Tony Bush is Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Nottingham, and previously held similar posts at the universities of Leicester, Reading, Lincoln and Warwick. He is President of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) and was presented with the Society's Distinguished Service Award in 2008. He is also a Fellow of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM). He has an established international profile, with research, consultancy, or invited keynote presentations in 22 countries on all six continents. He has published extensively on many aspects of educational leadership and management, and has been editor of the leading ISI-listed international journal, Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, since 2002. His other recent books include Leading and Managing People in Education (with David Middlewood), and The Principles of Educational Leadership and Management (with Les Bell and David Middlewood).

David Middlewood is currently a part-time Research Fellow at the Centre for Educational Studies in the University of Warwick, having previously worked at the University of Lincoln and the University of Leicester where he was Deputy Director of the Centre for Educational Leadership and Management. Prior to working in Higher Education, David taught in schools for many years, culminating in the principalship  of a comprehensive secondary school for nine years, where awards were won for creative arts and equal opportunities. He has taught and researched extensively in the UK and also in various countries in Europe and Africa, being a visiting professor in New Zealand and in South Africa. David has written and edited more than twenty books, many on people leadership and management, strategic leadership, appraisal, practitioner research and some recent research includes work on high performing teams, support staff and student voice. He was co-editor of two professional journals for both primary and secondary school leaders for over six years. He recently co-authored a book on the  leadership of groups of schools and his current work (with Ian Abbott) concerns leadership of learning for disadvantaged pupils.