Purpose: The purpose of this multiyear research study is to examine leadership in K-12 schools using a positive organizational perspective to understand how to foster, support and encourage flourishing in schools. In this article, the authors describe the lived experiences of a small group of principals and vice-principals in K-12 schools…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate how socio-religious dynamics influence (and are influenced by) principals in Islamic schools. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study took place in Semarang, Indonesia. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with school leaders along with school site observations.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how internationally recognized styles of transactional, instructional, transformational and distributed leadership have emerged in the Japanese education system. Design/methodology/approach: National legislation and policy documents in Japan since 1945 were collected by searching for the word…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of educational leadership, administration and management (EdLAM) research by identifying thematic strands that hallmark key publications and synthesise major research findings and limitations. Design/methodology/approach: This study combines bibliometric and content analysis methods…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the variations in the ways that principals conceptualize their basis of power in schools. Design/methodology/approach: Phenomenography was used as the research method of this study. The interviewees consisted of 16 principals, eight from public schools and eight from private schools. Findings: The…

Purpose: Principals' leadership has become a subversive activity that is carried out strategically to challenge and disrupt the status quo and resist policies and practices that are counterproductive to their work. The purpose of this paper is to reveal subversive tactics principals use in pursuit of justice and equity in schools and identify…

Purpose: Decades of research on different leadership styles shows that effective school leadership is the degree of influence or synergy between teachers and principals around the core business of schools, instruction. While various styles, such as transformational, instructional, shared instructional, point to the similar measures of high…

Purpose: While school leadership literature has searched for practices with the largest effect on outcomes, we know little about how these behaviors vary by context. Further, recent shifts to include teachers in leadership have prompted a need for purposeful distinction between teacher and principal perceptions and roles. Person-centered…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factor structure and the measurement invariance of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) across gender of K-12 school principals (n=6,317) in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: Nine first-order factor models and four second-order factor models were tested using confirmatory…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a review of empirical studies on principal leadership in Singapore. It seeks to provide a general picture of Singapore principals' leadership qualities, styles, and roles. Design/methodology/approach: This is a systematic review of empirical studies, using a "bounded" approach with a focus…

Using Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" as a basis, the author offers an alternative to deficit model programing (catch-up classes for "deficient" students) and posits an approach to problem solving that depends on dialog and interaction. (WD)

This research investigates the leadership behavior of principals and the personal characteristics of teachers as both are related to elementary teachers' professional zone of acceptance. Data from 46 elementary schools support the hypothesis that a principal's leadership style combining both structure and consideration encourages cooperation by…

Describes action research that helped a school community recover from a music teacher's suicide. Summarizes an external counselor's advice to the principal and various stages of coping with trauma, dealing with loss, and negotiating a new stable state. Finds the principal central to the politics of grief. Explores an educative grief management…

Modern school executives have a bewildering number of management philosophies to choose from and a seemingly limitless supply of buzzwords and fads. In this poem, St. Peter (Heaven's chief executive) has trouble forming committees of subluminaries to help him decide which managerial types should enter the pearly gates. (MLH)

Draws on Blumberg and Greenfield's studies of effective principals to offer an operational definition of school vision, based on teacher perceptions. The instrument developed consists of three subscales (vision exchange, internalization, and sacrifice). The perceived robustness of the principal's role was significantly correlated with two School…