Can leadership at all levels be developed whilst maintaining staff retention?

School leadership teams must somehow balance developing teachers whilst accepting that this may equip and inspire them for promotion elsewhere, with potentially keeping teachers just ‘ticking over’ to have a greater chance of ensuring staff retention. As a middle and now senior leader, I have always felt that there is in fact no distinction between these two approaches. My article provides a case study suggesting that staff development in its fullest sense, given that it is surely a moral obligation for all in a school community, can also retain staff if they are in fact developed in this way. Imagine a school where no teacher ever leaves. This is not the opening line of a particularly niche horror film, but instead the approach to professional development in some schools. Through the understandable fear of losing hero teachers, some schools limit the opportunities available and restrict access to them. Tighter budgets are an additional problem that can make planning for meaning