Education reimagined: leadership for a new era

The WISE Agile Leaders of Learning Innovation Network (ALL-IN) was estalished in 2017 as a global community of practice for educational leadership experts that research, design, and advocate for high quality school leadership policies that prepare and support school systems in educating the learners of today and the future. This WISE ALL-IN special publication bears witness to the critical role of leadership in promoting and enabling student and system-deep learning. The collection of articles reveals the centrality of education leadership in the life of communities, for individual and collective wellbeing, and for a sustainable future, locally and globally. The authors’ contributions advance our understanding of how educational leadership can address an enlarged concept of equity – serving social cohesion and economic prosperity. The publication is in two parts. Part A consists of three Key Thought Pieces that address the agreed themes adopted by the WISE ALL-IN Network as the focus of network collaboration over 2021. The themes include: 1) Developing a global capabilities framework that informs the growth of future leaders; 2) Teacher and team leadership, and the development of a leadership-oriented education workforce; and 3) The leadership of networks, clusters and communities. The Foreword and Introduction to Part A provides a framing for the Collection. The Afterword suggests a direction of travel for the ongoing work of WISE ALL-IN. Part B consists of a selection of articles, some directly related to the three Themes explored in Part A, others taking up everything from transversal considerations to single issues. These papers are designed to stimulate further thought and discussion on ‘leadership for a new era’ – informed by insights from research, policy and practice, and with a deliberate bias towards innovation and experimentation.