There is increasing recognition that school principals and headteachers have a demanding role, which is distinctive from the classroom context where almost all of them began their professional careers. While the need to train teachers is widely accepted and practiced, specialised preparation for the principalship is confined to a minority of countries (examples include Canada, France, Singapore, South Africa and the USA). Most governments do not require their principals to undertake specific training before or after taking up their positions. The consequences of appointing unprepared school leaders are often damaging, to the appointees and the schools they serve (Daresh and Male, 2000, Bush and Oduro, 2006). The case for effective preparation and induction is gaining ground (Bush, 2008; Lumby et al., 2008) but many countries still require only a teaching qualification and teaching experience as prerequisites for headship. Where preparation is not required before appointment, leadership development for practicing principals is even more important. This is the focus of the first paper, by Carol Cardno, who reports on the pilot programme for experienced principals in New Zealand. Drawing on perceptions from 300 participants, and case studies of three providers, she demonstrates that the principals have gained and applied new knowledge about leadership. Significantly, she also notes that the programme has a positive effect on retention, an important consideration at a time when shortages of headship applicants are reported in many countries (Bush, 2011; Thomson, 2009). In the next paper, Shun Wing Ng examines the aspiring principals’ programme offered by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong. The author notes the importance of equipping new principals with appropriate skills ‘to meet the ever increasing demands of the 21st century’. Since 2004, potential principals are required to acquire the Certificate for Principalship before assuming the position. Drawing on the findings from a survey of 230 aspiring principals, with a very impressive 99 per cent response rate, they report different views about each of the six modules, with ‘teacher professional growth and development’ receiving the most positive ratings. He concludes that informal learning, such as sharing with experienced principals, may be more effective than taking formal training programmes. This supports previous evidence (Bush, 2008) that process is just as important as content when designing leadership learning. Most leadership development programmes include modules on instructional leadership (Bush and Jackson, 2002; Moorosi and Bush, 2011) and this is the focus of the third article, by Sedat Gumus and Mete Akcaoglu. They examine instructional leadership in Turkish primary schools and note that school leadership has received little attention in this country. They show that teachers are predominantly young and female while principals are mostly mature men. As in most other countries (see above), Turkey does not require leadership training to become a principal. The authors administered a questionnaire to 200 primary school teachers from five cities, with a healthy 83 per Educational Management Administration & Leadership 41(3) 253–255 a The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1741143213477065 emal.sagepub.com