David Middlewood is currently a part-time Research Fellow at the Centre for Educational Studies in the University of Warwick, having previously worked at the University of Lincoln and the University of Leicester where he was Deputy Director of the Centre for Educational Leadership and Management. Prior to working in Higher Education, David taught in schools for many years, culminating in the principalship  of a comprehensive secondary school for nine years, where awards were won for creative arts and equal opportunities. He has taught and researched extensively in the UK and also in various countries in Europe and Africa, being a visiting professor in New Zealand and in South Africa. David has written and edited more than twenty books, many on people leadership and management, strategic leadership, appraisal, practitioner research and some recent research includes work on high performing teams, support staff and student voice. He was co-editor of two professional journals for both primary and secondary school leaders for over six years. He recently co-authored a book on the  leadership of groups of schools and his current work (with Ian Abbott) concerns leadership of learning for disadvantaged pupils. Jacky Lumby (Ph.D. University of Leicester) is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Southampton, UK. She has taught and led in a range of educational settings, including secondary/high schools, community and further/technical education. She has also worked for a Training and Enterprise Council, with a regional responsibility for developing leaders across the public and private sectors. She has researched and published widely on educational policy, leadership and management in schools and colleges, in the UK and internationally. Her work on leadership encompasses a range of perspectives, including diversity issues, comparative and international perspectives and leading upper secondary education. She has co-edited International handbook on the preparation and development of school leaders (2008). Her most recent book is, with Marianne Coleman, Leadership and Diversity: Challenging Theory and Practice in Education (2007). She is co- editor of the journal International Studies in Educational Administration and a member of the Council of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society.