Challenging conventional leadership models, this timely and pioneering volume offers a critical rethinking of educational leadership in the context of global crises, particularly climate change and social inequality.

Chapters introduce transformative approaches that prioritise sustainability, social justice, and collaboration by critically examining historical and philosophical foundations of current educational leadership through a blend of scholarly analysis and practical insights. Qualitative international data used in this book lend insight into educators’ lived perspectives. This book introduces thinkers such as Habermas, Serres, Foucault, Heidegger, and Anders on knowledge generation as applied to educational leadership. This book challenges neoliberal and patriarchal models of leadership that dominate the field. It offers innovative frameworks, such as degrowth and political ecology, to address the pressing issues of climate change and social inequality.

Ultimately, this book champions critical thinking as a tool for leadership and a resource for leading, and will be of use to researchers, scholars, and postgraduate students interested in leadership strategy, sustainability education, training, and leadership, and the theory of education more broadly. Those involved with higher education management and philosophy of education will also find this book of value.

Alexander Gardner-McTaggart was academic lead for Transnational Education and senior lecturer in Educational Leadership, University of Manchester, UK and is now dean of Arts and Social Sciences at the British University of Bahrain.

Anna Kliampa is guest author of chapter five. She is an Early Career Researcher and educational leader focussed upon education sustainability. She earned her PhD in 2024 from the University of Cambridge which focuses on educational transformation, climate change and degrowth.