Unprecedented investment is being made in leadership development across the public sector: leadership courses are growing, and development is a core theme of organizational capacity building initiatives. Within this, action learning has attracted increasing interest as an approach that can simultaneously address individual and organizational development.

1. Developing Public Service Leadership - The Context for Action Learning Part 1: Context 2. The Policy Context for Public Service Leadership 3. Optimizing the Power of Learning within Action Learning 4. Understanding the Organizational Potential of Action Learning Part 2: Practice 5. Local Authority Chief Executive Action Learning Sets 6. Learning and Leading; Action Learning for Chief Probation Officers 7. The Design and Evaluation of a Leadership Programme for Experienced Chief Executives from the Health Sector 8. Levels of Action Learning, and Holding Groups to the Experience 9. Developing Ourselves as Police Leaders: How Can we Inquire Collaboratively in a Hierarchical Organization? 10. Supporting Organizational Turnaround in Local Authorities Networks and Partnerships - Developing the Public Policy System 11. Developing Public Service Leaders through Action Inquiry 12. Partnership Action Learning 13. Action Learning in Inter-Organizational Sets Part 3: Conclusion 14. Action Learning in the Public Service System: Issues, Tensions and a Future Agenda