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Growing appreciation for the potential impact of principals on their schools has stimulated a significant body of research concerning the principalship. While many aspects of the principalship have been the object of study, it is often difficult to determine the relationship among these studies and how these studies, as a whole, contribute to a better understanding of the principalship. It is also difficult to judge which aspects of the principalship would provide the most productive focus for subsequent research. The review reported in this article addressed both sets of difficulties by analysing a total of 135 empirical studies conducted between 1974 and 1988; 60 of these studies were reported between 1985 and 1988 and received more attention than the earlier 75. Results of the analysis identify aspects of the principalship about which much is known, approaches to research which appear to have exhausted their usefulness and areas in which further study seems likely to be of most value. One major conclusion from the analysis is that we know most about effective principal practices and least about how such practices develop.

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PurposeThe article proposes three prerequisites to authentic leadership by school principals: self‐knowledge, a capacity for moral reasoning, and sensitivity to the orientations of others.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework, based on research on the valuation processes of school principals and their strategic responses to ethical dilemmas, is used as a practice grounded approach to describing authentic leadership and the acquisition of moral literacy by school leaders.FindingsFour motivational bases for administrative decision making are described: self‐interest/personal preferences, rational consensus, rational consequences, and trans‐rational ethics/principles. The achievement of self‐knowledge, capacity and sensitivity to others can be best achieved in professional settings through strategies of personal reflective practice, and sustained dialogue on moral issues and the ethical dilemmas of educational practice.Practical implicationsPrincipals need the capacity to discriminate actual intentions, within themselves and among others. This is not moral relativism, nor is it value absolutism. It is critical thinking and moral literacy.Originality/valueSeveral resources are provided as tools for principals and scholars to use in support of developing these capacities within themselves and amongst others.