Educational Leadership in Developing Countries and in Post-New War Countries

Abstract

While only a limited amount of research has been undertaken on education in conflict-affected societies, even less has been undertaken on leadership at the individual school level in such contexts. Certainly, a wide range of research projects on educational leadership has been conducted, but much of it has concentrated on well-established and relatively stable contexts (Bush, Educ Manag Adm Leadersh 42(6):787–791, 2014; Nawab, Int J Acad Res Bus Soc Sci 1(3):181–189, 2011; Oplatka, Comp Educ 40(3):427–448, 2004). The main investigations have been on issues relating to school improvement and effectiveness (Bush, Leadership and management in education. Sage, Los Angeles/London/New Delhi/Singapore, 2008; Educ Rev 61(4):375–389, 2009; Comp J Comp Int Educ 41(6):785–800, 2012; Rhodes and Brundrett, Educ Rev 61(4):361–374, 2009), school leadership and student learning achievement (Jacobson and Ylimaki, Comparative perspectives: an overview of seven educational contexts. In: Ylimaki RM, Jacobson SL (eds) US and cross-national policies, practices, and preparation: implications for successful instructional leadership, organisational learning, and culturally responsive practices. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 1–16, 2011; Leithwood et al., Leadership and other conditions which foster organisational learning in schools. In: Leithwood K, Lousis KS (eds) Organisational learning in schools. Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, pp 67–92, 1998; Leithwood and Massey, Developing leadership to improve student outcomes. In: Davies B, Brundrett M (eds) Developing successful leadership. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 77–98, 2010; Louis et al., Sch Eff Sch Improv 21(3):315–336, 2010), school leadership and change (Cravens and Hallinger, Peabody J Educ 87(2):157–161, 2012; Fullan, Leading in a culture of change. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2001; Hargreaves and Fullan, Understanding teacher development. Continuum International Publishing, New York, 1992), and school leadership and culture (Dimmock and Walker, Comp J Comp Int Educ 30(3):303–312, 2000; Sch Leadersh Manage 20(2):143–160, 2000; Hargreaves, Sch Eff Sch Improv 6(1):23–46, 1995). However, there are very few empirical studies that can be drawn upon in an attempt to understand the context and nature of school leadership in post-conflict settings at an international level (Clarke and O’Donoghue, The case for studying educational leadership at the individual school level in post-conflict societies. In: Clarke S, O’Donoghue T (eds) School level leadership in post-conflict societies: the importance of context. Routledge, London/New York, pp 1–8, 2013).