This article draws on the findings of an in-depth study which sought to explore the career histories and professional aspirations of twelve women deputy head teachers in England. In view of the ongoing under-representation of women in secondary headship and the scarcity of literature focusing solely on deputy heads, the study aimed to gain an insight into how female potential aspirants to headship perceive their professional futures. This article explores the heterogeneous ways in which the sample experienced deputy headship and the influence that these experiences had on their career aspirations. The themes that emerged from the women's narratives highlighted both the enabling and constraining nature of deputy headship. Analysis also revealed that deputies' day-to-day work had the potential to facilitate or curtail aspirations to headship. This article argues that women's experiences of deputy headship should be taken into consideration in debates concerning the underrepresentation of women in secondary headship. Implications for leadership development and support as well as avenues for future research are identified.

In this article we report on the findings of a systematic review of the literature on leadership and the Millennial generation (alternatively known as Generation Y). The purpose of this systematic review was to further our understanding of this cohort by exploring how Millennials are defined and understood within the leadership literature. Inspired by the work of Hallinger (2013), we reviewed a 'bounded set' of journal articles (n = 162) published between 2000 and 2018. Data analysis focused on analysing identified modal trends as well as examining patterns of knowledge production. This article begins by situating our review in previous generational and leadership research. It then moves on to outline the method of review adopted, and our key findings. We reflect on the implications of these key findings for the recruitment, retention and professional development of Millennial leaders (both current and future). The paper concludes by identifying a series of issues requiring further research, discussion and debate.

Men continue to outnumber women at the secondary head teacher level. This article reports on some of the preliminary findings of a larger study exploring the ways in which women deputy head teachers, as potential aspirants to headship, perceive the secondary head teacher role. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants. The data revealed that, while making decisions about their professional futures, the majority of the women held dual, contradictory images of secondary headship. One image consisted of a role plagued by risk, performativity and stress, whereas the other focused on the agentic capacity head teachers have to transform lives and communities. The article highlights the ways in which a belief in the power of headship to make a meaningful difference to the lives of young people can encourage some women to aspire towards headship regardless of the precarity they perceive as being ingrained within the head teacher role.Keywords: career, educational leadership, professional aspirations, secondary headship, women IntroductionHow do women deputy head teachers working in English secondary schools perceive headship? Do they aspire to climb the next rung of the occupational ladder? This article endeavours to address these questions by drawing on some of the preliminary findings of a larger study that focuses on the lived experiences of women deputies and the ways in which these influence the likelihood of their aspiring towards the 'top job'. It aims to explore how women deputy head teachers, as potential aspirants to headship, understand and make sense of the secondary head teacher role. BackgroundThe most recent school workforce data in England show that, despite making up over half of all classroom teachers, women continue to be underrepresented at the secondary head teacher level (Department for Education [DfE], 2016). The disparate representation of men in secondary headship models unjust leadership practices to young people (Fuller, 2015), reinforces gender stereotypes, and sends the message to women teachers that secondary school leadership is inaccessible (Harris et al., 2003). As Moorosi (2015: 21) points out, the underrepresentation of women in educational leadership positions is a 'long-standing problem which has received significant attention in different contexts over the years'. There is, therefore, a strong body of literature exploring the constraints that women face on the road to headship (Grogan and Shakeshaft, 2011). Argued to be 'surprisingly similar across countries and cultures' (Shakeshaft, 2006: 500), the medley of factors shaping and constraining senior women's career paths is said to include family and caring responsibilities (see, for example, Conley and Jenkins, 2011), and stereotyping and gender bias (see, for example, Coleman, 2007), as well as negative perceptions of the head teacher role (see, for example, Oplatka and Tamir, 2009). In addition to identifying potential obstacles to seconda...

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administrators, dual headship and chief executive officer models); the structure and involvement of governing bodies; degrees and areas of involvement of head teachers in various school matters (discipline, curriculum, etc.); and paths of professional development. All these areas are described longitudinally, in detail. The final chapter, which attempts to redefine and predict what lies ahead for school leadership, is a serious examination of a decade-and-a-half of transformation. Such a comprehensive effort to tell the story of school leadership over time is original, as well as noteworthy. There are similar attempts in other countries 1 but none so all-encompassing and lateral as this one. The book is not only based on large amounts of data over several periods, but also multivariate in its methodology, with quantitative and qualitative methods, various research tools, populations, case studies, and other study designs. The analysis is watchful, almost sombre, and sometimes contravenes existing models with its findings. Such are the insightful findings on leadership models, on leaders' strategic activities -an intriguing title in itself -on leaders' involvement in teaching and learning, and on leaders' career development. The concluding comment on headship as a tremendously demanding in-the-eye-of-the-storm post, and also exciting, often the 'best job in education' (Early, 2013: 168), is the well-based bottom line of this serious publication, an inspiring contribution to the field.