Leadership courses : do they deliver?

The authors examine professional learning courses for principals and ask whether they really deliver what they claim they do. Developers of professional learning need first to have guiding conceptions of school leadership. In recent years, a number of school systems in Australia and overseas have established standards frameworks that spell out leadership knowledge and skills. These can provide a bridge between research and practice, and they are one way to capture what is currently known and valued about the field of school leadership. The authors look at the most effective ways in which such standards can be used to support professional learning, as it is through such learning that standards come to life.