Christian Leadership in School: An initial review of evidence and current practices - Full Report

This is an initial review of thinking about Christian leadership in schools. Leadership is one of the most extensively researched of all social processes. It has generated many well-evidenced frameworks and many of these approaches to leadership have become global brands. The subjects of school leadership and Christian leadership have, in recent decades, also generated a considerable amount of research. Christian leadership in schools is a smaller and more recent field of study.
The Church of England’s vision for education is laid out in a document of the same name (The Church of England Education Office, 2016). It aims to help school leaders reflect on the theological issues of education. The vision is based on the central claim that God is ‘concerned with everything related to education’. In order to develop thinking about the leadership that might be relevant for putting such a vision into practice, this review focuses on some fundamental questions:
• What is Christian leadership in schools?
• What does the evidence tell us about what ‘works’ in Christian leadership in schools?
• How strong is the evidence base?
In doing so, it raises a number of questions that Christian leaders may wish to ask in order to achieve a rich balance of pedagogical and theological reflection.