Effective instructional leadership is crucial for improving student achievement, yet its implementation varies significantly across contexts, particularly in managing instructional programs. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study examines how urban-rural context shapes principals' instructional leadership in Ethiopia's Gedeo Zone, where Grade 12 national examination pass rates have declined from 18.5 percent to 0.2 percent, consistently falling below national averages. Survey data from 180 teachers reveal a significant disparity: urban principals demonstrate stronger instructional managing program, including supervising teaching, coordinating curriculum, and monitoring progress, compared to rural counterparts (p=.022). Critically, the expected relationship between principals' instructional leadership and teachers' classroom practices holds in urban schools (rho=.337, p=.001) but disappears in rural schools (rho=.160, p=.147), signaling systemic breakdown. Qualitative data from nine principals and 54 teachers across focus group reveal the mechanisms behind quantitative findings: rural principals face a triad of interconnected barriers, including overwhelming administrative burdens, severe resource scarcity, and a profoundly demoralized, unstable teaching force, which render conventional instructional leadership impossible. Confronted with these constraints, effective rural principals strategically redirect their energy toward promoting school climate through shared struggle, familial support, and symbolic community recognition. This contextually intelligent adaptation sustains teacher commitment where technical solutions fail. Findings demand fundamental policy reorientation: support systems must validate climate-focused leadership and dismantle structural barriers rather than imposing standardized blueprints ill-suited to rural realities.
Social justice refers to the equitable distribution of resources, opportunities, and rights within a society. While it is a commonly held ideal, its realization varies across countries due to differing political, socioeconomic, and geographical conditions, which influence the experience of social injustices. Higher education institutions can play a pivotal role in addressing these injustices and contributing to social transformation through their academic research, educational practices, and the cultivation of civic-minded graduates. This study investigates the relationship between social justice perceptions and socially responsible leadership among university students. Utilizing an explanatory sequential mixed-method design, the research focused on Turkish university students to explore how their understanding of social justice aligns with their readiness to lead responsibly within their communities. The findings indicate that while students demonstrated a strong awareness of and concern for social injustices, prevailing social and cultural norms often constrained them from taking substantial action. This study highlights the necessity of policy initiatives that promote collaboration between the government and universities dedicated to advancing social justice. Such partnerships are essential for empowering students to become proactive agents of change in creating a more equitable society.
This article reports and discusses a study starting from general knowledge of the importance of school leadership and previous research on the impact of principal turnover. It arrives at the conclusion that principal turnover constitutes a critical, practice-disturbing, and practice-changing event in the local school organisation. The aim of this study is to examine how local school practices change during principal turnover and to characterise how such change unfolds across different dimensions of practice. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures and 497 unique free-text responses from a questionnaire distributed to school staff and parents/guardians in five Swedish municipalities, the analysis shows how leadership transitions affect not only the practice of leading but also a range of interconnected practices within the local changes in the semantic, physical, and social dimensions of these practices, highlighting their significance for various stakeholders. Among those most affected by these changes are students with special educational needs and newly arrived students, who appear particularly vulnerable to the effects of principal turnover.
Early childhood educators (ECE) have a major role in shaping children's development; their occupational wellbeing is an important issue for themselves and for their students. ECEs in Israel work in educational units that are not part of a school setting, an almost singular situation worldwide. They have little immediate professional support available to them, making their superintendents a main source of support. The superintendents' heavy workloads and often distant geographical locations challenge their leadership effectivity. In this study, 504 Israeli ECEs were surveyed through an online quantitative questionnaire. Hierarchical regression tests revealed that responders' psychological empowerment mediates the connection between ECE superintendents' transformational leadership and ECEs' burnout fully, and this model explains 12% of burnout. The tests also revealed that psychological empowerment mediates the connection between superintendents' transformational leadership and ECEs' job satisfaction, but only partially; the model explains 29% of job satisfaction. The current study suggests that ECEs' sense of psychological empowerment is a mediator between superintendent's transformational leadership and ECE's wellbeing, i.e., low burnout and high job satisfaction. This research illuminates the role of ECE superintendents' leadership, which has so far received little academic attention, and highlights the importance of the mechanism by which superintendents' leadership improves ECEs' wellbeing.
While doctoral programs have traditionally prepared graduates for academic careers, the evolving global academic landscape now demands a broader approach that equips students for diverse career paths. This study examines educational administration doctoral programs within the framework of dynamic capabilities, focusing on enhancing graduate qualifications and program competitiveness. The research was conducted as an exploratory case study at public universities in T & uuml;rkiye. In the research, program materials of 11 universities selected through maximum diversity and criterion sampling were analyzed. Interviews were conducted with 19 participants selected from the top six universities that most frequently used dynamic capabilities keywords in their programs. Data were analyzed using descriptive and content analysis methods. Findings reveal that educational administration doctoral programs demonstrate a rich integration of key dynamic capabilities concepts and can effectively align with the dynamic capabilities framework. Dynamic capabilities are primarily developed through faculty and advisor guidance, underscoring their talent-transforming roles. This highlights the necessity of qualified supervision, effective mentorship systems, and competent faculty in fostering dynamic capabilities. To strengthen dynamic capabilities development, universities should prioritize institutional leadership, enhance collaboration with public institutions, and implement practice-oriented, mentorshipdriven programs supported by clear employment pathways. These measures can help doctoral programs become more adaptive and competitive. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of how educational administration doctoral programs can gain competitive advantage by producing well-qualified graduates equipped with dynamic skills and offers practical insights for future higher education policy and program development.
This study examines how authentic leadership is practiced by principals of high-performing secondary schools in Guangdong Province, China. Drawing on four-dimensional authentic leadership theory-self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective-this study investigates the difficulties and culturally responsive strategies school leaders adopt as they confront these challenges. A qualitative multiple case study was conducted; data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis in four schools. The findings illustrate that authentic leadership in China is rooted in structural constraints and Confucian culture. Principals reported that hierarchical roadblocks, lack of teacher voice, clashing stakeholder expectations, and the conflict between moral principles and administrative constraints hindered their efforts. However, they negotiated these limitations using approaches such as reflective discussion, open decision making, inclusive feedback, and positive ethical modelling. The study suggests that authentic leadership in non-Western contexts is not an absolute trait but a socially situated process that is contingent on one's cultural understanding and ethical skill. These results extend authentic leadership theory to developing greater understanding for an Asian context and have practical implications for leadership development in Confucian-heritage educational settings.
Although school ethical leadership plays a crucial role in individual and organizational behaviors, the impact of school principals' ethical leadership on teachers' organizational commitment has not received as much research attention. The main purpose of this study was to examine the influence of school principals' ethical leadership on teachers' organizational commitment in government secondary schools in Sidama National Regional State, Ethiopia. To achieve this purpose, a correlational study design was employed. A multistage sampling technique was utilized to draw representative samples from the target population. Through this process, one zone and one City Administration were chosen. Subsequently, six secondary schools and 259 teachers were selected as the study sample. Data were collected using a questionnaire, and the validity and reliability of the instruments were thoroughly checked. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were applied for data analysis. The study result showed a positive, strong, and significant relationship between school principals' ethical leadership and teachers' organizational commitment. The study further revealed that ethical leadership dimensions were positively and significantly related to teachers' organizational commitment. Moreover, all dimensions of ethical leadership, except for the behavioral ethical leadership dimension, had a positive, statistically significant, and moderate effect on teachers' organizational commitment. The study implies that school principals should actively exhibit and reinforce ethical behaviors in their activities, as an empirically supported factor in enhancing teachers' organizational commitment. Education offices should also establish ethical guidelines and capacity-building initiatives to ensure that all school leaders consistently demonstrate ethical leadership.
In the United States, superintendents and school board members serve an important role in the local implementation and enactment of policies in schools. Recently, these roles have received increased attention, both in media and in research, due to a nationwide trend of increased partisanship and focus on nationalized issues. However, conducting studies of members of the politically elite can be challenging. This mixed-methods descriptive case study investigates the accessibility and response patterns of superintendents and school board members in Tennessee through a survey of policy perspectives administered in Spring 2023. Overall, superintendents were more accessible and more willing to begin the survey; however, they were also more likely to end the survey or skip potentially contentious questions once the survey required respondents to share policy perspectives.
This is a book review of Educational Leadership and Critical Realism by Anthony Thorpe and Jean Pierre Elonga Mboyo.
The present study was an attempt to examine the influence of national culture on the association between school leadership and teacher commitment. We systematically reviewed the literature on school leadership and teacher commitment, then followed a meta-analytic process by combining the data from the included studies and finally conducted meta-regression procedures to identify the main cultural predictors of the association between the two variables using Hofstede's (2011) theoretical model of cultural dimensions. Our findings suggest that there is a moderate positive relationship between school leadership and teacher commitment, that certain leadership styles are important in this relationship, and that power distance and individualism have negative influences on this association. Masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence dimensions do not influence the association between school leadership and teacher commitment. We discussed the research findings and proposed recommendations for future research.
Reviews providing an overview of literature regarding educational leadership and management (EDLM) that synthesize Chinese research and practice in recent years were rare. Thus, we conduct a review study focusing on EDLM in China in a systematic approach. This article aims to describe research concerning publication volume, authorship, research topics, research methodologies, and practice features involving contextual intervention, leader’s role, and leader-follower interaction. PRISMA was used in the source identification and data extraction from two international databases and “core” journals in this field. In total, 196 journal articles were included for analysis in the period between 2000 and 2023. This review draws a holistic picture of major patterns of knowledge production by exploring key Chinese characteristics and highlighting the connections and differences compared to similar reviews in other countries or regions. Notably, the findings identified that more than half of the studies had been published in the past three years, indicating that the Chinese literature in EDLM is mainly contemporary and similar to that of other Asian and developing countries. This study contributes to the landscape of leadership and management in China and connects it to the international literature, which provides sustaining power for the EDLM knowledge base.
In school settings, leadership plays a critical role in predicting student achievement. However, this study examined the perceived contribution of distributed leadership (DL) of principals to secondary school goal achievement (SSGA) in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria. Based on the partial least squares structural equation model, the study utilised a non-experimental research design to predict the contribution of DL and its components to SSGA. Fornell Larckers' approach was used to determine the discriminant validity in this study. The analyses indicated that all the components of DL had a positive contribution to the SSGA except in the areas of modelling and inspiring a shared vision. Also, all the DL factors in the model jointly contributed R-2 0.315 to the total variance observed in SSGA. It thus indicates that adopting DL will promote the attainment of secondary school goals. DL constructs: driving innovation and change, and leadership support significantly contributed to SSGA (beta=0.464 and 0.299). Meanwhile, coherent leadership (beta=0.075), encouraging the heart (beta = 0.0046), and supervision (beta=0.041) have a non-significant positive contribution to SSGA. Consequently, inspiring a shared vision (beta=-0.21) and modelling the way (beta=-0.14) have negative, non-significant contributions to SSGA. Therefore, principals should be empowered with DL in their leadership development to attain SSGA. Also, each DL component should be considered when developing a curriculum for the principalship development programme to enable the participants to acquire holistic knowledge and capacity to attain SSGA.
The study presented here aimed to understand and analyse the perceptions of school principals in Portugal regarding the effects of digital platforms on their professional daily lives. Data collection was carried out through a Focus Group with 31 school clusters principals from public education in the Northern Region of mainland Portugal. A qualitative research approach and a critical perspective were adopted in the data analysis, based on the content analysis of the produced discourses. The study's results illustrate the effects of the digitalisation processes of school management on the professional and personal lives of school principals, particularly: increased workload and bureaucracy, emotional and psychological distress, and the constant effort required for adaptation and training.
This study investigates and ranks the critical components contributing to school resilience in the unique context of Iran, where educators and students face various ongoing challenges, making resilience an essential skill to learn and teach. The purpose of this research is to move beyond the mere identification of resilience factors to establish a rigorous hierarchy for strategic policymaking. Iran's educational system operates within a complex socio-economic and cultural landscape marked by political sanctions, natural disasters, and social instability, all of which necessitate a focus on resilience as a cornerstone for academic success and student well-being. The research aims to enhance academic performance and student well-being by identifying key components that support resilience in educational settings and prioritising resilience-building strategies to maximise their impact on students' academic development. Utilising a mixed-methods approach, the study combined qualitative database analysis with quantitative hierarchical analysis, providing a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing resilience in schools. The study distilled 21 resilience components into five dimensions: Fundamental Conditions, Strategies, Contextual Conditions, Mediating
While there is abundant literature on how teachers can and should manage controversial issues (CI) in schools, far less attention has been paid to how school principals manage CI. We explore this topic by applying a socio-temporal understanding of agency to explore how school leaders understand their role in managing the specific controversial issue of racism. The study comprises interviews with principals in which they express how they understand and manage the controversial issue of racism. The findings show that the principals' primary temporal direction of agency has consequences for how they manage racism. Principals primarily directed towards the present (practical-evaluative) or the future (projective) demonstrate more expanded agency, while principals primarily directed towards the past (iterative) display less expanded agency in managing the controversial issue of racism. One finding of the study is that principal deal with controversial issues seemingly to the same degree as teachers, however, they do so in different ways and under different circumstances. We therefore propose a conceptual shift from controversial issues to controversial spaces to better adhere to the specificities of principals' encounter with controversy.
This exploratory sequential mixed-methods study investigated strategies to promote and support teacher leadership by integrating the concepts of teacher leadership, self-leadership, and principal support. Drawing on qualitative data collected from 25 educators across four schools during interviews (n = 25) and observations (n = 20), three key themes emerged: the diversity of teacher leadership tasks, the importance of supportive and collaborative school environments, and the challenges and motivations to influence teacher engagement. Teachers assumed both formal and informal leadership roles, often driven by intrinsic motivation and a commitment to student success, but constrained by systemic barriers such as time, workload, and lack of adequate compensation. Professional development modules for school leaders and teacher leaders were developed and tested after a four-week implementation period using the Teacher Leadership Scale and the Abbreviated Self-Leadership Questionnaire. Quantitative analyses revealed no changes in scores on either instrument. The study's overall findings suggest while short-term interventions may raise awareness about teacher leadership and self-leadership, sustained and school-wide efforts are necessary to meaningfully enhance teacher leadership. This study contributes to the literature by integrating teacher leadership, self-leadership, and principal leadership within a unified framework, demonstrating how self-leadership serves as a foundation for sustainable teacher leadership development. The findings underscore the need for school leaders to foster cultures of trust, autonomy, and collaboration, and to provide structural supports that enable teachers to lead for positive influence in a sustainable manner.
The purpose of this study is to reveal out the policies to ensure equality of opportunity in education for economically disadvantaged students in T & uuml;rkiye and how policies reflect on disadvantaged students. Qualitative research method was used in this study. The data sources of the research consist of top policy documents, national and international reports, education statistics, and the opinions of individuals working in education trade unions, think tanks, and academics specializing in education policy. Through content analysis, three themes emerged which are equality in access to education, equality in access to opportunities, and equality in educational outcomes. The targets set and the practices implemented were evaluated within the scope of fighting against poverty and discussed in terms of social policies that include interventions to eliminate their economic disadvantages by aiming to break the cycle of poverty. Policies and practices targeting poor students have been addressed from a limited perspective, without a holistic approach. When the equality of opportunity policies in education are examined, it has been implemented to cover all students in the education system. Therefore, it is evident that the Turkish education system requires policies that promote justice rather than equality.
This study examines the impact of the Tatweer programme on leadership development practices in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from two schools that participated in the Tatweer programme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants, including junior teachers, senior teachers and principals. The results indicate that the Tatweer programme decentralise the educational system and has contributed to enhancing the leadership skills of the participating participation system creates a significant divide between Tatweer and non-Tatweer schools, depriving the latter of this opportunity to participate in school leadership development. The findings of the study also suggest that the Tatweer programme is not widely supported by Tatweer school teachers, reducing the impact of the initiative.
High-quality early childhood education (ECE) is widely regarded as an essential right, with leadership playinga vital role in its delivery. Effective pedagogical leadership significantly enriches children's learning, development, and overall well-being by nurturing collaborative settings and promoting shared decision-making processes. Limited research exists on particular leadership approaches, such asdistributed pedagogical leadership (DPL), that contribute to quality improvement, despite the commonly recognized significanceof distributed leadership in enhancing ECE quality. Thus, our study aimed to explore the connection between DPL and ECE quality in Finland. A sample of 453 staff members from 35 ECE centers in six municipalities around Finland responded to online surveys in 2019. The participants rated theDPLand ECE quality in their ECE centres. The results of multivariate regression analysis showed that distributed pedagogical leadership responsibilities and power relations were related to structural quality, such as the physical environment and human resources, whereas shared vision, distributed power relations, and distributed enactment of pedagogical development contributed to effect and process quality, such as child well-being and pedagogical activities. Distributed responsibilities were also related to intangible resources, and distributed enactment of pedagogical developmentwasrelated to collaborative ECE planning. The findings imply that municipalities should prioritise investing in the establishment of a shared vision and strategy and the distributed enactment of pedagogical development as part of implementing DPL. Furthermore, because power and authority distribution are essential for pedagogical quality and child well-being, it is crucial to explore approaches to empower and include staff in decision-making.
Engagement significantly contributes to student learning and academic success; it has preventive benefits against dropout and disruptive behavior. This study examines how principals' distributed leadership strategies affect student engagement with teacher self-efficacy as a mediator in thesecondary schools of the state of Amhara, Ethiopia. Accordingly, a cross-sectional survey design was employed to achieve this objective. The quantitative data analysisinvolved 714 valid and completed data of teachers selected from a multistagerandomsamplefrom five zones. A questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. Before the actual study, the measurementtoolswere validated through a pilot study, and statistical assumptions were made. To achieve the specific objectives of the study, one-sample t-test, Pearson correlation, and structural equation modeling were employed. Low levels of distributed leadership practice, moderate student engagement, and high levels of teacher self-efficacy were all identified in the research. Additionally, the study found a strong positive correlation between student engagement, teacher self-efficacy, and distributed leadership practice. The connection between distributed leadership and student engagement was also significantly partially mediated by teacherself-efficacy. Hence, the study concluded that principals' distributed leadership significantly contributed to student engagement through teacher self-efficacy. The results suggest that when school leadership responsibilities are distributed more broadly, teachers' sense of efficacy is enhanced, improving student engagement in the learning process. Thus, the study'sfindings have practical, theoretical, and policy implications.
