This qualitative study examined what female principals in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two historically male-dominated cultures who are actively implementing reforms to provide women with more leadership opportunities, reported as typical elements of their daily work. The study also examined the challenges that these female principals reported in their efforts to improve the learning environment in their schools and what advice they would give to women entering the field of school leadership. The themes that emerged from the data were used to construct a grounded theory of the daily responsibilities of Saudi and Qatari female principals, the challenges that faced in fulfilling those responsibilities, and how they advised women entering principal positions to prepare to respond to those challenges.

Research has shown that effective support systems are key to an educational CEO for success and tenure in the position. This qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) of women educational CEOs from the United States and Canada allowed for the reexamination of interviews from 37 participants focused on the importance of support systems. Findings uncovered six different themes or areas of support/hindrances: three formal supports/hindrances, policy, school board, and staff, and three informal supports/hindrances, family, community, and mentors/other women educational CEOs.

Gender equality in the workplace and social life has been argued especially since industrialization. Despite the belief that the education profession is suitable for women, the education sector has been one of the most discussed sectors due to the low number of female managers. Doubtless, gender stereotypes and attitudes toward women contribute to these inequalities. This research aimed to examine the attitudes, which may be an important part of this inequality, of teachers towards female principals. The universe of the research is consisted of the teachers and administrators at public schools in Adana's districts (Seyhan, Cukurova, Yuregir, and Saricam) province where women held an administrative position in the 2015-2016 academic year. The sample consisted of 818 teachers and administrators. A descriptive survey method was used to conduct the research. Attitudes toward Women Managers Scale were used to collect data. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was applied to analyze the data. For descriptive statistics, frequency, percent, average and standard deviation were used. For the statistical analysis T-Test and ANOVA tests were applied. As a result of the data analysis; significant differences between the groups according to gender, age groups, status and, level of the schools were found.

In this article, we extend and complement previous studies on self-descriptions of superintendents’ administrative work by examining the influential role of a relatively new actor in charter schools: the charter school district superintendent. In particular, we examine the influence of a charter district superintendent’s leadership on organizational factors such as mission, principal decision-making and school board involvement through interviews with the principals and board members in the district to identify how a charter school district superintendent exhibits leadership within an emerging context in the public school landscape. We use a qualitative case study approach to examine one charter school district superintendent and the perceptions of charter principals and charter school board members concerning his role and responsibility as a leader in the charter district. Three major themes emerged from the data: the superintendent’s role in the mission of an autonomous district; superintendent as an instructional leader; and the superintendent as a policy entrepreneur. The superintendent’s mission of the charter school district to operate as an autonomous entity, paved the way for the influence of the charter superintendent to employ and articulate instructional leadership strategies in his district, and spurred the superintendent toward action as a policy entrepreneur, establishing an LEA for his charter school district. The findings demonstrate that the superintendent has a significant, dynamic effect on the organizational mission and goals of the charter school district as well as influence on building principals and board members as the leader of the district.

Goffman’s theory of total institutions and Fanon’s theory of violence were used to explain student protests and violence in Kenyan secondary schools. Youth violence around the world is not a new phenomenon. However, the persistence, frequency, and intensity of violence, and their consequences beg for logical explanations and remedies. This study was part of a three-year project facilitated through the Networked Improvement Community partnership for self-study and intervention. Although a holistic approach to research was applied, data for this study were gathered through narrative inquiry. Participants (teachers, principals, and members of the school community) were identified purposively using the snowball process. Data were analyzed through deductive and inductive reasoning. Findings indicate a preponderance of student protest and violence among students in boarding schools. Student violence was a response to the devaluing and oppressive environment in boarding schools which resembled total institutions, and students exercising democratic rights to protest. The paper argues that school authorities could mitigate violent protests by providing formal political means of representation and democratic decision-making; creating new spaces for negotiation and peaceful protest; listening to the voices of students; and engaging in dialogue to create a common vision and mission.

Indonesia has achieved equal parity in access to education, income, and career opportunities. Yet in many parts of the country, female academic leaders are still highly under-represented in top academic boards. This study examines how fourteen (14) Indonesian female higher education academic leaders (FALs) enact identity salience and agency in performing their duties, while experiencing social control schemas or ‘triple binds’—exigencies of gender roles, unequal power-plays due to social status and positions, and lack of organizational resources and capital in higher education—in Indonesia, one of the world’s emerging economies still consolidating democracy and building necessary social, fiscal, and physical infrastructures. Taken as a whole, the study found the ‘triple binds’ as aggregate constraints for female leadership progression, driving female academic leaders to resist and rise above this discursive struggle and confrontation through sense-making, assertiveness, depth of conviction, a take-charge attitude, and the use of other tactical strategies like networking with key gatekeepers to obtain the resources they need. The study presents a framework of the triple binds that university leaders can use to assess constraints to academic leadership.

According to many studies teachers’ reception has been associated with the smooth operation of the school, the professional development of the teaching staff and the provision of optimal teaching work. Despite its significance and its attention from scholars, though, its implementation at schools has been facing challenges and hardships. The present study focuses on the role played by principals and teachers’ associations upon the reception and acclimatization of all newly appointed teachers in their schools. The findings indicate that the favorable disposition and actions of both principals and the teachers’ association in terms of receiving/acclimatizing any newly appointed teachers should be further enhanced.

The paper aims to investigate the extent to which school leaders adopt transformational leadership behaviors at times of crisis. The emphasis on restructuring in the educational policy environment in recent decades has led to an increased interest in transformational leadership in education, resulting in a large number of studies. In order to investigate the adoption of transformational leadership behaviors/practices at times of crisis, qualitative research was conducted with 30 primary school teachers in Greece. The schools were selected based on the extent to which they had been affected by the financial crisis. Greece has faced major challenges in the last ten years, including the financial crisis and the influx of immigrants. These changes have had a profound effect on the Greek educational system. In this context, the paper examines the extent to which school leaders in Greece adopt transformational leadership practices in order to deal with the impact of the crisis on their school unit. The findings of the research are used to draw conclusions and implications regarding educational policy as well as future research on the topic.

This research describes the perceptions of school principals in the context of their role in leading the professional development of the teaching staff. Their perceptions were examined in reference to three educational ideologies: socialization, acculturation and individuation. Data analysis of semi structured interviews conducted with 20 school principals, revealed a contradiction between the educational ideology that emerged in the context of the overall educational practice and the ideology referred to in the context of their role in teachers professional development. In the context of the educational practice, the majority of principals described an individuation ideology. In the context the principals' role regarding the professional development of the teaching staff, the majority of school principals presented the socialization ideology as their guiding ethos. In addition, the minority of principals demonstrated a combination of these two ideologies. None of the principals presented the acculturation ideology.

This paper extends and complements previous research on unethical leader behavior by examining the social and cultural perspectives that inform the understanding of objectional conduct among secondary school leaders in Kenya. The study used a social constructivist theoretical framework, and qualitative case study, and semi-structured interviews with school boards of governors, principals, and heads of department and school bursars. The findings revealed that cultural beliefs underpinned by the ubuntu ethic informed the school leaders' perceptions of unethical leadership behavior in the Kenyan secondary school contexts. Four sub-themes highlight acts that contradict the ubuntu values of altruism, humanness, care, and solidarity. They include disregard for community interests, neglect of care for one's kin, disregard for harmony, and elders' respect. The study concluded that western universal perspectives and definitions could not solely be relied upon to describe unethical leadership behavior in schools in non-Euro western contexts. The study contributes to the literature on unethical and ethical leadership by proposing a potential benefit in recognizing and incorporating non-western perspectives in exploring and defining the unethical leadership construct.

A qualitative study examining female and male Saudi principals’ perceptions of instructional leadership was conducted using an electronic survey. While teacher supervision and supporting new instructional strategies were themes that emerged from the data from both genders, the female participants provided more detail on what they personally did in both areas and identified more altruistic personal virtues that they felt instructional leaders should model. Female Saudi principals also identified active problem-solving as part of their instructional leadership as compared to male Saudi principals who reported directing school improvement efforts through their leadership team. Theories of instructional leadership were developed for each gender from participant responses that indicate that female Saudi principals define and enact instructional leadership in more relational and interactive terms than their male counterparts.

This research explores the impact of effective leadership and targeted interventions in closing the achievement gap of disadvantaged pupils in primary schools. Findings suggest that the case study schools use effective school leaders and a range of targeted interventions including early intervention, small group additional teaching, one-to-one tuition, peer tutoring, parental involvement, booster class, mastery learning, pastoral care, and enrichment programmes. Each of the above success factors and intervention strategies was explored in detail in the paper. The overall conclusions of this study are that the case study schools have closed the achievement gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers through providing effective school leaders and the use of a range of effective intervention strategies. We would suggest that the case study schools’ stories of how they have closed the achievement gap through providing strong school leaders and the use of targeted interventions are of local and national significance. Our research also suggests the possibilities for further research. The recommendations from the study are that there is a need to replicate and expand this research with a larger sample of the study, in order to explore in detail what works in schools.

This article analyses the strategies of the four United Kingdom (UK) nations to mitigate the impacts of primary school closures and the shift to remote learning due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. A theoretical framework based on a combination of the field literature of strategy and public value was developed to analyze their initiatives. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, and its data was collected from each country’s website, research papers, and media news. The findings reveal five key areas of action: remote learning; keeping schools open to assist vulnerable students and key workers’ children; access to the Internet and electronic devices to mitigate the digital divide; free meals to disadvantaged learners; and students’ assessment. The analysis suggests that the four nations initially adopted a coordinated action and gradually followed three different paths: deliberate strategies, adjustment to the pandemic situation, and development of emergent strategies. The variegate of strategies show the innovative capacity of the countries and the search for public value. Further research is suggested to address the impact of the strategies.

This article aims to explore the views of primary school teachers regarding the educational leadership exercised by leader teachers at the human resource management level, and how this can affect their willingness to communicate and collaborate. The theoretical framework analyzes the dimensions of human resource management by a leader teacher, as a communication channel, team empowerer, and creator of a climate of trust. The research was carried out using quantitative method, with a closed digital questionnaire which was completed by 693 primary school teachers from whole Greece. Initially, the analysis was carried out through descriptive statistics and then selected questions were analyzed by statistical inference test. The findings show a shift towards the model of a transformational leader, despite the country’s education system remaining highly centralized. In addition, the findings show a correlation between democratic and cooperative staff management, with the axes of inspiration and responsibility on the teachers’ side. This article highlights whether the communication skills of a leader teacher affect the functioning of the school. The research was carried out during a pandemic and thus it was not possible to collect qualitative data using interviews with leader teachers so that we can have a comparative approach to the issue.

Theories of distributed leadership suggest that organizational learning and change results not from the efforts of a single individual, but rather from a network of people working within their broader systems. Team empowering leadership enhances human resources development of the organization to promote the sharing of knowledge that is necessary for change. In this study, we study transformational and distributed leadership team that have been linked to improving working conditions and students’ learning in high-needs schools. Specifically, we highlight a team-based intervention where positive organizational improvements were made to academically struggling schools, and then qualitatively examined the associated processes to understand what enabled the occurrence of those positive changes. We find that the team structure allowed for the clarification of expectations, enhancement of communication, and improvement of educator working conditions through professional development support and distribution of leadership responsibility, which ultimately resulted in improvement in school culture and performance.

In the research, it was aimed to learn the leadership expectations of secondary school students in the context of school principals. In this context, focus group interviews were conducted with sixteen students studying at different grade levels in the research conducted with a phenomenological design, and the data obtained were subjected to content analysis. When the findings were examined, it was seen that the leadership expectations of the students from the school principals were shaped in four sub-themes (behavior, values, skills and abilities, and characteristics). According to the results obtained, students from school principals about leadership; In the behavior sub-theme, they expect the most discipline and valuing ideas, they expect the most fairness, tolerance and understanding in the values sub-theme, they expect the most professional expertise in the skills and abilities sub-theme, and they expect the most compassion and sincerity in the characteristics sub-theme. The results show that the expectations of the students, which are the basic elements of the education process, should be taken into account by the school leaders.

A National Science Foundation-funded Mathematics and Science Partnership program, Leadership for Educators: Academy for Driving Economic Revitalization in Science (LEADERS), aimed to develop science teacher leaders who would influence the quality of science teaching in their respective schools. To fulfill a need to evaluate leadership abilities of teachers within LEADERS, a Teacher Leadership Instrument was developed based on our previous work. This paper examines the performance of teachers as outlined in the Teacher Leader Model (TLM) Standards following their enrollment in three teacher leadership courses aligned with these Standards. The study employed a qualitative approach to analyze peer professional development sessions provided by teacher leaders, and to rate leadership behaviours and practices. Results indicate that 31 of the 37 functions were exhibited by the teacher leaders, with most observations occurring at a developing level. Behaviours related to effective presentation and facilitation were observed most frequently, but the teacher leaders also incorporated research-based practices, information about assessments, and links to the community in their sessions. Further, these behaviours linked back to the intended outcomes of the three leadership courses. The results demonstrate one manner in which teacher leaders perform the functions of the TLM Standards in the context of professional development sessions.

A professional development that is often mandated is exclusionary, less motivating, and provides teachers with little or no improvement in their professional practice as well as student achievement. This necessitates a fundamental change in policy from prescribing professional development to addressing teachers’ self-identified felt needs. Hitherto, teachers are generally disenfranchised from specifying their felt needs for development, thus they feel uninterested, or enthusiastic to attend professional development programs that are prescribed for them by school leaders. When they do or are compelled to attend, they tend to be less attentive and are often indulged in reading newspapers, grading students’ test papers, texting, playing video games, or simply doing something unrelated to the professional development. This practice stifles teachers’ professional growth and student learning, hence it must not be allowed to continue unabated. Through a qualitative case study research design, using survey, interviews, and focus groups, this research brought to the fore, the debilitating effects of the current practice. Analysis of data yielded four major themes: choice, motivation, effectiveness, and satisfaction. The study proposed a paradigm shift in policy from mandating to granting teachers the autonomy to identify their own real or felt needs for professional development. Implications for practice, leadership, policy, and further research were also discussed.

Focusing on servant leadership and its outcomes are considered fairly essential in terms of its contribution to the literature. This study seeks to determine the relationships between the servant leadership of school principals and the loyalty of teachers to their principals and the constructs of loyalty to supervisors. Secondary school teachers working in Diyarbakır constitute the population of the study. 26 secondary schools were randomly selected from Diyarbakır province and the scales were applied to the teachers working in these schools. The sample consists of 202 teachers. The data were obtained with servant leadership and loyalty to supervisor scales. Validity and reliability analyzes were performed on the scales to determine whether the scales were valid and reliable or not. While analysing the data, descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyzes were used, respectively. It was found that the variables examined in the study had a positive and significant relationship. Regression analysis findings revealed that servant leadership predicted loyalty to supervisors and the constructs of loyalty to supervisors (dedication, extra effort, attachment, identification, and internalization) in a statistically significant way. School principals wishing to establish a sense of loyalty in schools are recommended to be aware of the positive role of servant leadership on psychological mechanisms and to have speeches and actions compatible with this type of leadership.

Poverty is a clustered and corrosive disadvantage that affects students throughout their lives. The education system has been positioned as an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. Yet, the education system continues to fail to achieve its potential. We conceptually explore how educational leaders could perceive their responsibility in assisting children experiencing poverty and in leveraging the education ecosystem to fulfill the promise of full capability functioning through self-agency and empowerment. We call for an education leadership shift from an outcomes-based paradigm to a student-focused paradigm that embraces the complexity of poverty, develops students’ opportunities for self-agency and empowerment, and ultimately leads to a higher quality of life. We propose an interdisciplinary model of leadership.