Purpose This study introduces Contextual Pedagogical Leadership (CPL) as a construct that reflects culturally grounded leadership practices among Malaysian pre-service teachers. It aims to develop and validate a set of CPL indicators aligned with Malaysia's cultural, educational and policy contexts to guide leadership development within Malaysian teacher education programmes. Research Methods A Modified Delphi design was employed across three phases. Phase 1 involved qualitative interviews with six Malaysian education experts to generate initial CPL themes and indicators grounded in teaching practice. Phase 2 utilised an open-ended expert review process to refine the indicators through addition, removal and revision. Phase 3 applied the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), involving 27 local experts comprising teacher educators, school leaders and ministry officials. Consensus was established using defuzzification and threshold analysis (d ≤ 0.2), with a minimum agreement level of 75%. Findings The study yielded 72 validated indicators across three core themes of Contextual Pedagogical Leadership: (1) planning teaching and learning in alignment with school direction, (2) enacting leadership through adaptive, reflective and student-centred instructional practices and (3) fostering a supportive, inclusive and ethically engaged learning environment. These findings affirm the need to move beyond universalist leadership models by developing frameworks rooted in national education priorities and cultural realities. Implications This study contributes to decolonial educational leadership discourse by offering a rigorously developed, context-specific model for pre-service teacher leadership in Malaysia. The CPL indicators hold practical significance for teacher educators, policymakers and curriculum developers across the Global South who seek to foster pedagogical leadership that is locally meaningful, socially responsive and epistemologically just.
This article explores Fei Xiaotong’s (1992) concept of chaxu geju (差序格局), the differential mode of association, as a distinctive epistemological foundation for educational administration and leadership in the Global South. Rather than positioning chaxu geju as a simple alternative to a homogenized “Western” paradigm, the article places it in critical dialogue with diverse leadership typologies. It argues that chaxu geju contributes a distinctive account of leadership as differentiated moral and relational judgment, in which trust, obligation, and influence are patterned through concentric degrees of social proximity. The article draws on a qualitative study involving ten school head teachers and three directors of educational non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with rural-to-urban migrant children in Guiyang, southwest China. The study shows that these leaders navigate fragile and under-resourced educational settings not primarily through formal hierarchy or standardized procedure, but through trust-based networks, moral credibility, and relational judgement. Leadership emerges as an ongoing practice of care, mediation, and differentiated responsibility across uneven social circles. By centering a Chinese indigenous concept as an analytic resource, this article contributes to the decolonization of educational leadership theory and practice. It suggests that chaxu geju enriches the theoretical repertoire of educational administration by illuminating forms of relational governance that remain under-theorized in dominant frameworks and by showing how leadership legitimacy is produced through morally embedded and socially differentiated relationships.
Purpose This study examines how vocational school principals perceive their managerial challenges. This investigation is significant given the paucity of research on this topic and the unique characteristics of vocational schools compared with academic schools. Methods The study draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with 26 vocational school principals in Israel. Data were analyzed using the thematic analysis approach. Findings The findings highlight four distinct managerial challenges: managing the school as a stigmatized organization, providing justifications for vocational education when communicating with stakeholders, making substantial marketing efforts to boost enrollment and avert closure, and prioritizing non-formal educational practices over formal academic ones to address the core needs of vocational students. Implications Our findings shed light on the role of vocational school principals and the broader linkages between vocational schools, social exclusion, and inequality. Developing a clear policy is critical for educational settings marked by social exclusion and for educational institutions facing stigma.
Decades of research on instructional leadership demonstrate that school leaders play a vital role in promoting student learning. Meanwhile, widening inequalities among students from diverse backgrounds highlight the need for social justice leaders to foster equity in educational processes. This study explores the potential integration of two leadership models, instructional leadership and social justice leadership, highlighting the role of school leaders in improving the learning experiences and outcomes for all and bridging learning gaps among students from diverse backgrounds. The study employs a multiple case study design, gathering extensive qualitative data from three primary schools in Hong Kong SAR, China. In addition to semi-structured interviews with various school leaders and teachers, two focus group interviews were conducted at each school, and school documents were collected as supplementary data. The analysis revealed five interconnected themes: (1) strategizing for equitable school improvement; (2) capacity building for equitable teaching and learning; (3) cultivating an inclusive and empowering school culture; (4) leading equitable resource distribution; and (5) fostering family and community partnerships. These findings contribute to recent conceptualization efforts in Socially Just Instructional Leadership and enrich the field with valuable insights from a non-Western context.
Purpose: This study investigates the short-term psychological processes underlying school principals’ daily engagement. Drawing on affective events theory (AET), it examines how principals’ affective commitment at the end of a workday shapes their career optimism the following morning and how this optimism contributes to same-day work engagement (vigor, dedication, absorption). Research Methods: A five-day daily diary design was used with 119 school principals in Tehran, Iran. Participants completed surveys twice daily across consecutive workdays. Daily measures captured affective commitment (evening), career optimism (morning), and engagement dimensions (end-of-day). Hierarchical linear modeling was conducted to isolate within-person fluctuations from between-person differences, supplemented by mediation tests to evaluate temporal indirect effects. Findings: Affective commitment at the end of a workday significantly predicted higher career optimism the following morning. Career optimism, in turn, positively predicted daily absorption but did not significantly predict vigor or dedication. Affective commitment directly predicted all three engagement dimensions. Mediation analyses indicated that career optimism partially mediated the link between affective commitment and absorption, but not vigor or dedication. These findings highlight that principals’ emotional attachment to their school and their day-to-day cognitive expectations are dynamic intra-individual resources that meaningfully fluctuate from one day to the next. Implications: This study highlights the importance of examining principals’ psychological experiences as daily leadership resources. Strengthening principals’ affective commitment and fostering career optimism may enhance their capacity for focused, immersive engagement. Interventions oriented toward emotional connection, reflective practice, and future-focused professional development may help sustain principal engagement in demanding educational contexts.
Purpose This paper examines the application of Bayesian statistics in educational leadership and policy studies. It explores the philosophical and methodological foundations, highlights the contributions to estimation thinking in quantitative research, demonstrates the implementation of Bayesian methods through a detailed case study, and proposes a heuristic for applying Bayesian techniques in educational research. Research Approach Building on the methodological discussion, this study presents a case study to illustrate the practical application of Bayesian statistics. The analysis investigates the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of school climate and their job satisfaction in U.S. middle schools, utilizing data from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey. A Bayesian multilevel modeling approach is employed to analyze the data, incorporating Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques for estimating posterior distributions. Predictive mean matching is used for data imputation to address missing data. Findings The case study demonstrates that teachers’ job satisfaction is positively associated with better teacher-student relations and greater participation among stakeholders, while a better disciplinary climate is associated with higher job satisfaction. The Bayesian method yields robust statistical insights, demonstrating its advantages in estimation thinking and inferences. Implications for Research and Practice The findings suggest that Bayesian statistics can enhance methodological rigor and offer practical insights in educational leadership and policy studies. The proposed heuristic provides a structured approach for researchers to implement Bayesian methods, thereby promoting knowledge accumulation and advancement in the field.
Purpose: Vice-principalship has emerged as a key focus in educational leadership because of its vital role in supporting school administration and instruction. However, as vice-principals’ primarily administrative functions evolve into more instructional and transformational leadership roles, evaluating their status and contributions in school management becomes increasingly complex. This systematic review aims to critically synthesize and map the empirical and theoretical landscape of vice-principalship research from 1946 to the present, in order to clarify the roles, frameworks, methods, and key insights that inform policy, practice, and future scholarly inquiry in educational leadership. Methods: To address this, we systematically reviewed 131 empirical studies, from pre-1990 to the present, to analyze the research issues, theoretical frameworks, and methodological approaches shaping the field. A summative content analysis was performed. Findings: The results are threefold. First, research has evolved from viewing vice-principals merely as administrative figures to recognizing their broader leadership roles. Second, significant theoretical and methodological gaps exist, as many studies lack explicit frameworks and rely predominantly on qualitative methods. Third, despite their expanding responsibilities, vice-principals continue to face systemic challenges such as role ambiguity, increased workload, and limited professional development. Overall, to move the field forward, these findings emphasize the necessity of breaking methodological stagnation and expanding theoretical perspectives in vice-principalship research, ensuring a more comprehensive exploration of their evolving leadership roles.
Purpose This study aims to investigate the mechanisms through which instructional leadership influences student academic performance, with a specific focus on the mediating variables of teacher trust, teacher collaboration, and teacher feedback. Research Design This study utilizes data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022, focused on teachers and students in Hong Kong. The dataset exhibits a nested structure, with student-level data nested within teacher-level data. To analyze the complex interplay among instructional leadership, teacher trust, teacher collaboration, teacher feedback, and student academic performance, Bayesian estimation is employed to estimate the multilevel mediation model. Findings Contrary to expectations, instructional leadership was found to have no direct effect on student academic performance. However, teacher trust emerged as an independent mediator in the relationship between instructional leadership and student academic performance. Furthermore, a chain mediation effect was observed, with teacher trust, teacher collaboration, and teacher feedback mediating the relationship between instructional leadership and student academic performance. Conclusions These findings highlight the nuanced pathways through which instructional leadership impacts student outcomes. The study contributes to the existing literature by shedding light on the complex interplay between instructional leadership, teacher trust, teacher collaboration, teacher feedback, and student academic performance. Implications for educational leadership practice and directions for future research are discussed.
Purpose This study investigates the language urban PK-12 superintendents use to frame the orthography of the wake. The orthography of the wake is the widespread media circulation of Black social, material, and psychic death, exemplified by the murder of George Floyd. Although superintendents are often tasked with framing how their school systems respond to crises, there is a lack of leadership preparation to respond to the orthography of the wake. Given the recurring deaths of Black Americans in police interactions, superintendents should be better equipped to respond to this issue. Analyzing superintendent statements and their framing of the orthography can better prepare leaders to support Black communities in these situations. Methods This study examines the public statements of 51 urban PK-12 superintendents in response to George Floyd's murder. It applies Black annotation and redaction to investigate how superintendents’ language humanizes or marginalizes Black life. A frame analysis approach is used to assess the beliefs and actions articulated by superintendents when discussing the orthography of the wake. Findings The superintendent's diagnostic frames reflect a range of beliefs that directly discuss and avoid the orthography. Their prognostic frames advocate engaging in actions such as reflective conversations, reading learning resources, and examining policies, often centered around values including equity, anti-racism, and racial violence. Implications This study argues that superintendents must develop a deeper awareness of the orthography. Furthermore, their actions should move beyond general discussions of equity and anti-racism to specifically address the orthography in ways that directly support Black communities.
Purpose Amid global embrace of conformity and resistance to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, educational leaders play a critical role in pursuing policies and practices that disrupt longstanding inequities and marginalization in school systems. The purpose of this study is to examine how district-level equity leaders in US schools pursue equity-oriented change in their organizations amid resistance that functions to uphold social and racial hierarchies. Building on deliberative and critical democratic perspectives, we use theories of tempered radicalism and racialized organizations to posit how leaders engage in that disruption to enact equity-oriented change amid resistance. Using interviews with K-12 district-level equity leaders and artifacts of practice, we examine the strategies equity leaders employ, how they navigate resistance, and the factors that shape their decisions. Findings Equity leaders’ pursuit of equity is a push and a pull, and their strategies fall along a spectrum from tempering to disruption. While leaders pursued radical inclusion through disruption strategies, they were also forced to temper their approaches—most often when faced with large-scale resistance rooted in threats to whiteness. Other factors tended to pull equity leaders toward one end of the tempering-disruption spectrum or the other: how they conceptualized equity and their roles, the autonomy their roles afforded, and the extent to which the district held a shared commitment to equity. Conclusions Our findings highlight strategies and considerations for leaders in varied institutional or socio-political contexts on how to navigate resistance that functions to uphold social and racial hierarchies.
Purpose Many educational leadership scholars have examined relationships among the principal's leadership, student outcomes, and school or social change, but indigenous ways of knowing, educating, and leading have received little attention. The mixed methods case study featured in this article is part of an international study of successful principals (ISSPP) and provides important knowledge about indigenous ways of knowing, educating, and leading through the lens of H & oacute;zh & oacute;. Here ways of knowing and being are grounded in H & oacute;zh & oacute; which means "walking in beauty", an Indigenous perspective on leadership and education aimed at balance, equanimity, and sustainability. The study also considers historical trauma and societal oppression in systems expected in the broader state and nation state and educates for balance and beauty in all interactions.Findings Findings demonstrate the principal's support of Navajo culture as well as systems for success in academic outcomes. The Navajo principal's leadership contributed to culturally relevant education and academic success for all indigenous students in the school. Interviews with tribal leaders show how Indigenous education leaders to value the leadership principles that traditional leaders relied upon to make strategic decisions particularly for engaging parents and stakeholders in their schools.Conclusions Findings have implications for additional research, leadership practice, preparation, and development in Indigenous schools as well as schools that serve other students from diverse cultures across the US and elsewhere. Moreover, this study has the potential to contribute to the leadership literature on culturally responsive leadership in successful schools.
Purpose Over the past five years, a nationally-networked and often purposefully partisanized "conflict campaign" has invited people to target local school boards around demands to limit diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. This study interrogates an under-explored aspect of the conflict campaign: the experiences and decision-making of school board members themselves, specifically in California, a state often depicted as a stronghold of progressivism.Research methods/approach Using Gutmann's theory of democratic education as a conceptual lens, we analyze data from interviews with eight school board members representing, respectively, eight California districts. We ask: How is the conflict campaign affecting decision-making processes on California school boards, with what local consequences? What does this suggest about the (in)capacities of school boards to protect and promote learning and inclusion in a diverse democracy?Findings The accounts offered by the study's participants underscore an antidemocratic pattern of intimidation tactics deployed against school board trustees. In the districts where such tactics persisted, school improvement efforts were slowed or stunted. Boards which did not experience intimidation, and/or where board members shared views about diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as efforts to make systems "good for kids," stayed focused on school improvement - a more democratic outcome overall.Implications Our study suggests that the conflict campaign has sharpened a tension within democratic schooling: the tension between the imperative for deliberation and the need to protect the rights of all. We propose that board members develop shared understandings of democratic education principles to refuse intimidation and preserve a commitment to deliberation while prioritizing educational improvement.
Purpose We propose that a Confucian perspective on empathy provides leaders with a meaningful way to reimagine primary and secondary school leadership for nondominant students in Hong Kong and other Confucian Heritage Cultures. Known as shu ((sic)), Confucian empathy's unique value and mindset can enhance leaders' ethic of care and their capacity to practice care and Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL). Our application of shu to care and cultural responsiveness is demonstrated through a case of school leadership for nondominant students in Hong Kong. Research Approach: This conceptual analysis connects the principles of the Confucian view of empathy (shu, (sic)) to CRSL by examining Confucian philosophical texts, the Analects and Mencius. Examining school leadership policy in Hong Kong, we explore how Confucian empathy enables leaders to realize CRSL. Findings: Confucian empathy (shu, (sic)) emphasizes reciprocity, human interdependence, and four core traits-compassion, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom-as the basis for empathetic concern. This interpretation of empathy provides a foundation for leaders to practice care and cultural responsiveness towards nondominant students. Specifically, shu's empathetic concern can improve leaders' effectiveness across two strands of behavior in CRSL, fostering inclusive environments and engaging with community and Indigenous contexts. Implications for Research and Practice: Situated at the intersection of educational leadership and philosophy, this research advances theories about the epistemological foundations of culturally responsive leadership. It also points to new directions in educational leadership aimed at supporting minoritized students and communities in Hong Kong and other Confucian Heritage Cultures in East Asia and globally.
Purpose: School leaders shape the day-to-day lives of teachers and likely influence how teachers approach labor market decisions. In this paper, we describe teachers’ revealed preferences for principal qualities, analyzing over 13,000 transfer applications across 13 years from the Wake County Public School System. Findings: When transfer applicants had previously worked with a school's principal, they were 10 percentage points more likely to request that school compared to other schools. Transfer applicants were also more likely to request schools with strong survey reports of leadership and where the principal was more experienced. The schools that were the most likely to have vacancies because teachers sought to exit them at high rates also generally had the least demand for those positions; notably, on average, these schools served student populations that were historically marginalized and had low levels of prior achievement. Implications: While district teacher transfer policies allow teachers flexibility, within-district transfers can also be costly since they can contribute to school-level teacher churn. Principals at schools with many transfer seekers could benefit from district support with recruitment in the short term while working toward the longer-term goal of developing leaders’ abilities to foster school climates where teachers want to work. Districts can use teacher transfer requests as an early indicator of teacher attrition; this information could enable principals to identify teachers who are likely to leave and target their retention efforts, particularly with effective teachers and teachers working in hard-to-staff areas.
Purpose The purpose of this article is to explore how Black women principals define and mediate self-care while leading K-12 suburban schools.Research Method This study used qualitative narrative inquiry to explore the lived experiences of two Black women principals serving in suburban school districts in a state located in the Midwest Region. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews.Findings Insights from the narratives illustrate definitions of self-care as a process that requires them to detach from time and place in order to construct safe space away from the racialized and gendered experiences. Findings also articulate that institutional demands directly correlate with leader burnout and present barriers to their care.Conclusion The findings illuminate examples of barriers to retention and sustainability of Black women principals in suburban schools indicative of broader patterns identified in literature on leadership retention. Their experiences demonstrate a need for a framework that supports the integration of identity-informed self-care into leadership praxis and a systematic review of policies, practices, and discourses that frame the principalship. By centering the self-care practices of Black women leaders in suburban schools, it becomes possible to reimagine a path toward a sustainable principalship model.
Purpose: This qualitative study examined the co-constructed mentoring stories of women administrators in K-12 public schools in New Jersey. Using a feminist lens, we explored how women in mentoring relationships experience, navigate, and make sense of their leadership and identity work within gendered systems. Design and Methods: Using narrative inquiry to capture the temporal, social, and contextual nature of experience, we co-constructed mentoring stories with participants through telling, listening, and restorying. Four dyads participated in the study; three were informal partnerships and one was district-assigned. All eight participants served in curriculum and instruction roles. Findings: Most women developed informal, bidirectional mentoring partnerships that created spaces for authenticity and identity work. Within these partnerships, women connected personally and professionally, generated innovative programs, and supported one another's growth. Mentors helped prot & eacute;g & eacute;s navigate invisibility, embody leadership, and strengthen women's leadership presence in K-12 education. Implications for Research and Practice: Women need mentors who understand the realities of leading within gendered systems and who can also act as sponsors for career advancement. Because women's pathways often run through curriculum and instruction, providing formal mentorship for those entering supervisory roles is essential. Expanding supportive spaces to include male allies is also important for making structural barriers visible.
Purpose: Care is of concern for educators, but little is known about the way that district-level leaders conceptualize and enact care within a district central office. This study explores the research question: How do district leaders conceptualize and strive to enact care? Design and Evidence: We draw on qualitative interviews with district central office leaders and employ a grounded theory approach to analyze our data and elucidate themes. Findings: District leaders described care as (a) complex and multifarious; (b) relational; (c) requiring partnership, political moves, and connections; (d) embodied; and (e) needs-driven and responsive. Implications: Central office leaders have varying conceptions of what constitutes care. Few districts had defined the boundaries of district care. This implies that leaders would be well served to spend resources on defining and aligning policy with care as it connects to their own school communities. We found that district leaders conceptualize care as being needs-driven and responsive to individual needs within the school community, yet there is a disconnect between our study and equity-oriented leadership practices. An implication is to consider how equity initiatives can be a key part of caring district leadership. Another persistent theme was the outsized role that external agencies and partnerships play in building the architecture of care. Much more so than with instructional reforms, how and to what extent political capital is needed to navigate and nurture this constellation of care is unknown. A fruitful area for future research might be at the nexus of community and district care.
In spring 2020, school boards across the country were suddenly confronted with a public health crisis that threatened an unknown impact on children as young as five years old. They had to make sense of constantly shifting information and data about the virus and subsequently create or adapt policies related to school closures, adjustments to online learning platforms, mandating masks and other COVID-mitigating strategies. We pose two questions: 1) How did the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic experience affect the two districts? and 2) What influenced the severity of the turbulence that the school boards experienced? This paper uses a comparative case study research design to understand how school board members in two districts experienced and navigated pandemic-related turbulence. We apply turbulence theory and its three drivers, positionality, cascading, and stability. The findings illustrate that one district faced higher turbulence due to its greater instability. The other district avoided extreme turbulence through diverse board representation and strong collegiality which enabled the board to maintain a unified voice through challenges. The other district, however, benefited from long-term board members and internally hiring their superintendent, ensuring leadership continuity. The two districts experienced different levels of turbulence, yet both were able to maintain relative stability through strong collaboration or sustained leadership practices.
Purpose: The focus of this study was to understand how district-level, central office administrators lead inclusive districts. Research Methods: This study is grounded in a conceptual framework informed by the traditions and knowledge of leadership for inclusion of students with disabilities, social justice, and disability studies in education. This research project spanned three years, involving frequent research meetings, interviews, sharing of district documents, member check meetings, email debriefing of interviews and transcripts, detailed field logs, and data collection memos. This included in-depth interviewing as a data collection method, that was used for the purpose of understanding the ways in which special education administrators make sense of their leadership role. Findings: We found two main avenues for these district administrators' enactment of inclusive leadership: 1) engaging in student-level advocacy and 2) engaging in systems-level advocacy. These leaders operated at both the student-level, addressing student-specific issues, and maintained a broader lens and focus on systems (school, district, and community). Findings reveal the leadership scope, strategy, and actions leaders took, leading to a proposed framework of inclusive, socially-just, disability-centered district leadership. Implications: Recommendations are made for district leadership, leadership preparation, and future research.
This qualitative study explored 22 principals' perspectives from Oklahoma and Alaska regarding their experiences with education and discipline of American Indian and Alaska Native students. Utilizing Pewewardy and Hammer's culturally responsive leadership framework, the analysis identified three central themes: (1) the critical role of building strong relationships with families and communities to support students' academic and social success, (2) the necessity of cultural competence among school leaders, and (3) the value of trauma-informed disciplinary practices. Findings suggest culturally responsive leadership combined with trauma-informed practices effectively addresses historical inequities and disciplinary disparities. The study highlights the urgent need for systematic policy changes, culturally responsive leadership training, and increased bureaucratic representation to support Indigenous students and communities. These insights provide actionable implications for P-12 educational leaders, policymakers, and researchers aiming to create inclusive and equitable school environments for American Indian/Alaska Native and other marginalized student populations.
