The proposed paper deals about my present EdD research project which aims to study leadership in Roman Catholic primary and secondary schools in Malta.  The study will take a grounded approach in order to investigate what it is like to be a headteacher in a church-run school, through an exploration of attitudes, behaviours, leadership styles and managerial skills and approaches.

The initial phase of the project involves interviews with 10 Roman Catholic school headteachers (5 primary and 5 secondary).  On the basis of these interviews a questionnaire that focuses on what have been identified as key issues will be constructed.  This will then be distributed to the heads of all Roman Catholic schools in Malta (37 schools).

The findings of the study should give some privileged insights into the perceptions and experiences of church school heads, providing information about positive and negative aspects of the job, indicating areas where organisational and / or administrative changes would be helpful and also highlighting areas for further headteacher education and training.

Governed by National policies on Education and the Curriculum, and supervised by the Secretariat for Catholic education, Maltese church schools still enjoy a large degree of autonomy.   Apart from this, each school has its particular culture and ethos that are given great prominence by each religious community that runs the school.

The aim of this paper is to delve into these different issues, making this study a truly intriguing piece of work.