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This research aimed to assess the leadership role of principals in the implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa.

This study employed qualitative research approach to assess the leadership role of principals in the implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. Data were gathered from a small sample of six principals from six selected secondary schools which were engaged in the implementation of a peace education programme, and data were analysed using thematic content analyses.

Findings of the study suggest that principals possess a low level of understanding or awareness of their leadership role in the implementation of peace education. The study pointed out the constraints such as time constraints and learners' negative attitudes and social influences hinder the effective implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools.

First, the data were self-reported and therefore subject to social desirability bias; participants may have provided socially desirable responses rather than their true belief or experiences. Thus, participants may have overstated their role in and commitment to the peace education programme.

Studies that aim to explore alternative approaches to combat violence, such as peace education, are still limited in South Africa. Hence, this paper served to close that gap by contributing to the growing body of research on the leadership role of the principal in the implementation of peace education in the school and exploring barriers hampering its effective implementation.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its effects on education in general, has influenced the leadership landscape of school principals, which may have necessitated adaptations and transitions in their leadership orientation. To better comprehend any variations in the leadership orientation of school principals in response to the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study examines leadership orientation in both the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods.

In this quantitative research, the authors collected data from 297 school principals in the Balochistan province of Pakistan using the leadership orientation survey (LOS) in a quantitative research approach.

The results indicated that principals’ leadership orientation underwent an observable transition before and after the pandemic. Principals’ preferred leadership orientation notably changed from solely political before the pandemic to a combination of highly political and symbolic after the pandemic.

Using a survey, the study investigated the transition in school principals’ leadership orientation before and after the pandemic. However, the results do not explain what caused the transition in principals’ leadership orientation, which is the key limitation of this study. Future research within a qualitative approach can study the factors associated with changes in principles’ leadership frames.

The overall findings of the study have implications for scholars, policymakers and educational leaders to reexamine and gain a deeper understanding of the leadership roles of principals in the post-pandemic age. This is because principals now operate in a distinct context characterized by new difficulties and opportunities compared to the pre-pandemic period.

This is an original study that examined the transition of school principals’ leadership orientation before and after the pandemic. The body of literature related to the transition between pre- and post-pandemic is limited both in Pakistan and the rest of the world. This study illuminates the literature in this regard.

Our study presents insights from an exploratory qualitative case study conducted in three primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark, a country renowned for its collaborative and egalitarian culture, to unravel the complexities of shared instructional leadership.

Interviews with principals, middle leaders, and teachers and document analysis were used to identify themes according to shared and instructional leadership perspectives.

The study yielded three major findings. First, Danish principals structure schools to prioritize student learning outcomes and distribute responsibility to middle leaders and teachers. Second, reflection among teachers and leaders better prepares them for future demands and obligations. Third, collaboration underpins principals’ vision of reflection and professional development.

The research team’s reflection on the data collected can be used to build future strategies to address unpredictable student learning progression and poor-performing teachers.

Together, these findings contribute to the broader understanding of shared instructional leadership and demonstrate how principals face external pressure for accountability and how egalitarian culture influences principals’ practices.

School principals should create a positive school climate through instructional leadership behaviors and support teacher autonomy to reach their ultimate goals. This study examines the relationship between the instructional leadership behaviors of school principals and teacher autonomy, testing the mediating role of school climate and the moderator role of teacher seniority.

This cross-sectional study tests the relationships between the variables with structural equation modeling. By stratified sampling method, research data from 739 teachers in six central districts of Ankara during the 2022–2023 academic year.

Results showed that school principals' instructional leadership behaviors, teacher autonomy, and perceptions of school climate were above average. The study also indicates that the instructional leadership behaviors of school principals are positive and significant predictors of teacher autonomy and school climate and that school climate is a positively significant predictor of teacher autonomy. Moreover, school climate partially mediates the relationship between instructional leadership and teacher autonomy, and teacher seniority has a moderator role.

This study is limited to the opinions of the teachers working in the official primary, secondary and general high schools in the districts of Ankara in the 2022–2023 academic year on the instructional leadership of the school principals, the teachers' perceptions of autonomy and the school climate. It has been observed that there is a relationship between the instructional leadership behaviors of school principals and teacher autonomy. It can be said that the instructional leadership behaviors of school principals support teachers to exhibit autonomous behaviors in instructional strategies and processes, curriculum, classroom management, professional development and communication.

It is seen that the instructional leadership behaviors of school principals affect teacher autonomy through school climate. It can be said that with the instructional leadership behaviors of school principals, the school climate is more democratic, success-oriented, sincere, supportive of teacher leadership and transforming conflicts into an opportunity for school development, thus affecting teachers' areas of autonomy. We can say that with the development of teachers' autonomy, more effective instructional strategies and instructional processes are developed, the curriculum is transferred with more permanent teaching techniques, professional communication is transformed into collective actions and more comprehensive studies are planned and implemented.

This study will extend the literature by revealing the complex link between instructional leadership, teacher autonomy, school climate and teacher seniority. Furthermore, this study estimates how these complex interactions emerge in non-western cultures with centralized educational structures.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between leadership self-efficacy and the decision to be a school principal and the mediating effects of motivation-to-lead and worries-about-leadership in this relationship.

A total of 375 teachers working in public high schools in Ankara, Türkiye participated in this cross-sectional predictive study. Descriptive statistics, structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were used in the analysis of the data.

Leadership self-efficacy was found to increase both motivation-to-lead and worries-about-leadership. Motivation-to-lead positively influenced the decision to be a school principal, whereas worries-about-leadership did so negatively. Furthermore, leadership self-efficacy had an indirect positive effect on the decision to be a school principal through motivation-to-lead and worries-about-leadership.

Based on the findings, it is recommended to offer teachers training programs on school administration and leadership. Furthermore, we suggested providing teachers with administrative internship and mentorship opportunities to help them gain field experience and benefit from the experiences of incumbent school principals in school leadership.

This study confirmed that theoretical assumptions about self-efficacy are also relevant in the decision-making process regarding the school principalship: leadership self-efficacy can be the source of both motivation and worry. This study also implied that teachers make their choices about the school principalship by considering the potential advantages and disadvantages of the position.

Although significant research has examined the concept of transformational leadership, few studies have explored the indirect impact of transformational leadership on individual and organizational outcomes within the context of crisis. Accordingly, this study aims to advance our understanding of the indirect impact of transformational leadership on school performance and principals' work alienation within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, this study contributes to this developing stream of literature by hypothesizing the indirect effect of two relational resources, namely employee trust and relational coordination, which mediate the relationship between transformational leadership, school performance and principals' work alienation.

This study draws on a unique sample of 634 principals from Irish primary schools navigating the COVID-19 crisis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using Mplus 8.3 to test the hypothesized model.

Mixed findings emerged concerning the mediating process of relational resources and their impact on transformational leadership, school performance and principals' work-alienation. In particular, support is found for the critical role of principals whose transformational leadership style can help increase school performance. However, evidence suggests that employee trust does not mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and principals' work alienation.

This study provides several practical insights for education professionals, policymakers and HRM practitioners across each phase of the crisis management cycle. Firstly, regarding the pre-crisis stage, educational institutions should invest in targeted leadership development programs that prioritize relationship-building and effective communication among stakeholders. Second, during crises, the study emphasizes the role of relational resources in mediating the impact of leadership on school performance. Moreover, the study illustrates the importance of proactively cultivating strong connections with stakeholders, fostering timely, problem-solving-based communication. Finally, in the post-crisis phase, collaboration with government stakeholders is recommended to inform recovery policies.

This study makes several contributions to the literature on leadership and crisis management. First, this study adds new insights suggesting how principals as leaders influence school performance during crisis. Second, by adopting a relational perspective, this study suggests two types of relational resources (i.e. employee trust and relational coordination), as the mediators between transformational leadership, school performance and principals' work alienation. Third, this study moves the existing research on leadership during crisis forward by focusing on the functional effectiveness of leadership while focusing on the principals' work alienation during the pandemic.

There is currently a shortage of applications for the role of principal. There are a range of factors contributing to this, one of which may be the considerable levels of stress and burnout reported by principals and deputy principals. Distributed leadership may offer some solutions to this challenge. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of distributed leadership from a role sustainability perspective of school principals and deputy principals.

This paper follows a qualitative interpretivist approach based upon 15 semi-structured interviews with principals and deputy principals working in Irish post-primary schools. Data were analysed via thematic analysis.

Results indicate challenges to the sustainability of the role of senior school leaders comprising administrative overload, policy proliferation and challenges due to the complexity and breadth of the role of these school leaders. It was reported that engagement with distributed leadership could aid the sustainability of participants in their roles and the importance of focusing on well-being practices was also highlighted.

Recommendations include the need to reconsider policy proliferation and the need to reconceptualise school leadership. Further consideration regarding how distributed leadership can aid the sustainability of the role of senior school leaders, without adversely contributing to the already busy role of schoolteachers is also recommended.

The findings of this study are valuable as they reflect previous findings relating to the current challenges to sustainable school leadership as well as highlight distributed leadership as a potential aid to mitigate against these challenges.

The purpose of this study was to explore school principals’ job crafting profiles during the prolonged COVID-19 crisis in 2021, and investigate profile differences regarding principals’ own perceived servant leadership, stress and work meaningfulness.

Using latent profile analysis (LPA), two job crafting profiles were identified: (1) active crafters (55%) and (2) average crafters (45%). By auxiliary measurement-error-weighted-method (BCH), we examined whether and how job crafting profiles differed in terms of servant leadership, stress and work meaningfulness.

Active crafters reported higher than the overall mean level of approach-oriented job crafting (increasing job resources and demands), whereas average crafters reported an overall mean level of approach-oriented job crafting. Avoidance-oriented job crafting by decreasing hindering job demands did not differentiate the two profiles. Active crafters reported significantly higher servant leadership behavior, stress and work meaningfulness than average crafters.

Study findings provide new knowledge and reflect the implications that the unprecedented pandemic had for education. This study contributes to the existing literature within the scholarship of job crafting through empirical research during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. For practitioners, these study findings reflect contextual constraints, organizational processes and culture, and leadership in workplaces.

Research has provided powerful evidence that what teachers do in the classroom matters most for the learning of students. Evidence also suggests that school leaders can make a significant difference to student learning via their influence on teachers' attitudes, beliefs and classroom practices. The purpose of this study was to examine if/how principal instructional leadership practices affect differentiated instruction in Omani schools, and understand the role that teacher collaboration and self-efficacy play in this dynamic.

The study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze data collected from a sample of 496 teachers working in public schools in Muscat, Oman.

The findings revealed no direct association between principal instructional leadership and differentiated instruction. Instead, the effects of principal instructional leadership on differentiated instruction were achieved indirectly through the mediation of teacher collaboration and teacher self-efficacy. Collaboration was also found to have a positive influence on the teachers' self-efficacy beliefs.

The significance of this study stems from its relevance to the educational developments unfolding not only in Oman, but in the Gulf region at large. Recent reviews of educational administration and leadership research in the Gulf states indicate the scarcity of empirical research investigating the relationship between principal leadership and teacher practices. This is problematic as it creates a gap in our knowledge of the factors that can support ongoing school improvement initiatives in the region. More specifically, we expect our findings to guide current educational reforms aimed at raising education quality via promoting effective teaching and learning in Omani schools.

This qualitative study aimed to explore school principals' perceptions of social justice in a centralized school setting in Kuwait, as well as the challenges they face when promoting equity and equality for students' learning in schools.

Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 18 public school principals from Kuwait's six educational districts.

The results revealed that principals' experiences and unique perspectives shape their definitions of social justice within their schools. Some school principals see social justice as ensuring fairness and equal opportunities for every student regardless of their backgrounds. Others focus on creating an inclusive and supportive environment. The results also showed that limited resources, institutional barriers, limited autonomy, lack of training, and some ministerial laws are among the challenges that school principals face in promoting equity and equality.

The findings are informative to policymakers and other educational stakeholders. Practical suggestions are provided to improve school principals' social justice leadership practices.

This study adds to the empirical knowledge of school principals' role in promoting equity and equality for student learning in a centralized school setting and attempts to reduce the social justice leadership gap in schools.