Abstract

Addressing the educational inequalities experienced by disadvantaged student groups is now considered a key responsibility for school leaders worldwide. Using Ecological Systems Theory (EST), this study explores school leaders’ perceptions and implementation of social justice leadership in Türkiye, focusing on how contextual factors shape, enable, or constrain their efforts. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 school principals and assistant principals from different levels and diverse educational settings. Three main themes emerged from the data: 1. Perceived inequities and perception of social justice in education, 2. Social justice leadership practices, and 3. Contextual opportunities and challenges of social justice leadership. Findings mainly reveal that despite their limited autonomy and resources, many school leaders drew on community relationships and informal networks to meet students’ academic, material, and emotional needs. Interpretations of the findings within the current literature and suggestions for practice and research were provided in the discussion section.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between perceptions of wicked policy problems and anti-privatization attitudes, with a focus on the mediating role of political leadership preferences.

Methods: This quantitative study used data collected from 457 adults in Israel. Analysis of indirect effects supports the hypothesized mediation.

Results: The findings attest to the significance of political leadership preferences in mediating the link between wicked policy problems and individuals’ attitudes toward privatization. Further discussion of the study results and their implications is provided.

Conclusion: The research enhances our understanding of how perceptions of complex and challenging policy issues are linked to the political outlook of the public. By investigating the mediating role of political leadership preferences (i.e., populist, pluralist, or elitist political leadership), the study sheds light on the pathway by which wicked policy problems are linked to anti-privatization attitudes.

Abstract

This qualitative study explored ethical perceptions in primary school homeroom teaching, focusing on ethical caring. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with Israeli homeroom teachers (grades 1-2) in Arab (n=20) and Jewish (n=20) state primary schools (39 women). Thematic analysis identified four themes that represent various facets of emotional and instrumental caring of these educators in the professional context, encompassing both in-role and extra-role commitments. The first theme, “care without limits,” shows teachers’ deep emotional connections beyond formal duties. The second, “emotional care,” reflects empathy integrated into assigned tasks. The third, “care for promoting academic success or socialization,” describes caring as a tool to enhance learning and socialization. The fourth, “contractual care,” portrays a task-oriented, minimal approach. The study suggests teachers could benefit from training on ethical dimensions, schools should support navigating ethical dilemmas, and policymakers can use these findings to enhance teacher evaluation and professional development, ultimately improving education quality.

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has affected many aspects of life, including education. One of the main groups of actors that took part in the leadership and management of the crisis in education during the pandemic was that of school principals. This study examined the leadership practices that were viewed as effective by school principals during the COVID-19 crisis and how these practices corresponded with the guidelines formulated by Schechter et al. (2024). This qualitative study was based on interviews with 20 school principals in Israel who had at least five years of seniority, working with students of different age groups in various regions of the country. The participating principals were selected by purposive sampling. We analysed the qualitative data with a deductive approach, using directed content analysis, where the guidelines of Schechter et al. (2024) served as the primary guide to coding. The eight strategies were divided into 22 practices. Additionally, principals’ accounts revealed a multifaceted pyramid of actions that leaders adopt during crises, combining universal strategies with tailored and infrequent ones to effectively navigate challenges. The findings and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of principals’ negative emotional manipulations on teachers’ affective and cognitive trust in the principal, focusing on the mediating role of interpersonal suppression. Data were collected from 654 public elementary school teachers in Israel. Using a multilevel mediation model analysis, the study examined the existence of mediated indirect links in two models: one predicting affective and cognitive trust and the other predicting cognitive trust. The findings indicate that principals’ negative emotional manipulation significantly reduced both affective and cognitive trust in the principal, with interpersonal suppression of teachers by principals fully mediating these relationships. These results reveal the effect of interpersonal suppression in shaping emotional and cognitive attitudes in the workplace. The size of the indirect effect was slightly larger for affective than for cognitive trust, suggesting that interpersonal suppression plays a more significant role in emotional processes. The research expands the relatively scarce knowledge on principals’ negative emotional manipulations and interpersonal suppression in workplace research in general and schools in particular.

Abstract

The research explored the role of organisational support for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in predicting middle leaders’ GenAI integration in school leadership work, with a focus on GenAI self-efficacy and valuing as mediators of that effect. The study was based on social cognition theory and a sample of 277 Israeli middle leaders from public elementary and secondary schools. The data were analysed using SPSS and the PROCESS macro. The findings indicate that support for GenAI positively influences both GenAI self-efficacy and valuing but only GenAI self-efficacy emerged as a significant mediator. The results expand the limited empirical scholarship on AI in school leadership, most of which is non-empirical. The results suggest that middle leaders’ confidence in their ability to use GenAI plays a critical role in their engagement with the technology and that organisational support helps promote GenAI adoption. Middle leaders’ GenAI self-efficacy was shown to play a key role in channeling the beneficial effect of school support on integration in practice. The results and their implications are discussed.

Abstract 

This study examined the moderating influence of transformational leadership on the relationship between social justice leadership and teachers’ psychological capital to seek empirical evidence for the impact of the transformative social justice leadership framework. The research was conducted with 991 teachers across 97 schools using multilevel structural equation modeling. The findings demonstrated significant positive associations between principals’ social justice leadership and transformational leadership practices with all dimensions of psychological capital: self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism. Furthermore, the interaction between social justice leadership and transformational leadership was positively associated with all dimensions of psychological capital. The study revealed that principals’ high levels of transformational leadership enhanced social justice leadership’s capacity to improve teachers’ psychological capital. These findings highlight the potential of integrating transformational and social justice leadership into a unified framework, conceptualised as transformative social justice leadership, and its critical role in enhancing teachers’ self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism, particularly in times of intense educational, political, and economic pressure.

Abstract

Given the demanding nature of their managerial positions and obligations, school leaders frequently struggle with work-family conflict. This qualitative study investigates the lived experiences of work-family conflict and coping mechanisms used by male school leaders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 male school leaders. The findings describe the perception of management as demanding; the degree of involvement in raising the children; work-family conflict experiences and strategies for dealing with them. The findings revealed that all school leaders experienced work-family conflicts and difficulties in meeting the requirements of their professional positions and household chores. Differences between the participants were found in the level of experiencing the conflict. The study revealed a connection between the perception of the management role as a demanding one and a high level of work-family conflict, and between coping strategies associated with an internal locus of control and a low level of work-family conflict. The study contributes to the broader understanding of the work-family conflict of male educational leaders in the West at times of changing notions of manhood and fatherhood, offering insights for policymakers and school leaders on improving workplace conditions, promoting sustainable effective leadership, and achieving better work-family balance.

Abstract

Purpose– Based on a socio-cognitive approach to leadership, this research investigated how workers’ past experience of pseudo-transformational leadership affected their perception of the current manager’s transformational leadership and trust in the current manager.

Design– The research employed a cross-sectional online survey to gather data from 507 employed adults, which was subsequently analyzed using mediation analysis.

Findings– The study revealed that strong past pseudo-transformational leadership was connected with perception of a weaker transformational leadership of the current manager. The study also indicates that past pseudo-transformational leadership has an aversive effect on cognitive trust in the current manager and that this effect is mediated by perception of the current manager’s transformational leadership.

Originality– Employing a socio-cognitive paradigm, this research pioneers a novel investigation into the impact of past encounters with pseudo-transformational leadership on the current perception of managerial transformational qualities and trust.

Abstract

Purpose: Due to the significant global crises over the past decade, understanding leadership’s role in reducing the pernicious impact of crises has recently garnered substantial attention. This study examines the role of school leaders in enhancing teachers’ psychosocial capacity following a devastating earthquake that struck the southern regions of Türkiye in 2023. It compares the earthquake-affected and non-affected regions in terms of the role of responsible leadership in teacher resilience and wellbeing.

Method: The data were collected from 1,133 teachers working in earthquake-affected and non-affected regions. A t-test analysis was conducted to examine differences in reported leadership, resilience and wellbeing, followed by a multigroup structural equation modeling analysis and Wald test to examine differences between the two regions in terms of the relationships between responsible leadership and resilience and wellbeing.

Findings: The analysis showed that teachers in earthquakeaffected regions reported significantly lower levels of resilience and wellbeing. Responsible leadership was positively related to teacher resilience and wellbeing, with resilience also mediating the relationship between leadership and wellbeing. The multigroup analysis revealed that the relationship between responsible leadership and teacher resilience, as well as the indirect relationship between responsible leadership and teacher wellbeing mediated by teacher resilience, was significantly stronger in earthquake-affected regions.

Conclusion: We conclude that responsible school leadership could be especially important in turbulent times. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on leadership in times of crisis, providing insights for educational policymakers and school leaders to support educators in disaster-affected contexts.

Abstract

Purpose: The present study sought to investigate how principal-teacher relationship patterns interact with transformational leadership to influence teachers’ innovativeness and resistance to change, drawing on the leader-member exchange theory.

Method: Data was collected from 1005 teachers across 92 schools in Türkiye. Multilevel latent profile moderation analysis was conducted to reveal teacher-principal relationship profiles and how each profile moderates the association between transformational leadership and teacher resistance to change and transformational leadership and teacher innovativeness.

Findings: Our findings revealed three teacher-principal relationship profiles within schools: cohesive, conflicting, and balancing as well as two school profiles: cohesive schools and blended schools. Additionally, principal-teacher relationship profiles played a moderating role in the effects of transformational leadership on teacher innovativeness and resistance to change at both the school and individual levels. We found that transformational leaders were more effective in promoting teacher innovativeness and mitigating teacher resistance to change when they had a cohesive relationship with teachers. These associations were not significant in the case of conflicting or balancing relationships. At the school level, transformational leadership had a stronger association with teacher innovativeness if the school was characterized as cohesive rather than blended. However, transformational leadership was related to less resistance to change only in cohesive schools. Leadership remained ineffective in reducing resistance when there was a mixture of cohesive and conflicting teachers (blended schools).

Conclusion: Effective principal-teacher interactions serve as the foundation for transformational leadership to inspire innovation and reduce resistance to change within and across schools.

Abstract

The study investigated the link between principals’ awareness of their effect on teachers’ emotional reframing (i.e., a form of interpersonal emotion regulation aiding in cognitive reappraisal) and variables pertinent to school leadership, positive emotions, and organizational commitment. Data were collected from 69 primary schools, with 69 principals self-reporting on their influence on teachers’ emotional reframing and 639 teachers reporting on their principals’ influence (using an adaptation of Gross and John’s (2003) ERQ measure). The self-other rating agreement perspective enabled us to categorize principals into four groups based on the variance between their own assessment of teachers’ emotional reframing and the teachers’ ratings: over-estimators, under-estimators, in-agreement/good leaders, and in-agreement/poor leaders. The teachers also assessed the principals’ transformational leadership, collective positive emotions, and collective affective organizational commitment. Analyses revealed that primarily under-estimators and in-agreement/good leaders were associated with higher levels of principals’ transformational leadership, teachers’ collective positive emotions, and teachers’ collective organizational commitment to the school. Almost no differences emerged between over-estimators and in-agreement/poor leaders, which were associated with lower levels of school leadership, positive emotions, and commitment. The findings suggest that principals’ awareness of their influence on teachers’ emotional reframing fosters a conducive environment for positive leadership behaviors, emotional climate, and organizational commitment within schools. The theoretical implications attest to the significance of interpersonal emotion regulation in shaping organizational dynamics, and the practical implications point to the importance of interventions aimed at enhancing principals’ understanding of their influence on teachers’ emotional processes for nurturing a positive school culture.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores the gender stereotypes associated with feminine and masculine management and leadership styles in schools.

Design

The study adopted a survey-based approach, utilizing an inventory tool, to examine the traits and behaviours perceived by teachers as characterizing feminine and masculine management and leadership styles. The study involved a gender-diverse sample of 398 Israeli teachers from various educational backgrounds and experiences. Participants were presented with a list of traits and behaviours typically associated with management and leadership styles and were asked to rank them based on their perception of the extent to which they reinforce gender stereotypes.

Findings

Mixed-design ANOVA analyses revealed the traits and behaviours that were perceived as the most gender-stereotypical in both feminine and masculine management and leadership styles.

Originality

The findings contribute to our understanding of the gender biases and expectations that may influence perceptions of effective school management and leadership. The research may inform efforts to promote gender equality and unbiased leadership in educational institutions.

Abstract

Purpose- This study investigated the relationships between leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and passive) and teachers’ autonomous motivation (intrinsic and identified) in teachers with high and low levels of organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB).

Design- In a sample of 651 teachers from Israeli schools, several groups were identified: 107 teachers with the highest OCB scores (saints), 104 teachers with the lowest OCB scores (sinners), and 440 teachers with OCB scores in the middle range. Findings- Regression analysis indicated that the intrinsic motivation of OCB saints was significantly predicted by passive leadership style, whereas that of the OCB norm by transformational leadership style. The analysis further indicated that the identified motivation of OCB sinners was significantly predicted by transactional leadership style, whereas that of the OCB norm by transformational leadership style.

Originality- The results challenge the assumption of a one-size-fits-all approach to “effective” principals’ leadership styles and suggest that to cultivate teachers’ autonomous motivation they should be treated differently in leadership efforts. The implications of the study may be useful in improving school effectiveness and designing training programs for school leaders to enhance their leadership skills.

Abstract

Research on the effect of COVID-19 and its aftermath on education is gaining momentum. Nevertheless, this expanding contemporary literature only scarcely addresses principals’ digital instructional leadership and has not investigated how principals’ regular instructional leadership aligns with it. Moreover, the emerging writing on the aftermath of COVID-19 notes the phenomenon of teacher shortages in schools as a result of a growing tendency of teachers to leave the profession, but the possible connection with various forms of principals’ instructional leadership remains unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of combinations of different levels of principals’ regular instructional leadership and digital instructional leadership on teachers’ intention to leave. Cluster analysis of data of 267 school teachers in Israel was conducted. The results indicate an association between differences in teachers’ intention to leave the profession and mixtures of regular and digital instructional leadership. The results and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

This study highlights the growing significance of integrating digital technology into instructional leadership in schools. Educational administration research cannot ignore the fact that digital technology has become an integral part of human interactions and organisational processes in 21st-century workplaces. This paper aims to explore digital instructional leadership behaviours of principals during the COVID-19 pandemic and explain behavioural differences in leadership related to different levels of socio-economic school settings. Data were collected through an online study from 380 teachers in Bahrain. We used a series of two-sample t-tests between percentages to compare differences in digital instructional leadership behaviours. The study revealed that means of principals’ digital instructional leadership behaviours were generally higher in schools serving student populations with a high rather than low socio-economic background. Principals in schools serving student populations with low socio-economic background were higher than their peers only in one digital instructional leadership behaviours, and this was related to socio-economic gaps. The study contributes to better understanding of digital instructional leadership, an approach that is becoming highly prevalent because of the pandemic, and sheds light on how levels of principals’ behaviours vary in different circumstances. Overall, the findings attest to the presence of a digital instructional leadership divide.

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the gendered constructions of good management by men school leaders. The research participants were 30 men school leaders in Israel, selected through purposive sampling. The study aimed to identify the dominant discourses of masculinity and how they shaped ideal school leadership practices. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with the participants and used thematic analysis to explore the data. The findings suggest that the participants constructed good management using two prototypes of masculinity: hegemonic and caring. Hegemonic masculinity was associated with traditional managerial styles, such as being focused on the task and achieving excellence, using charismatic-visionary behaviours and a focus on resources and organizational structure. By contrast, caring masculinity involves more empowering behaviour styles, concern for others, and the distribution of power. To be regarded as good managers, some participants adopted an androgynous management style, indicating the ongoing struggles associated with the gender experiences of current men leaders.