Lawrie Drysdale

Lawrie Drysdale is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne. He coordinates the Master of Education (Educational Leadership and Management Specialisation). His academic background includes a PhD from the University of Melbourne, a Master's degree (coursework) from Monash University, and a Bachelor's degree. With over 40 years in education, his career includes roles in teaching, human resource development, lecturing, and research. He has developed, designed, and implemented leadership programs for school administrators. Previously a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Organisational Learning and Leadership, Drysdale engages in consultancy for the Victorian school system, including government school reviews, independent school inspections, and professional learning programs such as Performance and Development Culture and Capacity Building of Leadership Teams.

Drysdale teaches in leadership, human resource management, marketing and innovation, school effectiveness and improvement, and learning communities. His research specializations encompass successful school principal leadership, particularly in uncertain times, and marketing in education, including market orientation and brand management. He is a member of the International Successful School Principals Project (ISSPP) and the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN), collaborating with international researchers across over 18 countries to produce findings and models of successful school leadership. His scholarly contributions are reflected in over 4,666 citations on Google Scholar. Key publications include "Models of successful principal leadership" (Gurr, Drysdale, Mulford, 2006), "Successful principal leadership: Australian case studies" (Gurr, Drysdale, Mulford, 2005), "Middle-level secondary school leaders: Potential, constraints and implications for leadership preparation and development" (Gurr, Drysdale, 2013), "Theory and practice of successful school leadership in Australia" (Drysdale, Gurr, 2011), and "Leadership for challenging times" (Gurr, Drysdale, 2020). He has published extensively in international and local journals.

Professional Email: drysdale@unimelb.edu.au