You will write a critical, analytical and reflective discussion of your enquiry and provide supporting evidence. A possible outline and structure is provided and your written submission must include the following:

This discussion should outline clearly the specific focus of your self-study enquiry.
Write about and reflect critically on who you are as a leader, your underpinning assumptions, beliefs and values; identifying and critically reflecting on what has and continues to influence and inform these. Literature on educational leadership , issues of professionalism and policy discourses will be useful here.
Your visual representation of who you are as a leader – you should include this (either in the main essay or as an appendix depending on size) and reflect critically on it in your essay.
You must conduct a 360° evaluation. You should design/adapt/modify your 360° to suit your own purposes, focus and context. Collate and analyse the responses and use this to inform your self-study. It is recommended that you ask colleagues to complete this electronically (using tools such as google docs, survey monkey etc. may be helpful). You will need to provide the collated responses and full analysis as an appendix and draw out and discuss the main issues in your essay.
You will need to explain and justify how and why you gathered and analysed any other relevant evidence. You should provide the annotated and analysed evidence as an appendix and in the main essay discuss critically what the key issues emerging might mean for you and your practice.
In your writing you should identify, reflect on and discuss any emerging tensions, contradiction and issues for you as a leader and your future leadership role/practice.
You will need to show how you have used theory, research and policy, in a critical and analytic way, to justify, inform and challenge your thinking and practice.
Where now? What kind of leader do you want/need to be. In light of this self-study enquiry you should discuss possible implications and impact for you, your practice, your colleagues, pupils and the wider educational context, as appropriate. Reflect on yourself as a professional and what you have learned as a result of doing this and where you might go next in your development as a leader.
As well as reference to literature and policy relating to educational leadership you should also refer to the literature on self-study. This will allow you to reflect briefly on the process of engaging in a self-study and any impact this may, or may not, have had on you and your practice.
You might choose to produce a further visual for this section or use metaphor (or other visual representations) to help you consider and critique your future development and practice as a leader – the aspirations and challenges.
You should refer to the assessment criteria, marking guidance and marksheet [docx].

Last modified: Wednesday, 9 May 2012, 1:50 PM