The International Context for Resarch in Educational Leadership

This overview of some aspects of the environment shaping the direction and nature of research in educational leadership in Australia, the USA and the UK commences by outlining a number of broad societal pressures, moves to the more specific international and national governmental reviews of educational research and some responses to these reviews, and finally outlines some researchers’ attempts to define the research agenda for themselves. While the societal pressures and processes employed by governments to review education and its research are similar in each country, the outcome is quite different. From the most centralized UK system we find increased attention being paid to, and funding being provided for, educational research, but only in areas that focus on government-defined policy and practice. In the less centralized Australian system there has been less attention to, and funding for, educational research. Finally, in the least centralized US system, and despite increased federal intervention, in relative terms a thousand research flowers continue to bloom and be funded. The article concludes by noting some commonalities across these societal, governmental and professional contexts.