Purpose: This article details findings on how leaders of deeper learning schools establish, maintain, and propel unique teaching and learning environments. In this case study, the authors present findings from data collected through interviews with 30 leaders of self-proclaimed deeper learning initiatives and site visits to those elementary and…

Purpose: There is currently a shortage of applications for the role of principal. There are a range of factors contributing to this, one of which may be the considerable levels of stress and burnout reported by principals and deputy principals. Distributed leadership may offer some solutions to this challenge. This study aimed to explore the lived…

Purpose: This study aims to explore how educational leaders in South Korea adopted equity mindsets and how they organized changes to support students' deeper learning during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: The authors developed a comprehensive framework of Equity Leadership for Deeper Learning, by revising the existing model…

Purpose: We study the role of school climate, and teacher task, and citizenship performance in mediating the effects of principal instructional leadership behavior on student achievement. Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modeling was applied to data obtained from 302 Indian secondary schools to test a mediated-effects model.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that explains structural responses to external organizational shocks. The authors illustrate framework dynamics with one district's secondary schools' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual framework imagines structure as emergent,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine leading from the middle, which is consistent with calls to distribute leadership, while expanding the direction of influence, from the normal top-down to include a bottomup or lateral direction. The paper proposes that the position of the vice-principal enables the role incumbent to lead from the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how Catholic district offices support school leaders' instructional leadership practices at times of major reform. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs the theory of practice architectures as a lens through which to examine local site-based responses to system-wide reforms in two…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how principals' leadership approaches to teacher professional development arise from school banding and may impact upon teacher professional capital and student achievement. Design/methodology/approach: The case study is situated within the context of school-based management, comprising reflective…

Purpose: Chile has developed the school improvement networks (SINs) strategy to support the work of school leaders. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the functioning and effect of the SINs strategy as perceived by principals and curriculum coordinators across the country. Design/methodology/approach: An adapted version of the Educational…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the socialisation and leader identity development of school leaders in Southern African countries. Design/methodology/approach: The study utilised a survey of qualitative data where data collection primarily involved in-depth interviews with school principals and deputy principals of both primary…

Purpose: This article explores Jamaican secondary school principals' use of mindfulness meditation as a spiritual well-being strategy to manage their work-related stress and anxiety. Design/methodology/approach: The author used qualitative semi-structured interviews to collect the data from 12 Jamaican secondary school principals working in…

Purpose: Concepts of values-based leadership posit that school principals' professional practice must be informed by values to ensure coherently purposeful activities. Contingency models stress the contextual dependency of professional practice and the need to match activities to local opportunities and constraints. The purpose of this paper is to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to seek insights into the demands and challenges faced by school principals in Spain, especially in their dealings with local education authorities. Design/methodology/approach In all, 100 principals from public infant, primary and secondary schools in Alicante (Spain) participated in the study, which was…

Purpose: In order to fill the gap in theoretical and empirical knowledge about the characteristics of principal workload, the purpose of this paper is to explore the components of principal workload as well as its determinants and the coping strategies commonly used by principals to face this personal state. Design/methodology/approach:…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to bring together for the first time three studies of middle-level leaders in secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. The studies span more than a decade and allow consideration of the progress in developing middle-level leadership roles. Design/methodology/approach: All studies followed a consistent approach…