Curriculum and subject leadership in schools has recently gained substantial attention from both researchers and policy-makers. The Teacher Training Agency (TTA) has reinforced the importance of subject leadership in school improvement, proposing a new measure of such leadership competence through the creation of national subject leader standards (NPQSL).

Subject Leadership and School Improvement reflects critically on the work of subject and curriculum leaders especially in schools in England and Wales, that is, those within the policy framework of The National Curriculum and the Teacher Training Agency. The book debates the functions of subject leaders in primary and secondary schools, using current research-based conceptual frameworks, and considers how they can bring about improvement and change with their colleagues in their subject areas. It emphasizes what is particular about leading and managing the middle realm of education organizations, showing how structural, cultural and individual imperatives and perspectives interact with each other in the professional practice of being a subject leader.

The book is of interest not only to subject leaders and curriculum co-ordinators, to help them reflect rigorously on their practice, but also to those responsible for supervising them, such as headteachers and school governors, as well as for those accountable to them. It will be a useful text for serving teachers undertaking higher degrees programmes or programmes for gaining national standards qualifications, the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers (NPQH) as much as for the NPQSL (National Professional Qualification for Subject Leaders) when it is implemented.

Introduction
PART ONE: STRATEGIC DIRECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A SUBJECT AREA
Managing Change within the Subject Area
Managing Federal and Confederate Departments in Schools
Leading and Co-ordinating Diffuse Subject Areas
PART TWO: TEACHING AND LEARNING
Being a Curriculum Leader
Helping Colleagues to Improve Learning
Improving Teaching and Learning within the Subject Area
Developing Professional Networks
Working with Parents and Communities to Enhance Students¿ Learning
PART THREE: LEADING AND MANAGING STAFF
The Subject Leader as a Middle Manager
Cultures of Leadership and Professional Autonomy
Managing Self, Developing Others
Professional Development and Action Enquiry
PART FOUR: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE DEPLOYMENT OF STAFF AND RESOURCES
Planning Development and Resource Utilization to Improve Students¿ Learning
Working with Support and Supply Staff to Improve School Performance
Subject Leadership and School Improvement

Dr. Hugh Busher is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education University of Leicester who gained extensive experience of teaching in secondary schools before moving into Higher Education. He researches and teaches to Masters and Doctoral students research methods, the construction of social justice through critical perspectives on the interactions of people, power and culture in mainly school-based learning communities, and the conflicts surrounding students¿ voices and teachers¿ development in particular institutional and policy contexts. Along with Dr Nalita James in 2009. he published a book on Online Interviewing with SAGE. He is currently co-leading a project on the learning experiences and changing identities of marginalised adult learners on Access courses.