| Synopsis: |
`The book is an excellent read as it provides both ideas and suggestions to empower leaders in the education system. Increasingly, more and more academics write for each other and not for the practitioners who lead our schools, so this is a refreshing book. In an era of some anti-leadership books it is refreshing to read ideas that build bridges to practitioners in order to improve schools. The book is an outstanding contribution to the resource base for leaders in schools and the wider education system' - Professor Brent Davies, International Journal of Education Management`Michael Fullan's books - and this is no exception - are for educational policy makers, practitioners and researchers what J K Rowling's Harry Potter books are for children and parents. This is one of the best and most useful' - Tim Brighouse`Michael Fullan has produced another powerful and inspirational book. He has the wonderful knack of continually positioning himself a couple of steps ahead of the fields. By so doing, he is able to challenge and lead thinking and thereby accelerate productive new developments' - David Hopkins, Royal Holloway University of London`An ambitious and provocative journey into the complexities and possibilities that arise when leadership and sustainability join' - Roland S Barth, Lessons Learned (Corwin Press 2003)`No one has contributed more to our understanding of leadership and change than Michael Fullan. Leadership & Sustainability continues that tradition - a brilliant analysis of a timely topic' - Thomas J Sergiovanni, Lillian Radford Professor of Education, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas`Efforts at education reform have taken us down a variety of paths, and Michael Fullan has consistently noted the importance of leadership to large-scale reform. In his latest book, Leadership & Sustainability, Fullan makes a solid case that such reform is a complex process involving many variables. Key among these variables is the relationship between leadership and sustainability' - Vincent L Ferrandino, Executive Director, National Association of Elementary School Principals. Alexandria, Vancouver`With knowledgeable savvy from both individual leadership and system transformation, and a knack for writing in "plain-speak," Michael Fullan helps us understand that it will be "leadership" (not leaders) that pave the way for great sustainability. His attempt to link abstract concepts to concrete examples of what it looks like in practice was successful' - Theodore B Creighton, Director, Center for Research and Doctoral Studies, Sam Houston State University, Executive Director, National Council of Professors of Education Administration`Michael Fullan has gone beyond his past research that described the change process so insightfully to a new and exciting exploration of how systems thinking and the "long lever of leadership" can bring about deep and lasting reforms in schools and schooling. This brand of leadership for sustainability, as described by Fullan, results in the "deep learning" that enables schools to respond successfully to the revolution in expectations they now face. This new work will both inform and inspire educators to become the "new theoreticians" whose impact will be felt in their schools every day' - David T Conley, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, Director, Center for Educational Policy Research, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon`Leadership & Sustainability is a critical breakthrough. Michael Fullan has utilized findings from some of the best research and observations in education over the past fifteen years to brilliantly illuminate the challenges of creating schools capable of continuous organic change and improvement' - James P Comer, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, ConnecticutLeadership & Sustainability will examine how the opportunity for new leadership can be leveraged to focus on sustainability of reform, and will identify barriers and strategies for moving in new directions. This book will define the meaning of "sustainability" and the large scale it plays in reform. It explains the myriad facets of continuous improvement and the key characteristics of the dynamics in sustainability. This book explores the two-way street relationship between individual leadership and system transformation. It will explain how each must feed on each other in order for the relationship to succeed. |