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Where do system leaders come from?

This thinkpiece considers the practices of networked learning and system leadership. It traces the development of new patterns of leadership in school-to-school networks and explores the role of networks in educational reform, professional development and the creation of learning communities.

The National College commissioned this piece of work to contribute to and complement the energy and rigour of existing discussions of system leadership. Ann Lieberman, Senior Scholar, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching agreed to be a partner on this publication as the ideas discussed resonate strongly with her study of the National Writing Project (2004).

This thinkpiece brings something new and different to the debate. It shifts the focus to the 'system' aspect of system leadership. Ann has for many years studied how networks of practitioners and of organisations, principally schools, contribute to the professional learning and development of participants.

For Ann it is networks that are the system in system leadership. Her discussion of the characteristics of networks, and in particular their contribution to system reform and professional learning, bring a fresh and interesting perspective into the international debate about system leadership.