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This study aimed at exploring the change facilitator styles (CFS) that secondary school head teachers in Pakistan possess.

This is a quantitative study using Hall and George CFS questionnaire to collect data from 276 secondary school head teachers. The CFSQ used in this study consists of 30 Likert-type questions relating to six scales. The six scales, with five items each in aggregate, form three possible CFS, including initiator, manager and responder.

The results indicate that most secondary school head teachers (75.7%) in Pakistan used responder CFS to facilitate change in their schools. 16.7% of the head teachers used manger, while only 7.6% possessed initiator change facilitation styles.

The study has implications for research, in particular in the developing countries where head teachers' leadership practices are rooted in the past with maintaining authority and status quo.

The study has implications for policymakers and schools in developing countries, like Pakistan, in terms of considering the vital role of head teachers in change implementation. In particular, in the prevailing cluster-based educational management, the study's findings remain valuable for schools in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The paper reports the results regarding secondary school head teachers' change facilitator styles in the context of power devolution in Pakistan. The authors believe that the manuscript is appropriate for publication by the international journal of educational management because it is in line with the aims and scope of the journal. The authors assure the originality of this work. It has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication in any other journal.

This article traces the impact of educational policy on the role of primary head teachers in Britain spanning the end of the New Right and the start of the New Left policy implementation processes. It is based on the reported perceptions of a sample of primary school head teachers who have been in post over the entire seven year period. It is argued that the conceptual framework derived from the early work on headship in the UK is still appropriate to an analysis of the role of the primary school head as both leading professional and chief executive but that the emphasis has shifted from one in which heads are selected from aspects of their role to one in which heads are now required to extend their involvement in school management across the main aspects of both parts of their role.

The purpose of the paper is to report the findings of a synthesis of literature reviews and stakeholder interviews conducted in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The synthesis provides an overview of instructional leadership policy and practice in these six countries.

This paper reports the findings of a systematic literature review, and participant interviews, in six sub-Sahara African countries. The research links to the British Council's initiative to develop instructional leadership in developing contexts, including the six countries featured in this submission.

The findings show diverse policy and practice of instructional leadership in these African contexts. Three have no explicit policies on this important leadership construct, while the others have relevant policy statements but limited evidence of instructional leadership practice.

The research provides an overview of instructional leadership policy and practice in these six countries, but more school-based research is required to develop grounded evidence on whether and how this is practiced. The pandemic inhibited such school-based research in 2020. The study provides emerging evidence of the impact of instructional leadership on school and student outcomes, confirming what is known from international research.

Developing awareness of how instructional leadership can improve student learning, linked to appropriate training, could lead to more effective schools.

The Sustainable Development Goals stress the importance of high quality education for economic and social development. Leadership is an important aspect of quality, and the research reported in this paper shows the potential for instructional leadership to enhance student learning.

This is the first cross-national study of instructional leadership in sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this study was to identify the headship instructional leadership proficiencies, and how they influenced academic performance in high and low performing rural primary schools of Kweneng region.

Qualitative approach, using a multi-cross case study analysis was used. Data were collected through an in-depth, semi-structured and focus group interviews, observations and document analysis. Purposive sampling methods were used, and the study drew data from 56 participants. These were 4 school heads, 4 deputy school heads, 4 heads of department, 8 senior teachers, 12 teachers and 24 learners.

The cross-analysis case study findings revealed that high-performing rural primary schools involved their staff and stakeholders in crafting and implementation of the school vision, mission, values and strategic plans. This approach helped them in monitoring school and classroom instructions; hence, resulting in improved academic performance. On the contrary, low-performing schools paid lip service to “involvement” approach.

The implication for further study is that any future study can consolidate and expand the findings of this research by focusing on Botswana's rural secondary schools.

The implication of this study is that the ability of an excellent school head with instructional leadership proficiencies can change a low-performing rural primary school into a high-performing rural primary school. Therefore, schools heads who have instructional leadership proficiencies can be placed in low-performing schools for transformation.

Moreover, the social implication is that school heads from low-performing schools should benchmark instructional leadership proficiencies from high-performing schools.

The written case study narratives were given to participants for approval to find out if what was written was what they said. After their approval, the research supervisors validated them to check for biases and exaggerations.

Leadership is a key commodity in twenty‐first century organizations. This is especially true for school organizations. This paper aims to respond to six questions about head teachers and leadership of basic schools.

Head teachers responded to survey items about proficiencies required for effective leadership and those demonstrated in practice. The Greater Accra region of Ghana was the setting and head teachers constituted the sample. A survey with a unique identifier was distributed to head teachers at their schools. Analysis was conducted using SPSS and output was translated into frequencies and percentages.

A premise of the research was that heads of basic schools lacked leadership proficiencies because of the absence of school leadership preparation programs. Heads of basic schools lack professional preparation in leadership, and practice management and administrative behaviors rather than leadership.

Ghana has implemented several reforms with the intent of developing a quality education system; however, there has not been a focus on leadership. The literature is clear about the vital role head teachers have in effective schools and student achievement. This research calls attention to the leadership needs of head teachers in the Ghana education system.

This research reveals that Ghana faces a leadership challenge related to head teachers' professional development. The results are an alert to policy makers to institute educational reform that addresses head teachers' leadership in basic schools.

This article aims to identify the main challenges faced by headteachers after taking up their first headship in the UK. It also compares how these challenges have changed over time. Other purposes include the setting of the initial phase of headship within a whole career model and how heads become socialised into the role.

Based on evidence from empirical studies using longitudinal data over a period of 20 years, the paper reviews the challenges faced by new headteachers in the UK; it also advocates a stage model for studying the principalship.

Many of the main challenges experienced by new headteachers remained the same over a 20‐year period; most of the differences were accounted for by changes in government policy over the period. The main difficulties included catering with the legacy of previous incumbents, overcoming established school cultures and communication behaviours, coping with poorly performing staff, and countering a poor public image of the school.

The paper uses the main longitudinal data set available on the challenges and difficulties experienced by beginning headteachers in the UK; it also contributes conceptually to the socialization of headteachers and suggests a stage model of headship, relating the beginning phase to a holistic perspective of headteachers' career trajectories.

The introduction of performance-related pay with performance management in the state school sector of England and Wales represents a considerable change in the school management system. After 2000, all teachers were subject to annual goal setting performance reviews. Experienced teachers were offered an extended pay scale based on performance instead of seniority, and to gain access to the new upper pay scale, teachers had to go through a ‘threshold assessment’ based on their professional skills and performance. This paper reports the results of a panel survey of classroom and head teachers which started in 2000 just before implementation of the new system, and then after one and after four years of operation. We find that both classroom and head teacher views have changed considerably over time, from initial general scepticism and opposition towards a more positive view, especially among head teachers by 2004. We argue that the adoption of an integrative bargaining approach to performance reviews explains why a growing minority of schools have achieved improved goal setting and improved pupil attainments as they have implemented performance management. Pay for performance has been one of the measures of organisational support that head teachers could bring to induce changes in teachers’ classroom priorities. We argue that the teachers’ case shows that a wider range of performance incentives than previously thought can be offered to employees in such occupations, provided that goal setting and performance measurement are approached as a form of negotiation instead of top-down.

Details the research findings of a longitudinal national study to examine the changing role of secondary headteachers. Provides some basic information about the United Kingdom′s (UK) education system, and outlines the traditional role of the head in a short historical perspective which shows that education in the UK is currently undergoing unprecedented change, and legislation has created restructuring on a national scale. Details the new education context. Relates the heads′ views on the changing situation, as well as the changes in administrative roles and style that take place as new heads settle into the job.

To cope with the challenges of the twenty‐first century, the Hong Kong SAR government initiated the Curriculum Reform in 2001. In 2006, a research team from a tertiary institution was commissioned to review the progress of change for smooth implementation of the reform in its next phase. This paper aims to examine this issue.

The nature of the review is basically a survey, applying questionnaires and follow‐up focus‐group interviews to collect data from different groups of subjects. The sample was around 20 per cent of the population, i.e. a total of 252 primary (n=138) and secondary (n=114) schools.

The paper reports findings on the support for the Reform by primary and secondary schools. Five areas of agreement among school heads are examined, which include challenges to be met, guiding principles of the reform, learning goals, reform framework and the overall agreement with the rationale of the reform. It is found that, while the curriculum reform was supported among school heads, senior teachers and teachers, there was a gap between the views of senior management team and frontier teachers.

This is a very comprehensive research project with a limited timeframe. The paper can only report and discuss findings mainly on the support for curriculum reform by school heads. Other aspects of the study will be discussed and reported separately in subsequent papers.

The gap between the views of senior management team and frontier teachers is worth probing as this is the most obstructive factor to the implementation of the reform. Identifying the cause would be the first step in formulating strategies to address and, hopefully, to facilitate the smooth transition from the phase of implementation to the continuation phase of the change process.

The study has suggested the development of a two‐dimensional framework of agreement areas and stakeholders which will contribute to a better understanding of the change process in general, and achievements of a curriculum reform in particular. Other issues are also discussed.

The purpose of this article is to report findings from a national study of primary headteachers in their second headship in England. This investigated their reasons for moving schools, their choice of second school and a comparison of their experiences as heads of the two schools.

The research design involved a national representative survey of primary school headteachers who were in a headship beyond their first. Questionnaire responses were obtained from 86 primary headteachers: a 74 per cent response rate. Follow‐up telephone interviews with 20 of them obtained more detailed responses on the research questions.

The reasons that heads gave for taking a second headship fell into three groups – personal, school and external. The over‐riding reasons were to provide a fresh challenge and prevent feelings of stagnation. Movement between schools was complex and the clearest overall trend was a move to larger schools. Heads generally considered themselves more effective in their second school than their first and there were many accounts of the re‐energising effect of taking on a new post.

The findings suggest that second headship should be considered as a valuable means of contributing to the continuing development of headteachers. Headteachers should consider a second headship as a possible extension to their headship career. They may need to plan their career before and during their first headship in order to obtain their desired second headship.

This is the first large‐scale study of headteachers in a second headship. The numbers of headteachers choosing to move to a second headship and their positive experiences suggest that further stages should be added to the current conceptualisations of the career of the headteacher.