Charting Leadership Horizons: Exploring Leadership and Development in Educational Contexts

Abstract

Over the past decades, leadership in educational settings has garnered substantial attention, particularly amidst the expanding responsibilities and the accountability-driven milieu confronting school principals. Despite this, comprehensive reviews delineating effective school leadership theories and robust professional development strategies remain scarce. This study endeavours to fill this gap by conducting a thorough examination of extant literature and identifying research lacunae across preschool, primary, and secondary educational domains. Incorporating insights from pertinent studies, encompassing leadership theories, effective leadership traits, and professional development practices for school leaders, this review offers a comprehensive synthesis. The discourse encompasses an elucidation of prominent leadership paradigms, including instructional, situational, transformational, distributed, and Leadership for Learning theories. Additionally, it delves into the delineation of key attributes characterizing effective school leadership. Finally, the review delineates features essential for designing and implementing efficacious professional development initiatives tailored to the exigencies of school principals. Through this comprehensive analysis, this article aims to inform future research agendas and foster a deeper understanding of leadership dynamics within educational contexts.