Today's school leaders are faced with the increasingly daunting task of leading their schools to improve, to innovate and to become ever more responsive to change. There are many resources to help schools to engage with improvement frameworks, but few that directly address the complexity of the challenges that inevitably arise along the way. Based on extensive research in the field, including the outcomes of a five-year project on school improvement and professional learning in Australia and New Zealand, Leading Professional Learning: Practical Strategies for Impact in Schools identifies the challenges that school leaders face when leading professional learning and development in their schools as part of an improvement agenda. Renowned professional development expert, Helen Timperley, has collaborated with a team of prominent authors, including Fiona Ell, Deidre Le Fevre and Kaye Twyford, to uncover the reasons underpinning these challenges and to provide practical strategies on how to address them. Case studies, excerpts from real teachers' experiences and step-by-step examples of useful strategies, including the spiral of inquiry, give school leaders the tools they need to tackle complex challenges in teaching, learning, curriculum delivery and pedagogical practice in both primary and secondary settings. Leading Professional Learning: Practical Strategies for Impact in Schools is a hands-on resource for school leaders to identify specific professional learning and development issues that accompany the learning and change process and to overcome them in their schools.

Dr Fiona Ell is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. She has worked in Australia and New Zealand on schooling improvement projects, helping schools improve students' learning and wellbeing. Dr Deidre Le Fevre is Head of Graduate Programs in Educational Leadership at the University of Auckland. She is a researcher and former school teacher whose work focuses on organisational change, the development of professional capability, and effective leadership. Dr Helen Timperley is Professor Emeritus of Education at The University of Auckland. Her work and extensive research experience include school and system change through professional learning, professional conversations with impact and evaluative thinking in educational innovation. She has written six books and has numerous articles published in international journals. Dr Helen Timperley is Professor Emeritus of Education at The University of Auckland. Her work and extensive research experience include school and system change through professional learning, professional conversations with impact and evaluative thinking in educational innovation. She has written six books and has numerous articles published in international journals. Dr Kaye Twyford lectures in Educational Leadership at the University of Auckland. She has extensive experience as a secondary school teacher and leader and supports schools to use inquiry and collaborative practice to raise student outcomes.