192 pages
228mm x 145mm
ISBN-10: 1 85856 364 X
ISBN-13: 978 1 85856 364 0
August 2005


This intriguing book challenges the usual idea of how a weak or failing school can be turned into a successful one by the simple introduction of effective leadership and management. Bernard Barker describes the journey of a struggling Midlands comprehensive through special measures.
He relates how Ofsted inspectors impose a conventional regime, based on improved leadership, to drag the institution from the mire. But he shows that schools, heads, teachers and pupils are infinitely diverse and have an infinite range of motivations, priorities and personalities.
This in-depth and analytical yet thoroughly human account of a school's struggle away from the stigma of special measures is a must-read for all involved in education, from policy makers and officials to local authorities, researchers, leader-watchers, heads, teachers, governors and parents.
Dr Barker was head of comprehensive community colleges in Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire for 19 years. He is now a Professor at University of Leicester.

TES Book of the Week 'a mesmerising account of one schools recovery which has lessons for us all...a book every would-be head should read...and Barker has that rare gift: he can write like a dream' - Tim Brighouse

This ethnographic of one school is a good place to start to understand the changes, the leadership involved, and the highly charged emotional atmosphere that accompanies and struggling school designated as 'failing'. - Scottish Educational Review
'…a human story told from the viewpoints of children, parents and teachers; it offers much insight and practical advice.' - Evaluation and Research in Education