Gabriele Lakomski

Why Context Matters in Educational Leadership: A New Theoretical Understanding is unique in the field of educational leadership studies. This book offers a systematic account of educational leadership from the perspective that context matters. It argues that studies of leadership in education can only progress if the importance of context is understood and presents context as a set of constraints under which leadership is exercised.A theoretical book that offers at last three major challenges to dominant positions in the field in a systematic way, it provides a new, coherent, and more realistic way to think about leadership in context.The chapters offer concrete steps for complex problem-solving in schools and will help schools tailor solutions to local constraints and circumstances. Written by leading scholars Colin W. Evers and Gabriele Lakomski, this book will be essential reading for students and researchers working in the fields of education, educational administration and leadership.

Why Context Matters in Educational Leadership: A New Theoretical Understanding is unique in the field of educational leadership studies. This book offers a systematic account of educational leadership from the perspective that context matters. It argues that studies of leadership in education can only progress if the importance of context is understood and presents context as a set of constraints under which leadership is exercised.A theoretical book that offers at last three major challenges to dominant positions in the field in a systematic way, it provides a new, coherent, and more realistic way to think about leadership in context.The chapters offer concrete steps for complex problem-solving in schools and will help schools tailor solutions to local constraints and circumstances. Written by leading scholars Colin W. Evers and Gabriele Lakomski, this book will be essential reading for students and researchers working in the fields of education, educational administration and leadership.

A critical examination of leadership theories past and present, "Managing without Leadership" argues that leadership as traditionally understood does not explain organizational functioning. Bounded by empiricist assumptions and methodology, and including a narrow theory of mind as symbol processor, leadership theories are unable to support their claims about leaders and their actions. Drawing on coherentist epistemology, connectionism, and the theory of self-organizing dynamic systems, a naturalistic account of organizational functioning and organization design is explored that includes leaders as non-privileged agents in the cognitive fabric of organizational life.

"Doing Educational Administration" is the final part in a three volume series by Evers and Lakomski presenting their perspective on educational administration. The first volume, "Knowing Educational Administration", established the importance of epistemological issues in the international field of educational administration and suggested a new, post-positivist approach to research. The theoretical approach presented in the first volume was further examined in "Exploring Educational Administration", where the authors' theories were considered in an applied context. In this, the third and final volume, the authors conclude their presentation of their post-positivist theory by demonstrating how their account of knowledge and cognition shapes the content and structure of administrative practice. Built around a set of basic issues in the practice of educational administration where the role of condition is of primary importance, Evers and Lakomski produce a comprehensive and persuasive applied theory of administrative practice.

"Exploring Educational Administration", the second book in a planned 3 volume work, begins the task of extending the authors' ideas into more applied domains. It provides some introductory accounts of their theory, some extension of the theory in new directions, particularly in response to the post-modernist challenge, and signals the development of some important applications to educational management issues, notably leadership, policy, decision-making, and organisational design. Since their work has generated a significant amount of controversy they have drawn together, in the last section, three debates on their views from prestigious international journals. The book extends considerably the claims made in "Knowing Educational Administration" by demonstrating how a post-positivist science of administration can deal with traditional and vexed issues in the field. Hence, it will appeal to practitioners, students and researchers alike.