Introducing the BELMAS Leadership for Sustainability Research Interest Group Co-Convenors, Marie Beresford-Dey, David Dixon, and Rupert Hugham, who have co-authored this timely blog that argues that sustainability is not simply an additional priority, but a fundamental lens through which leadership must be rethought. The authors invite researchers, practitioners and policymakers to engage in critical dialogue, share insights, and collaboratively develop more holistic, systemic approaches to leadership capable of responding meaningfully to today’s interconnected global challenges.
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As ecological and social emergencies intensify, educational leadership must confront questions it was never designed to answer. Yet, responses often remain fragmented, such as being reduced to isolated initiatives, short-term projects, or compliance with non-statutory government policies. Simultaneously, educational leaders regularly work within systems that prioritise measurable outcomes and Business as Usual imperatives, creating a growing gap between what sustainability demands and what structures currently enable.
Against this backdrop, this blog introduces the BELMAS Leadership for Sustainability Research Interest Group. We argue that sustainability is not simply another priority for education, but a leadership challenge that requires new spaces for dialogue, critical thinking, research and collaboration.
Why sustainability is a leadership issue
While sustainability remains a contested concept (Bottery, 2016), this should not prevent engagement with it, particularly in times of multiple crises. Within education, sustainability appears to be increasingly visible in policy, but less consistently embedded in practice (Moore et al., 2018) -often emerging as a series of ‘bolt-on’ initiatives rather than something that shapes vision, values and decision-making (Dixon, 2022).
Sustainability is frequently framed as something to be taught or managed. Increasingly, however, research suggests that sustainability is fundamentally about how institutions are led. For example, Beresford-Dey (2025) argues for a transition from compliance-driven to regenerative approaches, while Wals et al. (2024) emphasise the importance of whole-institution approaches that align leadership, teaching, operations and community engagement to navigate increasing planetary complexity and uncertainty.
If sustainability is to move beyond isolated initiatives, it must be embedded within leadership processes and institutional decision-making. Decisions about curriculum, resources, partnerships and strategic direction are all leadership decisions that shape priorities, mediate policy demands and influence institutional culture across schools, colleges and universities. Yet translating sustainability policy into practice is often challenging. As Higham et al. (2025) show, leaders frequently face competing moral and practical demands when addressing sustainability. This reinforces the idea that sustainability is not a technical problem to be solved, but a systemic challenge requiring distinct values, collaboration and long-term thinking. In this sense, sustainability is not an ‘add-on’ to leadership; it is a lens through which leadership itself needs to be reconsidered.
The challenges of sustainability in educational leadership
If sustainability is a leadership issue, it is also a complex one. Leaders across the education sector face a number of persistent challenges. First, sustainability is expansive, spanning environmental, economic and social dimensions (Dixon, 2022). Although this breadth should enable holistic thinking, it can also dilute its focus and make sustainability challenging to translate into a coherent strategy. Second, accountability frameworks can often work against sustainability. Educational leaders are typically judged against short-term, measurable outcomes, whereas sustainability requires long-term thinking; thus, creating a tension between what is valued in the system’s here and now and what is needed for the future. Third, financial pressures are likely to shape what is possible. For example, decarbonisation, infrastructure change and curriculum reform all require significant investment. Finally, because environmental crises often disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities, educational leaders must consider how sustainability is closely connected to issues of poverty, inequality and social justice.
Why a BELMAS Research Interest Group (RIG)
While sustainability research in education has grown, leadership has often remained at the margins of this conversation. Simultaneously, leadership research has not always engaged directly with ecological and sustainability challenges. The result is a fragmented field, where important questions are being explored in isolation.
The RIG aims to bring these conversations together. Building on BELMAS’s tradition of critical engagement with leadership, policy, and practice, the RIG creates a space to explore how leadership can respond to sustainability challenges across sectors.
It is not about promoting a single model or solution. Instead, it offers a platform for academics, practitioners and policymakers to share research, explore tensions in practice, and critically rethink both the conceptualisation and practice of leadership in conditions of ecological and social uncertainty. The value of the RIG lies not only in sharing emerging research, but also in creating a community capable of shaping future and critical debates, informing practice, and influencing policy in this developing field.
Looking ahead: an invitation to shape the future
If education is to respond meaningfully to ecological and social challenges, leadership will be central, but leadership for sustainability cannot be developed in isolation. It requires collective thinking, shared inquiry, and space where new ideas can emerge. The Leadership for Sustainability RIG is one such space. It provides an opportunity to rethink leadership in a time of uncertainty and to explore how leaders in all sectors can contribute to more sustainable futures.
We invite researchers, practitioners and policymakers to join us in this work. Not because the answers are straightforward, but because the challenges are too significant to ignore.
Beresford-Dey, M. (2025). Educational leadership: Enabling positive planetary action through regenerative practices and complexity leadership theory. Challenges, 16(3), 32.
Bottery, M. (2016) Educational Leadership For a More Sustainable World. Bloomsbury Academic: London.
Dixon, D. (2022) Leadership for Sustainability: Saving the Planet One School at a Time. Independent Thinking Press: Carmarthen.
Higham, R., Kitson, A., & Sharp, S. (2025). ‘What do I do? Save the environment or let children go hungry? ’Leading English schools at time of climate crisis. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-19.
Moore, D., Almeida, S. C., & Barnes, M. M. (2018). Education for sustainability policies: Ramifications for practice. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 43(11), 105-121.
Wals, A.E.J., Eikeland, I., Bjønness, B., Sinnes, A. (2024). It Takes a Whole School: An Introduction. In: Wals, A.E., Bjønness, B., Sinnes, A., Eikeland, I. (eds) Whole School Approaches to Sustainability.
Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56172-6_1
