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This paper provides a discussion of the role of school leaders in establishing democratic principles in a post‐conflict society. Drawn primarily from the author's experiences in Kosovo, the paper briefly introduces the historical and contemporary socio‐political context of the region, and then examines the role of school administrators in a post‐war society. The paper concludes with some recommendations intended to assist both the designers and recipients of educational leadership professional development programs in post‐conflict societies.

The rationale behind the theme is that in most countries, there are mission statements in different laws and policy documents that describe the purpose of schools. Most of those statements contain two goals; passing on knowledge from one generation to the next and the upbringing of good and harmonious citizens who shall be able to take over and continue to develop the world's democratic societies. If it is decided to believe that the policy makers want to have democratic schools that foster the next generation, the style of leadership used in schools has to be reviewed. A question seldom asked is: What kind of leaders can be models for the goals and democratic values decided and what kind of training do they need? This special issue of Journal of Educational Administration presents a set of articles which explore this theme.

Grassroots activists leverage innovative, justice-oriented strategies to address wide-scale problems like climate change, life-threatening poverty, threats to Indigenous land rights, and racialised incarceration while simultaneously navigating highly localised issues like food insecurity. In the United States, urban activists are associated with large-scale demonstrations and social justice campaigns, yet rural community leaders have been campaigning against inequality and racism for decades, rarely receiving similar nuanced attention. Beyond differences in awareness and recognition, rural and urban activism generally operate independently from one another. However, more robust alliances across community types are needed more than ever to tackle today’s most pressing social problems. In this chapter, the authors draw on their scholarship on urban and rural activism to show that both varieties share common features, including a critical, political, and sociological consciousness with a core mission of social justice through community mobilisation. From this, the authors discuss common differences between urban and rural activism, reflect on the role of activist scholars in supporting (more unified) struggles for justice, and address some critical issues regarding academics who wish to study or work with activists and social movements.

High levels of collective teacher efficacy (CTE) within a school is known to be associated with improved student learning. CTE is a marker of the level of shared efficacy among teachers within a school. Knowledge of the levels of CTE within a school does not, though, support its development. To properly support school leaders in nurturing CTE, knowledge of the status of the enabling conditions for CTE within their schools is necessary to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. Armed with such knowledge, school leaders can then begin the journey of cultivating CTE within their schools.

Drawing upon previous research, contextual predictors of collective efficacy were identified and a questionnaire was created. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the proposed factor structure. Necessary revisions were completed and in phase 2 of the field test, a new instrument was validated using factor analysis.

The preliminary validation of the Enabling Conditions for Collective Efficacy Scale (EC-CTES) is presented in this paper. This study provides evidence in support of a factor model with five related first-order factors that describe the enabling conditions for CTE, which include: Empowered Teachers, Embedded Reflective Practices, Cohesive Teacher Knowledge, Goal Consensus, and Supportive Leadership. A conceptual framework for “Leading Collective Teacher Efficacy” is provided.

The identification and measurement of the malleable, contextual factors that contribute to the formation of CTE has been lacking in previous research. While most of the previous research focused on the remote sources of CTE, very few studies have examined the proximate sources. Correlations between some factors were high, in particular Empowered Teachers and Supportive Leadership. Although there is evidence these factors can be seen as making unique contributions, future work will focus on the inclusion of additional items to more clearly make the distinction between the factors. In addition, there were limitations based on the sample in this study and future research should focus on a broader sample of participants.

While there are currently several CTE scales widely used in research, contextual factors that serve to enhance CTE in schools have not been captured in existing instruments. The identification of the contextual antecedents of CTE will be useful to system and school leaders because this information can be used to help inform their leadership practice as they work to help instill a greater sense of collective efficacy among the teaching faculty in their schools.

CTE is of great interest to system and school leaders because it predicts teachers' willingness to invest the time and energy required to attain educational goals and results in greater effort. The productive behavior on the part of the adults in schools characterized by high levels of CTE leads to improved student outcomes.

This study detailed the design and validation of a teacher perception survey to capture information related to the dimensions associated with the enabling conditions of CTE.

This study explores accounting practice in an Indigenous organization. This organization is embedded within a rural Aboriginal community in the country currently known as Australia. In doing so, this study illustrates the intertwining of accounting practice, practitioners, organizations and social/cultural context, while recognizing that the cultural embeddedness of accounting is not uniform.

Empirical materials were collected as part of a qualitative field study with an Indigenous organization. Specific methods include interviews, informal conversations, documentary reviews and participant observations. These materials were analysed through a Bourdieusian perspective.

By working with Indigenous Peoples on the ground, rather than relying on secondary materials, this study highlights how the values of a community challenge and reorient accounting practice towards community aspirations. This study illustrates how fields beyond the organization influence accounting practice, including in budgeting and assurance.

Exploring Indigenous practices of accounting maintains Indigenous agency and opens up space for alternative understandings and practices of accounting. By illustrating how a community can influence the accounting practice of an organization, this study has implications for wider understandings of the cultural embeddedness of mainstream accounting and possible alternatives.