There is a senior management team (SMT) in almost every secondary school, but what do these team members actually do? This is the first book to reveal their inside story. It reports on research into six SMTs, two of which the authors observed over a full year. A new cultural and political perspective is used to explore how team members worked together and related to other staff and governors. Teamwork is shown to be a 'high gain, high strain' approach: it offers the potential for effective management, especially in coping with multiple reforms, but it is difficult to bring off. Some problems are linked with a tension between the different status of members within the school management hierarchy, and their right to make an equal contribution to the work of the team. The authors put forward a series of hypotheses about SMT effectiveness which may be used as a starting point for team-improvement efforts.
This stimulating and carefully argued account is essential reading for all who are interested in the contribution of senior staff in schools; headteachers, teachers, governors, trainers, and providers of advanced courses in educational management.
