The purpose of this study was to explore principals' reflections on effective instructional leadership problem-solving and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, principals have very few evidence-based guidelines for providing instructional leadership during a global pandemic, presumably, improvising solutions to novel instructional…

This study examines how six principals in Norwegian adult education centres (AECs) navigate and make sense of and navigate the multifaceted and uncertain environment in which they act. Specifically, the study aims to explore the significance of improvisation and positioning in the principals' day-to-day decision-making and leadership as they…

This grounded theory study identified and described eight leadership phases of the school consolidation process from the perspective of receiving school principals. The study was conducted during the 2023-2024 academic year in a large suburban district that was undergoing wide-ranging consolidation of elementary schools due to declining…

The kernel of this paper was to investigate the state of intergenerational knowledge-sharing practices in a principals' professional learning community (PLC) at a selected South African education circuit. The paper was nested in a qualitative approach and the interpretivist paradigm. Deliberate and snowball sampling techniques were employed to…

This qualitative study explored essential characteristics attributed to highly effective School Resource Officers (SROs) as perceived by experienced Indiana high school principals. Through semi-structured interviews with five high school principals from Indiana, the study sought to identify key responsibilities, outcomes, proactive activities, and…

Purpose: The increasing complexity of principals' roles, including focusing both on learning outcomes and equity issues, requires having the flexibility to view novel problems through multiple lenses. In this article, we draw on institutional theory and social network research to understand the factors enabling and constraining the cognitive…

In this integrative literature review, we synthesize the scant literature from the last 40 years of educational research on how school principals make difficult decisions. Reviewing 15 peer-reviewed articles, articles were coded for the methods used and their substantive findings. We review sampling techniques, the types of problems and methods…

The function of school leadership has been significantly changed by the multi-layered school context to meet the demands of stakeholders. Increasing autonomy and accountability pressures have made it difficult to maintain the balance of principals' tasks, which gives rise to a variety of challenges. This study adopted a descriptive quantitative…

Conflict management is one of the most stressful and frustrating aspects of a school leader's job. An inability to overcome conflicting viewpoints, ever more palpable in today's polarized climate, stymies innumerable school reform efforts. Yet, the subject is rarely examined in graduate-level leadership preparation programs or in-service…

Purpose: The objective of the present study is to compare the Personal Leadership Resources (PLR) of primary school principals in Spain and Portugal, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative methodology was used to analyze the data obtained from a questionnaire that measured the PLR of a sample of 308…

The demands placed on principals have increased exponentially in the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic, especially for principals who lead high-needs schools. Given that principals are the primary problem solvers, it is critical to better understand their preferred decision-making styles. Decision-making is influenced by perceptions of…

School leaders' resilience is best built as a collective effort, write Soraya Sablo Sutton and Nate Gong. The "Change Makers" program at UC Berkeley's Principal Leadership Institute gave school leaders across California the opportunity to work together to solve problems of practice and build their collective resilience--a key to…

Purpose: This paper investigates the levels of career resilience and self-efficacy of the principals of primary school units, identifies the relationship between them and determines the effect of the demographic elements of the sample on their career resilience and self-efficacy. Design/methodology/approach: The convenient sample of this study was…

This research explores how educational leaders in Texas navigate issues of anti-Black racism. In this Grounded Theory study, 19 participants engaged in a 90-min interview. They offer firsthand accounts of their experiences in navigating issues of anti-Black racism as well as strategies that they perceive to be necessary in interrogating and…

Students' parents are important stakeholders of school leadership. Student mobility and some other problems in a school environment may occur when the expectations of students' parents cannot be met. Hence, I studied the expectations of the parents of secondary school students about the leadership of school principals through focus-group…