Drawing upon the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI), this study explored the construction of the role identity of department heads within higher education, with a specific emphasis on their perceptions of themselves as leaders and/or managers. Three section heads, each holding a doctoral degree in educational leadership from different…

The role of the department chair is considered one of the most thankless jobs in higher education, but there is surprisingly little research on the daily work-lives of faculty members serving in departmental leadership roles. This study updates the literature by using a national sample of 3,317 associate and full professors serving in department…

The exceeding importance of academic optimism and the promising potential of middle leadership demand research attention in contribution to student success and school improvement. This paper presents a critical analysis of the roles and contributions of middle leaders through the lens of the academic optimism model. This study used mixed methods…

Leadership plays an important role in an educational establishment as they help to manage the day-to-day activities. Instructional leadership has always played a distinct role in higher education as the role of instructional leadership was always to influence on effective teaching and learning processes. The purpose of this research is intended to…

The objective of this research was to interview other program directors and department chairs about their challenges and the strategies they used to overcome issues encountered while preparing for the program accreditation. The primary purpose of this research qualitative phenomenological study was to explore program directors' and department…

Purpose: Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach that emphasizes improving teaching and learning. This study explores how school middle leaders -- teachers holding leadership positions in schools, who are responsible for a particular area or discipline of the school's curriculum -- fulfill their instructional leadership role.…

Schools are under intense pressure to improve quality and achieve long-term educational outcomes. To improve education, schools' teaching and learning environments must be improved. This research evaluated the various leadership philosophies used in South African schools to improve teaching and learning. The study's qualitative methodology…

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative study was to obtain community college career technical education (CTE) department chairs' lived experiences toward synthesizing leadership skills. This study sought to identify the lived experiences of CTE department chairs at community colleges. The research question was "How do CTE department chairs…

This research paper explored pedagogical leadership and its implementation by Departmental Heads (DHs) regarding the supervision and support of Reception year (Grade R) teachers in the Gauteng North District public schools, South Africa. Three objectives were framed for this study which applied the Atlas Ti software to analyse qualitative data.…

This study explores whether the relationship between departmental leadership (i.e. group-oriented and development-oriented departmental leadership) and the interpersonal characteristics of professional learning communities (PLC) (i.e. collective responsibility and reflective dialogue) varies between departments, depending on whether teachers…

Purpose: Whilst professional learning communities (PLCs) have been widely explored at the school level, they have received less attention at the departmental level. The study takes the variance between departments and the role of departmental teacher leaders into consideration, and the relationships amongst departmental-level PLC dimensions, two…

Using a blend of functional, distributed, and instructional leadership theories as a theoretical lens, this article presents the perspectives of Namibian principals, heads of departments (HODs) and teachers on the various leadership competencies that are required in their role of enabling school leaders to support their teachers' professional…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, schools across the world closed, either periodically or over a considerable time. The OECD reports that during this period, globally, over 1.2 billion children were out of the classroom. As a result, schools moved part or all of their curriculum online, teaching remotely via digital platforms. Evidence suggests…

Instructional leadership demands educational leaders to become intensely involved in improving teaching and learning. While extensive research found this approach to be beneficial in school settings, it was insufficiently explored in higher education. Therefore, the current study explored how Israeli higher education leaders perceive their…

In competitive organizations, knowledge management is fundamentally considered support towards performance. Therefore, in the 21st century, leaders broadly implement knowledge into organizational settings to earn a competitive advantage. This paper mainly determines to explore the effect of knowledge management practices and leadership styles…