Excellence, professional development, and educational leadership -- all of these terms can be seen as unstable, dereferentialised, or empty signifiers - as their meaning (or the work they do) is not fixed. However, in spite of this, they have become 'part and parcel' of educational leadership in the Enlightenment institutions of the 'not so'…

The National Staff Development Council recommends that principals devote 10% of the school budget and 25% of teacher time to professional development (PD). While PD requires time, it is crucial that the time be organized, carefully structured, and purposefully led to avoid the waste of human and financial resources. Despite the millions of dollars…

This qualitative interview study investigated principals' discursive frames and communications during the COVID-19 pandemic. The six leader interviews that comprise this study's dataset were drawn from a purposeful sample of schools with variable educator job satisfaction survey results. A combination of deductive and inductive coding of the…

COVID-19 resulted in political backlash, public dissatisfaction, and the need for principals to create spaces to foster communication, implement change, monitor dissatisfaction, and foster wellness. Using the concept of the third space, we explore the dialogic and linguistic spaces K-12 leaders created while navigating this crisis. Employing a…

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of shared instructional leadership and social capital on school effectiveness according to teacher perceptions. The study was designed in a descriptive relational survey model. The sample of the study consists of 403 teachers working in schools in the Odunpazari and Tepebasi districts located in the…

The COVID-19 pandemic affected individuals and institutions globally, especially schools. As schools temporarily closed, teachers and administrators worked to develop innovative solutions to the problems generated by the crisis. In this qualitative case study, we examined the impact of leadership practices and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic as…

The majority of the scholarly work on school leadership over the past several decades has centered on issues of academic press, while matters involving the social development and support of students have received far less attention. We know that improving students' relationships with teachers has important, positive and long-lasting implications…

In Ontario, Canada, principals' work is guided by competencies outlined in the Ontario Leadership Framework which reflect the leadership skills and behaviours needed to successfully lead schools, improve student achievement and well-being. The problem is that this document largely ignores equity and anti-oppressive leadership behaviours. The…

Background: Servant leadership is a leadership approach based on universal values and involves an ethical, practical, and meaningful way to live and lead. Servant leadership has been adopted around the world as a follower-centered transformational leadership paradigm focusing on identifying and meeting the needs of others. Purpose: The purpose of…

In this article, we outline some of the vital measurements of racism and anti-blackness as a macro system in education. We contend that principal preparation programs have not explicitly prioritized anti-racist school leadership, while often resisting the possibilities of solidarity or "one mic" of knowledge to increase anti-racist…

This study harnessed the power of testimonio as a methodological approach and method, along with applied critical leadership as a framework to answer the following questions: What were defining aspects of the leadership journeys of four Latina assistant principals that enabled them to get to and thrive in their positions? How did their cultural…

This study measured the mediating effects of faculty trust on the relationship between servant leadership and organizational health. The context of this research was within the field of education, with a focus on elementary education. Public schools in a district in Maryland participated in the research survey. A cross-sectional survey was…

Metaphors are deeply embedded in educational discourse, yet few studies examine how educators use these linguistic devices to conceptualize, articulate, and make sense of their professional practice. This article examines the metaphors that 38 Canadian and American school leaders used to describe how they accomplished their social justice work in…

The purpose of this ethnographic case study is to provide a rich picture of the ways in which the multidistrict superintendent (MDS) engages in contextually responsive and place-conscious leadership across multiple community school districts. Secondarily, the research explores the meaning ascribed to these leadership practices in the form of…

This qualitative case study examined the distribution of leadership and the implementation of an instructional reform in a low-performing urban middle school. Leadership for the instructional reform was widely distributed and stretched across formal and informal teacher leaders. School personnel were highly invested in the instructional model and…