1. Conceptions of Leadership – and Impact on Learning
Ken Leithwood Alma Harris
Viviane Robinson

2. Framing Question #1
How relevant is current leadership research to policy makers and practitioners? What contribution has it made in the following areas:
Identifying leadership practices that make a difference to student learning outcomes?
Providing guidance about how to prepare educational leaders to be most effective?
Ken Leithwood

3. Framing Question #2
Does the current emphasis on distributed leadership balance an unhealthy focus on the single heroic leader or does it just blur responsibility and produce a conceptual and practical muddle?
What evidence is there that distributed leadership makes a difference to organisational and individual outcomes?
How can we best utilise the evidence we have to inform policy and practice?
Alma Harris

4. Framing Question #3
How much do school leaders need to know about teaching and learning to get the job done well? Are good relationships with staff and community enough, or do school leaders also need some in-depth knowledge of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment? How important is it that school leaders are instructional leaders? Viviane Robinson

5. Framing Question #4
Has the public and political focus on leadership produced unreasonable and unsustainable expectations? How robust is the evidential base on school leadership? Leithwood, Harris & Robinson

6. Challenging and Extending
Opportunity for each speaker to pose a question to one of the other panelists.