Chapter 1: Introduction: Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership

This introductory chapter in Research in Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership provides an explanatory framework for educational leadership and contextualizes the research which follows. The chapter briefly summarizes some of the discussions that have been part of conversations about educational leadership among members of the Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership (LTEL) Special Interest Group, which is a sponsored subgroup of the American Educational Research Association. The discussion which follows explores how the name of the sponsoring Special Interest Group has changed, and how these changes reflect orientations in the field of educational leadership. The chapter concludes with brief mention of some of the core commitments of the doctorate in education and provides context for understanding how the research reported in subsequent chapters fulfill the goals of doctoral programs in educational leadership.