The concept of agency has become widely used in education, social sciences, psychology, and more. This article explores the concept of agency and provides a critical review from two main bodies of work: The social cognitive theory and the structure agency theory. The two are not the same. Structure agency theory was used to illuminate agency from…

The concept of collective identity emphasizes the importance of solidarity, collective strength, and coalition building among social groups in order to establish empowering educational systems, while still critically acknowledging the role that intersectionality, privilege, and power play in society and in students' lives. This brief summarizes…

This paper studies when decentralization improves public service delivery. I analyze a Chicago reform that awarded select principals greater autonomy over budgets and operations while holding resources largely unchanged. A meta-analysis of similar reforms shows substantial heterogeneity, including both positive and negative effects. Building on…

A central policy claim for opening free schools in England was that these new schools would create competitive threats that incentivise nearby schools to improve. Where comparable policies have been pursued, notably charter schools in America, research has often measured competitive effects quantitatively. The perceptions of local actors assumed…

Accountability in education takes many forms. One of the most prominent in the Welsh context is school inspection, which is considered an important measure of school performance and a way of holding schools accountable for the public money they receive. However, inspections are not accepted as adding value to the system without exception, and much…

Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach that prioritizes enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. This study explores how the principal's instructional leadership influences the school's middle leadership. The study participants were 24 principals from elementary schools in Israel, and data collection involved conducting…

This study is focused on exploring ways to disrupt imbalanced power dynamics in educational settings, specifically elementary schools. It includes reflections of the researcher's journey and experiences as a teacher in District of Columbia public and charter schools and how those experiences shaped who she became when she entered school…

This study examines educators' experiences of implementing research--practice partnership (RPP) in three schools in Finland's capital area. The data consisted of educator interviews (N = 12) and self-report questionnaire responses (N = 101). Teachers' experiences were traced by data-driven thematic analysis of the interviews and quantitative…

Principal autonomy has been identified as an important ingredient in effective and healthy schools. However, little is known about the various dimensions of the phenomenon and how it takes form in different contexts. This article presents an analytical device contributing to further understand the complex nature of principal autonomy. The device…

This study comprehends the power of Ethiopian secondary school principals and learns valuable theories and models towards the quality of education. The study was delimited distinctly in government secondary schools of Ethiopia especially in South Nations, Nationalities Peoples Regional State. Qualitative research method was utilized. Six secondary…

This study examines the role of distributed leadership behaviours in the empirical relationship between school principals' commitment and trust with their well-being. Two main theories and the cultural and political context informed the design of this study. The theoretical background is based on Job Demands and Resources Theory and Self…

This article examines how principals socially construct the leadership configuration of principals and vice-principals in Singapore and what factors influenced the principal's shaping of this configuration. The qualitative study, involving the interview of 10 principals, sought to understand how principals made sense of their vice-principals roles…

Although a growing body of theoretical work indicated that the cultural orientation of societies shapes their understanding of leadership, there is a lack of empirical research to explore how individual cultural value orientations shape teachers' expectations for school leadership. This empirical research addresses this gap by examining the…

Using multigroup structural equation modelling, this study investigated the relationships between paternalistic leadership, emotional labour and teacher efficacy, as well as the moderating roles of gender and region among a group of Chinese primary school teachers. The overall results revealed that both authoritarianism and benevolence dimensions…

According to the Swedish Education Act, schools should support both students' knowledge development and personal development. Students' levels of knowledge are measured and compared through their examination results and formal grades as well as through international comparative studies and other tools. However, students' personal development is…