Purpose: The study was designed to investigate the effects of the decentralization of education through the perceptions of education managers. Design/methodology/approach: This was a qualitative case study research. The decentralization notification of 2014, issued by the secondary education department, Government of Balochistan, Pakistan was…

Purpose: The present study contributes to research that examines the meanings of achievement gaps, when enacting policy. Its findings are both hopeful and unsettling. The absence of equitable outcomes and democratic citizenship, as elements of closing the achievement gaps in our participants' definitions, are troubling, particularly within the…

Purpose: This paper is derived from a thorough and systematic study, contributing to further understanding of the perception of authentic leadership in the context of Cyprus, by involving school principals' both espoused values and values in action coupled with their leadership styles. Design/methodology/approach: Data were drawn from a…

Purpose: The voice of school principals represents the principals' thoughts and experiences because of their as teachers' evaluator. It provides principals' perception on making sense the teacher evaluation. In qualitative research, voice can provide the truth and meaning of principals' experience in teachers evaluation. Their voices in the…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms employed in financial management practices of school principals in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education. The strengths and weaknesses of the systems and mechanisms of the processes to hold school principals accountable are explored…

Purpose: Instructional leadership is a major part of the responsibility of principals who achieve promising results in school improvement. This paper aims to explore the inhibiting factors for instituting instructional leadership in elementary schools located in rural areas in Israel. Design/methodology/approach: The participants of this…

Purpose: This study examined how cultural factors positively or negatively influenced women's access to the principal role and influenced their leadership experiences. The researchers used Hofstede (2011) six dimensions of national culture as a conceptual framework. The Hofstede (2011) model of national culture consists of six dimensions (6D) that…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating effect authentic leadership (AL) has on professional identity (PI), ethical climate (EC) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and political behavior (PB) among elementary school principals in Israel. Design/methodology/approach: Four hundred and ten elementary principals from…

Purpose: Early childhood education (ECE) centre directors have to meet various leadership demands at present, and this has become even more important in a time of extensive policy changes. There is little research on work-related stress from the perspective of ECE directors. The purpose of this study was therefore to enhance one's knowledge of (a)…

Purpose: This paper explores the subjective interpretations of school principals' experiences of loneliness in the workplace and the implications of those experiences. The study poses two questions: (1) How do school principals perceive that their experience of loneliness affects their emotional well-being? (2) How do school principals perceive…

Purpose: This study explores the factors that explain the adoption of innovative teaching practices within schools and how this is determined by the different perceptions of principals and teachers. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use the self-other agreement to measure the difference between the principal and teachers' rating based on…

Purpose: The article deals with competition between primary schools in Berlin. The focus is on the perception of competition and the process of student selection -- despite school law restrictions for primary state schools. The aim is to find out whether and in what way primary school leaders perceive a competitive situation and how they act in…

Purpose: Financing is a major obstacle to achieving quality education for all persons of school-going age in less-developed countries. Consequently, corporate institutions through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are increasingly becoming government partners in financing education sector projects. The effect of these CSR…

Purpose: This conceptual paper explores a novel model explaining teachers' perceptions of their effective leader through the lens of implicit leadership theory (ILT), using the concepts of school principals' sense-making and cognitive complexity (CC). Design/methodology/approach: The sense-making framework and CC theory were used to explain ILT,…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to examine the perspectives, experiences, roles and values of Italian primary school principals regarding the inclusion of migrant children. Design/methodology/approach: The method of the study is qualitative and consists of a semi-structured interview, which was carried out with 17 primary school principals and…