experiences. It presents a case for how school leaders can develop their expertise and, in doing so, places domain-specific knowledge at the heart of school improvement efforts.

Leaders With Substance is not a handbook. It sets out to change the way we think of leadership and school improvement. It is both a critique, a manifesto, and a call to arms.

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