Educational Leadership Research Research Articles

Pulling at Your Heartstrings: Examining Four Leadership Approaches From the Neuroscience Perspective

Purpose: This review study aims to bridge neuroscience and educational leadership by exploring the neural mechanisms of the constructs relevant to educational leadership. Research Methods: The reviewed literature includes 69 neuroscience studies and 4 books on neuroscience. The brain activities and neurotransmitters associated with the constructs pertinent to educational leadership were coded to bridge the knowledge base of neuroscience and educational leadership. Findings: The neural mechanisms of the constructs related to educational leadership (e.g., vision, charisma, trust, and organizational justice) were organized by four different leadership approaches: charismatic, transformational, destructive, and culturally responsive school leadership. Emotions are the common thread weaving through all four leadership approaches. Implications: This study has salient theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for educational leadership. Theoretically, the findings not only accentuate the role of emotions in educational leadership, but also reveal the trade-off between emotions and analytical calculation in leaders’ decision making. Methodologically, the neuroscience methods (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging, quantitative electroencephalography, and hormonal analysis) add to the methodological repertoire of educational leadership research. Practically, the findings warrant the emotion training and present the potential of using neurological measurements in school leadership preparation and professional development.

Developing Leaders for International Baccalaureate World Schools

A significant corpus of research now consistently confirms that school leadership is the second most important in-school variable to impact on student outcomes. Investing in leaders and aspiring leaders is therefore an imperative for schools and school systems. However, much of the educational leadership research emerges from national systems of education, with a largely Western set of norms and assumptions. To what extent, it can be asked, are the attributes and capabilities described in the literature applicable on a more universal or global scale? A paucity of research addresses this question and explores educational leadership in trans-national and multi-cultural settings. The International Baccalaureate (IB), with its 4500 schools in more than 135 countries, has responded to the challenge of developing leaders for its schools (known as IB World Schools). Regardless of the strength of research within particular national or cultural contexts, the IB’s complex and globally dispersed school network means that leaders cannot be expected to follow a single model or paradigm of leadership practice. The IB acknowledges that effective leadership takes into account the environment within which leaders work. At the heart of an IB school leader’s challenge is to develop strong capabilities in cultural and contextual awareness, as well as a deep understanding of the types of leadership practices that have the best chance of maximising student and organisational outcomes in different contexts. The IB has developed a distinctive leadership programme to support IB leaders and build their capabilities in these vital areas. This paper outlines the contexts, research and theorising that has led to the IB leadership professional development programme. It also presents the aims, guiding principles and key features, inclusive of the key capabilities and intelligences that are the core components of the learning and development experience. The question raised at the conclusion of this paper is: to what extent are these capabilities applicable for leaders not only in IB World Schools but in schools more widely?

I Do as I Think: Exploring the Alignment of Principal Cognitions and Behaviors and Its Effects on Teacher Outcomes

Purpose: Decades of research in educational leadership has extolled the importance of principals in both the effective functioning of teachers and the overall performance of schools. The mechanisms explaining what makes principals effective in the eyes of teachers, however, are not well known. This study builds on prior research to posit that principal effectiveness is the result of their own cognitions, which are translated into specific leadership behaviors directed at teachers, which, in turn, serve to foster trust. Research Methods/Approach: Data came from principals and teachers in 33 French and English Canadian elementary schools. All principals took part in a face-to-face interview which elicited their leadership cognitions, while teachers responded to measures of principal leadership behaviors, trust, and effectiveness. Findings: This research provides empirical support for a sequential mediation model whereby principal leadership cognitions were related to teacher evaluations of principal effectiveness through teacher ratings of principal leadership behaviors and teacher trust in their principal. Specifically, we found support for three specific leadership behaviors (supporting, developing, and active management-by-exception). Implications for Research and Practice: The results reveal the importance of a number of distinctive leadership behaviors in fostering a work context where teachers are able to perform effectively. Principals who “walk the talk” tended to be perceived as more trustworthy and effective. Additionally, the results suggest that principals’ professional development could focus on cognitions related to leadership behaviors and effectiveness.

The influence of gender on leadership in education management

PurposeLeaders in education face diverse challenges in an increasingly competitive and changing environment. Although women numerically dominate the workforce, senior managers are predominately men. The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership skills required for senior management roles in vocational education training (VET); determine if the ranking of importance of skills differs by gender and if the ranking contributes to women not advancing to senior management roles. As skills are abilities that can be developed and learned focusing on leadership skills will provide further insight into leadership and influence leadership development programs in VET to re-orientate women into senior management roles.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology was based on the theoretical framework of the Leadership Skills Strataplex Model (LSSM). The model categorises leadership skills into cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills and determines skill requirement based on management level. A quantitative study with data collected from an online survey completed by 100 senior managers employed in Australian VET, with an even distribution of men and women, identified leadership skills and ranked the importance of the skills. Analysis of the data was conducted using correlation test and principal factor analysis.FindingsBoth men and women identified that cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills were required for senior management roles in VET; however, they ranked the importance of these skills differently. Men ranked business and strategic skills as the most important whilst women ranked cognitive and interpersonal skills. The findings provide insight into how gender influences leadership with men focused on task-orientated leadership skills whilst and women focused on relationship development leadership skills.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of this study was that the results were derived from the employees’ perspective and not that of the employer. However, the limitation does not detract from the overall contribution, this study makes to leadership, leadership skills and VET. The findings of this study suggest that further education leadership research is warranted as most studies are predominately focused on leadership theory with limited reference to leadership skills.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide practical implications to inform VET leadership professional development programs for teachers and managers to focus on leadership skills. The difference in ranking of importance of leadership skills by men and women highlights that focusing on specific leadership skill development of cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills for aspiring managers may help re-orientate women into senior management roles.Originality/valueThe use of the LSSM, previously used in government and higher education to identify leadership skills, the online survey as the data collection tool and quantitative analysis provides originality in the methodology rarely seen in VET education. The study adds value to education management, VET, leadership, and gender research by providing insight into leadership skills.

An exploration of preferred teacher characteristics and hiring tools in Belize

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to answer the following research questions: what characteristics do key Belizean educational leaders value in teacher applicants and why? What hiring tools do they use to ascertain whether teacher applicants have the characteristics they prefer?Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilized a mixed-methods approach drawing upon three data sources – face-to-face interviews with Belizean educational leaders, field notes, and government documents. A card sorting activity of applicant characteristics and tools was embedded into the interview.FindingsInformants preferred motivation, caring, subject matter knowledge, and teaching skills. Intelligence was perceived as a potentially negative characteristic unless coupled with other characteristics, such as strong teaching skills, motivation, and caring or the umbrella of other characteristics, such as content knowledge or university training/credentialing. Professional characteristics, such as where one went for teacher training and academic performance, were perceived as having less relative importance than personal characteristics. Least important were applicant demographics. Consistent with the extant literature, Belizean informants perceived the interview, evidence of prior experience, and certification as the most important tools in vetting and hiring applicants.Research limitations/implicationsThe exploratory study is limited by the small sample of informants, but provides insights into preferences for applicant characteristics and hiring tools in an understudied international context. This study informs future research that may seek to survey representative samples of various stakeholder groups (i.e. general managers and principals) for their preferences in applicant characteristics and hiring tools from across Belizean schools and educational providers.Originality/valueThe study adds to limited research on preferred teacher characteristics among educational leaders responsible for hiring and/or working with teachers and to the limited international educational leadership research.

A New Perspective for Understanding School Managers’ Roles: The Impact of Principals’ Boundary Activities on the Effectiveness of School Management Teams

Background/ContextIncreasingly, educational leadership research has stressed that leadership is not solely embedded in formal roles but often emerges from relationships between individuals. Senior management teams (SMTs) are an important expression of a formal management structure based on the principle of distributed leadership. Such structures may require a reconceptualization of school leadership and the role of the principal in such a way as to better meet new challenges and enable principals to manage SMTs more effectively. Accordingly, it is proposed that to improve effectiveness, principals engage in boundary activities, the principals’ internal activities directed toward the SMT aimed at dealing with internal team matters and the principals’ external activities directed toward external agents in the team's focal environment to acquire resources and protect the team.Purpose/ObjectiveThe present study attempts to advance a theoretical model of principals’ internal and external activities toward their SMTs. This study's purpose is twofold: First, the study tries to determine which of the internal and external activities principals engage in more frequently and less frequently and to what extent. Second, the study attempts to determine how these activities are related to the SMT effectiveness outcomes: in-role performance and innovation. Taking on a distributive perspective to school leadership, our goal is to extend our knowledge about the activities that might facilitate SMT effectiveness, by highlighting the principal boundary activities as fundamental.Research DesignQuantitative study.Data Collection and AnalysisData were collected from two sources to minimize problems associated with same source bias: 92 SMTs and their principals from 92 public schools in Israel. Principals evaluated the SMTs’ effectiveness through validated surveys of team in-role performance and team innovation, and SMT members evaluated the internal and external activities of the principal.Findings/ResultsANOVA analyses indicate significant mean differences between the principal's internal and external activities. Results from Structural Equation Model indicate that internal activities were related to SMT performance, whereas external activities were related to SMT innovation.Conclusions/RecommendationsPrincipals who manage both the internal SMT dynamic by promoting SMT identity and building team trust, while also promoting a common mission, serve the role of coordinator between SMT members and constituencies external to the SMT, enhancing SMT effectiveness. It may be, then, that studying new models of school leadership and management, including the relationship of the principal and the SMT, may deepen our understanding of the increasingly complex role of principals today.

Intersectionality and Educational Leadership: A Critical Review

In this review of research, we explore intersectionality in the literature on K–12 educational leadership. We seek to understand how researchers have used intersectionality and what their findings or arguments reveal about the work of leading to reduce inequities in education. We ask, What traditions and trends associated with intersectionality have been brought into educational leadership research to inform the development of transformative leadership? The sample includes 15 articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2005 and 2017. We identify the themes individualism and knowledge relations, which leads us to three interrelated findings concerning conceptions of leadership and intersectionality. We find that intersectionality primarily (1) is used to support micro-level analysis rather than both micro-level and macro-level analysis of the inequities being confronted by leadership practice, (2) is used to focus on individuals’ experiences as “leaders” and “leadership” capacity rather than “leading” practices, and (3) serves as an emergent knowledge project in its support of agendas related to transformative educational leadership. We discuss how the use of intersectionality, conceptions of leadership, and leadership and research practices coincide, pointing to the implications for the continued use of intersectionality in educational leadership, and provide recommendations to support the use of intersectionality in future research.

The Panorama of the Last Decade’s Theoretical Groundings of Educational Leadership Research: A Concept Co-Occurrence Network Analysis

Purpose: Given the essential role of theories in research, this study aims to identify the theories and concepts undergirding educational leadership research, illuminate the interconnections among them, and examine the evolution of the theoretical groundings of the field from 2005 to 2014. Methods: This study constructed a concept co-occurrence network, in which the nodes represent all the framing concepts that theoretically framed the 1,328 articles published in four leading educational leadership research journals ( Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of Educational Administration, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, and Journal of School Leadership) over the past decade and the ties link the concepts that co-occur in an article. The reference frequency and centrality measures were used to identify the influential concepts. Next, the k-core analysis was performed to visualize the interconnections among the concepts. Moreover, a series of network cohesion measures were used to detect the changes in conceptual cohesion over the past decade. Findings: While 295 framing concepts guided the educational leadership empirical studies, a small number of concepts exerted a disproportionately large influence on the research. Furthermore, these influential concepts closely interplay with one another, and the strongest interconnection was seen between the concepts of leadership approaches and organizational perspectives. Last, the increasingly pluralistic theoretical foundation did not yield the growing conceptual cohesion in educational leadership. Implications: This study for the first time elucidates the structure and evolution of the theoretical groundings of educational leadership research, laying the foundation for further theory development and inviting researchers to bring conceptual cohesion to this field through integrating concepts, allowing random ideas to mutate, and developing new theories.

Learners as leaders in Namibian schools: taking responsibility and exercising agency

Educational leadership and management (ELM) research has, all-too-often, attributed a positional quality to leadership and equated school leadership with the principal at the top of the management hierarchy. We argue that leadership is not limited by formal authority and can be exercised by individuals and groups other than the principal. Of specific interest to us is the leadership of learners. However, research in this niche area is limited, and particularly so in African countries such as Namibia. Framed by the concepts of learner voice and democratic citizenship, this article focuses on the leadership development of Namibian school learners and argues that learners should be treated as people whose ideas matter. It draws on a Bachelor of Education Honours ELM elective which required Honours students (practicing teachers) to establish leadership clubs in their schools and involve learners in a change initiative in pursuit of leadership development. The research which informed this article was designed as a case study to explore learner voice and the development of leadership across extra-curricular leadership clubs in 32 Namibian schools. Data were generated from a number of different sources and analysed thematically. The purpose of this article is two-fold; first to give a broad overview of the 32 Namibian clubs and show, through the identification of the focus areas of their club projects for the year, ‘what mattered’ to learners, and second to discuss, in detail, one of these 32 clubs. On the basis of our findings, we argue that learners can indeed be developed as leaders through the introduction of learner leadership clubs in schools. Given the appropriate forum, learners are able to articulate what matters to them in schools; they are able to develop a voice. Given the right conditions and concomitant support, learners can enact leadership, particularly when they have conceptualised the school change initiative. Because learners are central to school life, they are well placed to bring about school change. Yet, we caution, the leadership development of learners is unlikely to be sustained without bold and continued leadership on the part of teachers and the school management team.

Educators as the “Frontline” of Human-Trafficking Prevention: An Analysis of State-Level Educational Policy

ABSTRACTDespite its significance as a policy issue, there is a paucity of knowledge about trafficking within educational policy and leadership research. The lack of research in this area and the contemporary spike in displaced youth populations necessitates examining those policies that aim to prevent trafficking through educational mediums. This study examined Texas House Bill 1272 (HB 1272, 2013), new state-level policy that brings educational leaders, teachers, and counselors into the fold of comprehensive prevention efforts. Trafficking dynamics, policies, and findings on the political and normative factors that shaped HB 1272 are presented. Recommendations for research and practice also are offered.

Educational Leadership During Times of Armed Conflict: Thailand’s Lessons for Somalia

In this theoretical paper, the authors present the results of a collaborative effort to construct a teaching case centered on the challenges of educational leadership in the context of regions affected by the Somali insurgency. Noting a paucity of research in educational leadership for institutions situated in conflict zones, the authors present findings from prior research on educational leadership conducted in the restive southern provinces of Thailand that have the potential to be successfully applied in the similar context of post-conflict Somalia. The authors posit that comparative social policy methodology might be successful in identifying common challenges educational leaders in conflict zones around the world face, and leadership strategies that address those challenges.

Comparative study of school principals’ leadership practices: Lessons for Chile from a cross-country analysis

The article reports the results of a cross-country educational research project that uses quantitative methods to identify school leadership practices and contextual characteristics that contribute to explain student achievement in Chile, considering international comparisons. The results question previous evidence about a common repertoire of effective leadership practices and suggest that local context will affect the type of leadership that is required for a specific educational system to improve, and therefore the definition of principals’ effective practices. For Chile, the article points out that the principals’ leadership practices that contribute the most to improve teacher performance are those related to ensuring that teachers’ work and professional development are in accordance with the teaching goals of the school, as well as monitoring student work and classroom activities. Nevertheless, Chilean principals are more likely to get involved in the former practices (related to the school teaching goals) than in those related to teachers’ work in the classroom, resulting in their actions being more powerful in mobilizing teachers’ attitudes and professional practices than their teaching, which reduces their potential to promote teachers’ performance. The results have implications for educational leadership research and policy making, especially in non-Anglo-American countries.

Examining University Leadership Preparation: An Analysis of Program Attributes and Practices

This study uses data from the Initiative for Systemic Program Improvement through Research in Educational Leadership ( INSPIRE) Preparation Program Features Survey to respond to national critiques of university-based principal preparation programs. The findings provide insight into the program content and relevancy, personnel, and content delivery of 97 principal preparation programs affiliated with the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). We found that UCEA institutions align their curriculum and assessment designs to national standards, actively engage in formalized partnerships with districts, engage their candidates in a variety of assessment practices for formative and summative purposes, and work to offer coursework that bridges classroom assignments to field-based experiences.

A “Novel” Discovery: Exploring Women’s Literary Fiction for Use in Management and Leadership Education

We contribute to management and leadership education research by arguing that women’s literary fiction has been largely ignored in both scholarship and practice. We provide a systematic approach to...

Will it sink or will it float

In discussions about transformational leadership theory, three conceptions frequently emerge: (a) principals’ transformational leadership behaviours are more prevalent in national contexts that are restructuring-oriented; (b) principals’ transformational behaviours are more effective than transactional behaviours; and (c) principals are either transformational or transactional. These conceptions are repeatedly addressed but seldom explored in an empirical manner. Accepting conceptions as given might result in flattening scholarly discourse and depriving practice of research knowledge. The present paper aims to investigate these conceptions based on data derived from published works and from the author’s database. The results of the investigation suggest that conceptions about principals’ transformational leadership in education are unsupported by empirical exploration. Educational leadership research may be improved by periodically subjecting conceptions to empirical test, and incorporating in future works only those that show empirical support. Such exploration is necessary to maintain relevance in an applied research field such as education.

The Importance of Principals Supporting Dual Language Education: A Social Justice Leadership Framework

ABSTRACTRecent calls for social justice to be a key aspect of principal preparation have been made, but content related to the efficacy of dual language education has been a neglected area of educational leadership research, coursework, and principal preparation standards. We draw on scholarship focused on dual language education, social justice leadership, and the new Professional Standards for Educational Leadership to describe how principals can create dual language programs and lead for social justice and conclude with implications for preparation programs.

The accountability generation: exploring an emerging leadership paradigm for beginning principals

ABSTRACT School leaders in Queensland, Australia, are working in a rapidly shifting policy landscape, expected to work towards system-defined improvement measures involving increasingly higher external accountabilities. This article analyses a group of long-term case studies of the effects of school improvement expectations on principals since the introduction of National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in 2008. Foucauldian theory is used to analyse the influence of performative cultures on a group of Queensland principals. A unique feature of this geographical region is the large proportion of small-school principals, the majority of whom are in the early stages of their teaching careers. Having joined the teaching profession post-NAPLAN, the influence of these accountabilities emerges as a point of difference between them and longer-established principals. The article identifies the emergence of this new leadership paradigm as an area inviting further inquiry within the field of educational leadership research, exploring the influence of rapidly shifting expectations on leadership practices.

The student voice in Critical Leadership Education: An exploration of student–faculty partnership learning in sustainability education

Leader-centric, uni-directional leadership theory and practice are persistent despite increasing critique, and research shows that students conflate leadership with both power and virtue. It has been suggested that Critical Leadership Education can break through this deadlock; however, to date, the student voice has been curiously marginalised in this literature. We argue that Critical Leadership Education has to address the extent to which students have a voice in shaping alternative Critical Leadership Education content and process. Through an instructor–student partnership, we explore who teaches and who is being taught, who researches and who is being researched, who writes and who is being written about in the leadership pedagogy literature. The paper offers insights into student perspectives on pedagogical mechanisms that create barriers and opportunities to teaching leadership differently, and provides suggestions for Critical Leadership Education research and practice.

Righting past wrongs: A superintendent’s social justice leadership for dual language education along the U.S.-Mexico border

The role of superintendents in adopting and developing dual language education and other equity-oriented reforms that support the unique needs of Latina/o emergent bilinguals is a relatively unexplored area in educational leadership and policy research. Drawing upon theories of social justice leadership, this article examines how one superintendent in the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) engaged in leadership to address injustices against Mexican and Mexican-American emergent bilinguals through the implementation of district-wide dual language education. EPISD provided a strategic site for this study because the previous superintendent and administration were part of a large-scale cheating scandal that “disappeared” hundreds of Mexican and Mexican-American students. This study highlights the important role of the superintendent in supporting equity-oriented school reforms such as dual language education, identifies specific actions and values pertinent to social justice leadership at the district level, and describes the ways leaders can take advantage of political opportunities, frame educational injustices in ways that mobilize key stakeholders, and utilize networks and grassroots movements for social justice means. The article concludes with implications for future research.

The Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors' (CORD) Academy for Scholarship in Education in Emergency Medicine: A Five-Year Update.

The Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors’ (CORD) Academy for Scholarship in Education in Emergency Medicine was founded in 2010 to support emergency medicine educators, advance educational methods and scholarship in Emergency Medicine, and foster collaboration among members. As one of the first academies housed in a specialty organization, the CORD Academy concept has been successfully implemented, and has now grown to thirty members in the categories of Distinguished Educator, Academy Scholar, and Academy Member in four focus areas (Teaching and Evaluation; Enduring Educational Materials, Educational Leadership, and Education Research). In this update, the Academy leadership describes the revised academy structure, evolution of the application, and reports the activities of the three Academy pillars – membership/awards/recognition; faculty development and structured programs; and education research and scholarship – in the first five years of the Academy.