ABSTRACT In the field of peace education, studies need to examine the critical role that leadership in educational innovation can play in managing conflicts and promoting a culture of nonviolence. This work contributes to the field by employing an educational innovation approach, allowing the analysis of leadership and management practices to foster a culture of peace. Specifically, it seeks to answer the question: How do leadership and management practices drive the development of educational innovations for peace? The study takes place in Colombia, a country currently in a transitional justice peace process but where local peacebuilding practices are often overlooked. The study draws on an analysis of 40 educational innovations for peace, ultimately selecting a subset characterized by matured development innovations (i.e. a longer trajectory) and sustained success over time. Among the most significant findings is the correlation between three forms of vision and two types of community influence, each connected to distinct management styles categorized in this study as leadership practices. This work holds relevance for those researching education for peace and those examining educational innovations in vulnerable contexts.

ABSTRACT The UK is experiencing a teacher retention crisis, marked by increasing attrition rates and vacancies, highlighting the need for effective school leadership. No past work has investigated leadership preferences within UK primary school settings, nor compared more contemporary models of leadership, such as social identity leadership, to established models including transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. This quantitative mixed-design study (within- and between-subjects factors) investigated the preferred leadership styles of UK primary school teachers, focusing on preferences for social identity leadership relative to alternative models. A secondary aim was to examine leadership preferences as a function of gender identity, age, and experience. One hundred and one current and former primary school teachers participated in an online survey adapted from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Social Identity Leadership Inventory, enabling an evaluation of job satisfaction and retention in relation to three widely studied leadership styles and one emerging style. Results indicated a clear preference for social identity leadership across all demographic groups. These findings challenge established leadership assumptions and have important implications for leadership practices. Future research should examine these patterns across broader educational contexts and explore situational influences on leadership preferences.

ABSTRACT School principals’ psychological health is considered an essential element of the educational mission. Therefore, wellbeing at work is important as it plays a fundamental role in overall psychological health. Indeed, according to some studies, wellbeing may enhance principals’ retention, but the empirical evidence supporting this relationship remains limited. Given the global concern over principals’ retention, this systematic literature review aims to explore the relationships between their work characteristics, their wellbeing, and their intention to quit or turnover. Following the PRISMA guidelines, this systematic literature review focuses on peer-reviewed articles published between 2018 and 2024. A total of 18 empirical articles were identified. Job complexity, job autonomy, organizational and social support, workload, school characteristics, and educational policies are different factors related to both the wellbeing and the intention to quit or the turnover of school principals. Although this systematic literature review reveals an increase in the number of studies on the wellbeing and intention to quit or turnover of school principals, gaps remain concerning the associations between their work characteristics, the mediating role of wellbeing, and its influence on their intention to quit or turnover.

ABSTRACT Schools are considered a microcosm of society, and as such, often reflect structural injustices that limit students’ development. Among those limits are limits on students’ ability to satisfy both basic and advanced needs, which Maslow’s hierarchy of needs addresses. The pressing need for effective school leadership is in schools with the most challenging social, economic, and political circumstances. Fulfilling students’ needs is highly challenging in schools and communities characterized by poverty and a lack of resources. This qualitative study explored nine social justice leaders operating in Arab schools in Israel. The findings reveal that school leaders recognized a range of Maslow’s basic and advanced needs requiring their attention to effectively promote social justice for students. To satisfy the students’ needs and promote social justice, these school leaders adopted an integrated leadership style, including instructional, social-emotional, and distributed leadership. The results demonstrate how the motivational framework is linked with (in)justice in schools operating in very challenging circumstances, as well as how a diverse range of students’ needs in these settings demands multimodal leadership action. The contribution of the paper lies in offering the Integrated Leadership for Promoting Social Justice (In-Lead for SJ) model specific to educational settings with complex school conditions.

ABSTRACT Recently, educational leadership has become of increasing interest to policy makers and researchers in non-Western and developing countries, particularly in the Latin American region. Often Western-inspired leadership models are applied in these contexts without consideration for the specific realities of each country. This paper focuses on the study of educational leadership in Ecuadorian technical schools, a context characterized by numerous educational reforms and a shift from administrative to pedagogical leadership models. Grounded in leadership identity theory, this article explores the perceptions of school principals and vice-principals regarding their evolving roles as educational leaders. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with six school authorities. Results highlight that principals’ identity development is marked by dualities between being a leader and a teacher, as well as between administrative and pedagogical leadership. Moreover, the findings illustrate how these ambiguities must be interpreted in the context of Ecuadorian educational policies, the unique challenges faced by technical schools, and the career trajectories of educational leaders. The results of this study contribute to the establishment of a knowledge base for contextualized educational leadership research in Ecuador. The implications for the professional development of Ecuadorian school authorities, educational research, and policy are thoroughly discussed.

ABSTRACT Although there is increasing interest in school leaders’ empowering behaviors, no qualified tool like the School Leader Empowering Behaviors Scale (SLEBS) is available in Türkiye. This study aims to translate and adapt this tool into Turkish. Using convenience sampling, 500 Turkish teachers from K12 schools in Trabzon participated. Of these, 64% were women; the average age was 41.7 (SD = 7.37), with at least one year of teaching experience and meeting volunteering criteria. Data collected after obtaining necessary permissions and completing translation procedures. Reliability calculations, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance testing, and convergent validity assessments were conducted through a cross-sectional survey design. Results indicated that, in coherence with the original version, the SLEBS showed high internal consistency and confirmed the 21-item, seven-factor structure. Additionally, the investigation demonstrated measurement invariance across teacher gender and school type, with satisfactory convergent validity statistics. All these proved that with strong psychometric properties, SLEBS is suitable for examining teachers’ perceptions of school leaders’ empowering behaviors. These findings have important implications for future research and policymaking, potentially guiding the development of teacher empowerment initiatives.

ABSTRACT This article reports results from an exploratory project with teacher leaders of nationally recognized place-based education projects in rural contexts that identified collaborative leadership competencies. We modified and integrated the Developing A Curriculum (DACUM) occupational analysis process and the classical Delphi Technique to identify essential collaborative leadership competencies performed by a purposive sample of teacher leaders (panel of experts) recognized by the National Rural Schools Collaborative and National Rural Education Association partnership initiative as successful implementers of place-based education projects. A 70 percent threshold was set for determining consensus agreement in panel rating of competency importance. The modified DACUM process, supplemented with a literature review, produced 27 collaborative leadership competencies for rating by the panel of expert teachers. Five competencies (duties) achieved panel consensus agreement in the Delphi rounds: identifying stakeholders, inducing commitment, facilitating trusting relationships, inspiring shared learning, and communicating effectively. Duties of highest importance in mean rank order were inspiring shared learning, identifying stakeholders, inducing commitment, facilitating trusting relationships, analyzing community problems, and communicating effectively. This is the first study to identify collaborative leadership competencies of teacher leaders who implemented place-based projects in rural contexts.

ABSTRACT This systematic scoping review examines the evolving landscape of leadership in Japanese higher education institutions (HEIs) despite increasing pressure on these institutions to adapt to global trends and economic demands, where limited research exists on leadership practices that can effectively address the unique challenges of these institutions. The gap highlights the importance of further inquiry into leadership within the Japanese context to inform more adaptable and sustainable governance models. The scoping review adopts a comprehensive approach, synthesizing both Japanese and international perspectives to identify recurring structural and leadership challenges, including demographic shifts, declining global competitiveness, and resistance to policy implementation. Through a systematic search of Japanese and English sources across CiNii, J-Stage, ERIC, and Scopus, the review identifies key themes such as hierarchical governance, restricted institutional autonomy, and the slow adoption of educational technologies. Findings indicate that leadership in Japanese HEIs is constrained by centralized decision-making, supported by evidence from tensions between government policies and institutional practices, and a lack of empirical research on contemporary leadership models. These structural barriers impede innovation and institutional responsiveness. Hence, the study highlights the need for leadership frameworks tailored to Japanese HE and recommends policy adjustments to promote institutional adaptability, inclusivity, and long-term sustainability.

ABSTRACT A growing body of evidence shows declining interest in principalship in many countries, including Sweden. This recruitment problem influenced the decision to establish the Swedish national pre-service preparation program, delivered by several universities. The purpose of the study is to examine aspiring principals’ expectations of one of these pre-service preparation programs and if their experience meets the government’s policy intention of professional socialization. A qualitative case study design was adopted, using a three-stage longitudinal approach to conduct the study with a baseline inquiry, a mid-program survey, and a post-program survey. The main conclusion of this study is that, in line with the Government’s intention, the program has met the participants’ expectations and experiences and provided them with enhanced knowledge and awareness to better understand the principal’s role. The participation and development of these individuals could be characterized as anticipatory socialization. The program seems to serve as a steppingstone toward a new role for several participants and a recruitment platform for new principals. One implication for practice is that the pre-service preparation program can serve as a professional knowledge base for becoming principals.

ABSTRACT The school community can provide a resource for cultivating early career teachers’ occupational wellbeing, and the resources contributing to teachers’ wellbeing are influenced by sociocultural attributes. This study examined participative decision-making in schools and teachers’ work-environment fit as resources for early career teachers’ work engagement and buffers against burnout symptoms. We examined these associations and differences in them across three European countries: the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland. A total of 3410 early career teachers responded to a survey, and we used measurement invariance testing and multigroup structural equation modeling to examine the structures of the constructs and the regression paths between them. The results showed that participative decision-making and the teacher-work environment fit both predicted teachers’ experience of work engagement and buffered them partly from burnout. The results contribute to bridging the gap in the literature on cross-cultural differences in the dynamics between participative decision-making practices, teachers’ job resources, and occupational wellbeing. The results also have implications for supporting early career teachers’ wellbeing at work.