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Uvodnik
Desirable Support for Leadership in Education
This issue of the journal is built on texts that came out of the submissions present-
ed at the 30
th
 ENIRDELM conference, which took place in Prague between 15
th
 
and 18
th
 September 2022. ENIRDELM, the European Network for Improving 
Research and Development in Educational Leadership and Management, was 
created in 1991 as a self-funded network promoting critical and friendly pro-
fessionalism to deepen and share understanding of the perspectives of multiple 
stakeholders in education, and ultimately to make an impact on learning at all 
levels of education systems. 
The topic of the conference was: Support for Leadership in Education as a Way 
to School Improvement. By support, various expert services provided both inside 
and outside schools are meant. As to those inside, it is mainly peer and collegial 
support in schools, mentoring support, supervision, and in some cases coaching. 
However, similar support can also come from the outside, both through profes-
sional networks (such as those of teachers of the same subject or another instance 
of common interest) and through the provision of expertise from other entities. 
We consider it important to support the school leadership in their work – school 
leaders in their respective schools should not be forgotten in these complex and 
heavily turbulent times. 
The eight texts presented in this issue concentrate on this topic from various per-
spectives. Firstly, Kjersti Lien Holte debates the question of what kind of support 
school leaders need when using a no-homework policy after a top-down decision. 
This topic is engagingly presented through the participative action research de-
sign on a case study from Norway, using it to point out some of the paradoxes in 
the work of school leaders. 
Ágnez Fazekas, Katalin Tóth Pjeczka and Tamás Kersánszi showcase research 
results on network-based school management in Hungary. In their submission, 
they refer to the meaning of how to perceive schools as a part of the socio-ecolog-
ical system, that are able to recognise the resources of the environment and access 
them in the longer term.
Izabela Cytlak and Joanna Jarmużek debate the work of Polish schools with 
Ukrainian pupils that have left their country as a result of the Russian invasion. 
They emphasise the challenges in this sudden situation and the needs of these 

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schools and their school leaders to successfully manage this extraordinary situa-
tion. 
Bohumíra Lazarová and her team then inform on their project carried out in six 
European countries (Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Latvia, 
and Romania), focusing on coaching and other forms of collegial support in 
schools. Their data shows the differing and often lacking support of these forms 
of professional development in the school systems. 
Tatjana Ažman and Mihaela Zavašnik confidently point out the potential of 
head-teachers’ networks for leadership development, based on Slovenian experi-
ence. Networking is one of the essential strategies of leadership support and this 
text clearly proves it to be the case.
A philosophical perspective is presented in another text, written by Knut  
Ove Æsøy. It is a review of different perspectives on the world-views of profession-
al practitioners, and a description of how a philosophical facilitator might help 
practitioners to adopt a coherent world-view. It is essential to harmonise their 
way of being by bringing their actions and thoughts in line with their character 
in order to reach this objective, as the author emphasises.
Another text from the team led by Ágnes Fazekas then gives an insight into the 
results of large-scale research aimed at investigating educational change in Hun-
gary. They point to the links between the pre-pandemic school characteristics and 
Covid-19 crisis-responses and illustrate them by innovation cases.
Finally, Izabela Cytlak and Joanna Jarmużek highlight one example of support 
for educational leaders by creating and developing the „T raining School project“, 
an example of a model for training future and current teachers in Poland.
The topics covered in this issue are diverse and prove the complexity of the task 
of managing and leading a school. Furthermore, they clearly validate the signif-
icance of specific support for school leaders in their work. 
We wish our readers an engaging and inspiring read.
Milan Pol PhD
Mihaela Zavašnik PhD 
Guest editors