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The purpose of this exploratory case study was to investigate the role of School Leaders (SLs) in building Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in schools, as well as to expand a literature-driven PLC model within the Pakistani context.

The study involved the purposive selection of two schools affiliated with a university. The sample comprised one school leader, one academic coordinator and five teachers from each school, altogether 14 participants. The participants shared similar demographic characteristics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, which were analysed thematically.

The findings of the study revealed that both schools have created PLCs to some extent and that school goals and culture were contributing factors in building these communities. Additionally, the SLs played a key role in promoting PLCs by encouraging teacher collaboration. The study concludes that SLs have the potential to strategize their actions to foster positive professional relations among teachers and ensure their well-being.

The study contributes to the literature on professional communities in Pakistan by validating a literature-driven PLC model. The model emphasizes collaboration among teachers, which can be facilitated by SLs. As such, the study implicates SLs in prioritizing the professional development of teachers to enhance student learning and achieve school success.

This study is unique in expanding a literature-driven PLC model within the Pakistani context, with a focus on teacher collaboration as facilitated by SLs. The model has the potential for replication in other contexts and can serve as a useful tool for future research.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to fill the knowledge gap and to investigate relationships between cultural background and various demographic factors influencing parental involvement behaviors that prompt them to engage in their children's academic activities.

A quantitative research method was used to collect data to answer research questions and explore relationships between variables (Fraenkel et al., 2015). The researchers created the survey on Qualtrics and conducted a pilot study to improve the survey based on the recommendations of the pilot study's participants. Some items were reworded suggested by an expert committee to finalize the instrument. This survey mainly consisted of two sections to collect data on participants' demographics and cultural background. The participants used multiple-choice options to answer items pertaining to family demographics. They were asked to use a 5-point Likert scale: very often = 5, often = 4, sometimes = 3, rarely = 2 and never = 1 to respond to survey items regarding cultural background and parental involvement behaviors.

The correlation coefficient showed a statistically significant relationship between parents' expectations, educational level and their involvement behaviors in children's academic achievement. However, parents' income and cultural background had no statistically significant relationships with parental involvement in their children's academic achievement.

The results of this study have potentially broad implications for educational leaders, policymakers, educators and parents to develop policies for diverse students to enhance their educational achievements.

The researchers reviewed extensive literature and found the gap in regional studies particularly related to one of the fastest-growing, financially stable and highly educated ethnic groups in the country. The researchers developed a brand new instrument on Qualtrics and distributed a survey via online and direct administration to collect primary data from 200 participants.

This study aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of adolescent’s experiences of individual school social work counselling in Swedish elementary schools.

The study encompasses interviews with 16 adolescents about their experiences of individual counselling with school social workers (SSWs). The data was analysed using conventional content analysis.

The main result was the adolescents’ desire “to navigate to shore” to speak freely about their whole lives with a professional SSW and find a “ safe haven,” […] where a trusting professional cared for and comforted them in counselling. The counselling contact contributed to increased knowledge about oneself. The results reveal the importance of the SSWs paying attention and listening to the adolescents’ narratives. The creation of a coherent life narrative enables to finally end counselling and “Cast off.”

The results highlight the importance of Swedish SSWs focusing on individual counselling sessions with adolescents to provide a setting for growth.

This study sets out to investigate the elements of the collaborative culture required for the successful implementation and sustainability of programs in schools. It draws on a case study of a student peer-led physical activity (PA) program implemented within the complex and dynamic environment of school communities in New Zealand. The article outlines four key components needed to effectively implement and impact long term sustainability of a program within the school context.

This qualitative case study examines the implementation of a new peer-led PA program introduced across eight New Zealand schools. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with senior leaders, teachers and parents and analyzed through a complexity theory lens.

Effective and sustainable program implementation requires a strategic, collaborative approach through actively engaging with and resourcing four key interacting components: student choice, voice and agency; collective responsibility; shared understanding of purpose; and curriculum coherence.

This research offers a pragmatic approach to developing collaborative school communities that can effectively implement change by highlighting key areas of focus that policymaker, school leaders and program designers can plan for.

The purpose of this paper is to explore existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work to promote quality in preschools from the principal’s perspective.

A collaborative approach was used in this research project, and principals were asked to complete portfolio assignments. Their answers to those portfolio assignments were analysed by the research team and subsequently compared to total quality management values.

Existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work are presented and sorted into 13 and 17 groups, respectively. The principals desire four times more methodologies than they are presently using to promote systematic quality work, and the results show that they must extend their methodologies to support TQM values.

This research is based on answers collected from 18 principals in one municipality in Sweden.

The use of the cornerstone model provides a framework to illustrate the application of TQM in preschools.

Principals struggle to find time for systemic quality work. The presented results can be used to work systematically with quality in preschools and other organizations.

Exploring how racism continues to persist throughout public and nonprofit organizations is central to undoing persistent society-wide injustices in the United States and around the globe. The authors provide two cases for identifying and understanding the ways in which philanthropy’s whiteness does harm to K–12 students and communities of color.

In this article, the authors draw on critical race theory and critical whiteness studies, specifically Cheryl Harris' work to expose the whiteness of philanthropy, not as a racial identity, but in the way that philanthropy is performed. The authors characterize one of the property functions of whiteness, the right to exclude, as working through two mechanisms: neoliberal exclusion and overt exclusion. Drawing on this construction of the right to exclude, the authors present two cases: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the City Fund.

Whether intentional or not, the Gates Foundation and the City Fund each exclude communities of color in several ways: from changes to schools and districts, parents' experiences navigating school enrollment due to these changes, to academic assessments and political lobbying.

These cases provide a way for researchers and practitioners to see how organizations in real time reify the extant racial hierarchy so as to disrupt such organizational processes and practices for racial justice.

The purpose of this study is to explore the understanding and observance of the program “This School is a Zone of Peace” (SZOP) in schools where conflict and violence are not prevalent.

This paper followed a qualitative research tradition – narrative inquiry. Eight teachers and a school head participated in the study. Data were gathered through nonparticipant observation, photography and focus group discussion with photo elicitation.

The participants elucidated the declaration, “This School is a Zone of Peace,” as a message of assurance to the community that the school is a home for learners that is welcoming and violence free. Furthermore, learners in a school that is a zone of peace are honed holistically with the participation, cooperation and togetherness of the school community members. Teachers at the forefront viewed themselves as mentors, implementers and models. Teachers contended that peacebuilding practices in schools could be sustained through regular implementation, encouraging others to get involved and have commitment.

A handful of articles have illustrated the essence of the School as Zone of Peace program, which pointed out to create a culture of peace in schools; however, it leaned toward the negative conception of peace – the absence of conflict and violence. This study bared additional insights and fresh perspectives of the SZOP initiative observed in schools with different contexts and experiences that may be helpful to policymakers for the enhancement of the adapted program with the goal of peacebuilding to making schools highly functional.

This study examines the critical elements that contribute to the effective adoption of educational digital resources (EDRs) in schools, with a focus on school principals and their leadership, from a strategic pedagogical standpoint.

Using survey data from 200 school principals, measurement and structure models are tested through structural equation modeling to quantify the impact between constructs.

The findings indicate that the most important factor influencing how effectively schools are transforming digitally is how beneficial school principals believe EDRs to be. Other important elements include the environment of the school, the technical assistance and service provided for the EDRs, and the professional and personal background of the principal.

Principals should be a fundamental component of educational plans for digital transformation, considering things like their age, leadership and teaching experience. Other components include contextual elements like school size, complexity and digital culture. A school principal's ability to promote an open dialogue – that enables educational communities to view the integration of EDRs into pedagogical models as an opportunity to improve outcomes – can assist a digital culture transition, rather than via the principal's authority or bureaucratic influence.

This research is among the pioneer to study the role of school principals in the UAE towards understanding the direction for digital transformation.

Building on the social cognitive theory, a mediation model was examined to understand the role of teacher self-efficacy as the underlying mechanism for the relationship between instructional leadership and teacher job satisfaction.

The study tests a mediation model between instructional leadership, teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction. The data were collected via online survey from primary school teachers (N = 320) working for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MDC) in India. The mediation model was tested using the AMOS 22.0 after establishing the reliability and validity of measures.

Regression analyses using the bootstrapping method indicated that teacher self-efficacy mediates the relationship between instructional leadership and teacher job satisfaction.

This is a cross-sectional study. The scope for causal inferences is, thus, limited.

In the Indian setting, the study examines the association between instructional leadership and job satisfaction. The results show that the instructional leadership of the school principal is strongly related to teachers' self-efficacy, which, in turn is positively associated with teacher’s job satisfaction. Further, the findings confirm that instructional leadership, emphasizing instructional improvement, improves teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction.

The study explains the underlying process through which a school principal’s instructional leadership is related to teacher job satisfaction. This study is perhaps the first to focus on an Indian or a non-Western context.

This study investigated the relationship between principals' abusive leadership and teachers' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, exploring the potential moderating effects of the duration of the relationship and group size within educational settings.

Data were collected from a sample of teachers in Bahrain, using self-report measures. The data were analyzed using regression analyses.

The findings reveal a significant negative relationship between principals' abusive leadership and teachers' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The results also show that the duration of the relationship moderates the correlation between abusive leadership and teachers' extrinsic motivation, with teachers who have been in longer relationships with their principals showing greater resistance to the detrimental effects of abusive leadership on their extrinsic motivation. Group size was found to moderate this correlation, with larger groups exhibiting stronger buffering against the negative effect of abusive leadership.

The findings provide valuable insights into the dynamics of abusive leadership in educational settings and the potential moderating factors that can help alleviate its detrimental effects on teachers' motivations.