This overview of some aspects of the environment shaping the direction and nature of
research in educational leadership in Australia, the USA and the UK commences by
outlining a number of broad societal pressures, moves to the more specific
international and national governmental reviews of educational research and some
responses to these reviews, and finally outlines some researchers’
attempts to define the research agenda for themselves. While the societal pressures
and processes employed by governments to review education and its research are
similar in each country, the outcome is quite different. From the most centralized
UK system we find increased attention being paid to, and funding being provided for,
educational research, but only in areas that focus on government-defined policy and
practice. In the less centralized Australian system there has been less attention
to, and funding for, educational research. Finally, in the least centralized US
system, and despite increased federal intervention, in relative terms a thousand
research flowers continue to bloom and be funded. The article concludes by noting
some commonalities across these societal, governmental and professional contexts.
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