This research review contributes to Key Reform Project Six: School Leadership Development Strategies, one part of the Commonwealth Government’s Smarter Schools National Partnerships initiative. To focus the review, seven primary sources were selected from national and international research reports and scholarly writing (see Appendix 1). Close examination of these publications showed that while discussion of leadership development content and strategies was prominent, there were few robust research findings about the strategies that are most effective in ensuring that knowledge and skills are transferred to the workplace. The selected authors claim much for the importance of developing leaders, and much of what is written is superficially compelling, but it is disappointing that detail about what works and why is not yet well researched. We found it necessary to go beyond the nominated documents in our search for as full a picture as possible. Therefore we also reviewed six chapters on leadership development from six world regions, included in a forthcoming Springer International Handbook on Leadership for Learning (see Appendix 1). We also drew on other reports and articles from Australia and overseas in our quest to understand current practice, emerging trends and future possibilities.