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Purpose: Educators need to engage in continuous learning to ensure that their knowledge and practice responds to the changing needs of society and students. Collaborative approaches, in which social capital resource is exchanged, can serve as an effective way of facilitating such learning. With this systematic review, the authors identify the opportunities and benefits inter-school social capital networks might bring by exploring: (1) what inter-school networks are available internationally for primary and secondary schools, (2) the features and activities present within inter-school networks and (3) evidence of impact of inter-school network activities. Design/methodology/approach: For this study, the authors employed a systematic review methodology. The review comprised the five stages of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: PRISMA, 2021) protocol. The study findings derived from 111 research outputs (from a total of 1,221 originally identified). Findings: The review highlights a number of different inter-school networks and their diverse purposes as well as key network features, such as the actors present in networks and the activities network participants engage with. At the same time, however, the authors only identify limited reliable evidence of the impact of inter-school networks. Originality/value: The study fills a knowledge gap by exploring, for the first time, the presence, features of inter-school social capital networks available to school leaders as well as investigating the impact of these networks.

This study investigated whether youth essentialize religiosity considering religious informants as more trustworthy. Participants (N = 181) from three age groups (preadolescents, early adolescents and young adults) were presented with vignettes and asked which informant the protagonist should trust. One protagonist was introduced as religious. Results showed that youth's essentialism for religiosity is limited, but those with proximity to religion preferred advice from a Priest over an expert. This suggests that youth's essentialism for the trustworthiness of religiosity may be limited to religious leaders and is present only among those close to religion. Participants also tended to trust the expert rather than the Priest and the informant whose advice aligned with their own preferences.

The global outbreak of COVID-19, subsequent lockdown of universities, and suspension of on-campus learning have caught many higher educational institutions off-guard, challenging their ability to adapt to a new delivery system. Distance learning has come under the spotlight as the only option to avoid the disruption of the teaching-learning process irreversibly. The present study outlines the problems facing Ukrainian universities after the quarantine imposition due to the COVID-19 emergency. The research reveals that the emergency transition of Ukrainian universities to distance learning has not been smooth; both professor-tutors and students have been put at an unfair disadvantage. Additionally, the study intends to analyse the specifics of distance learning in the system of higher education of Ukraine in the emergency and activities of Ukrainian universities concerning the problems of transition to distance learning and utilisation of educational online platforms. An internet survey was conducted among Ukrainian university professor-tutors and students to explore the changes to the teaching-learning process under the COVID-19 emergency quarantine. Interviews with senior officials of leading Ukrainian universities were held to explore how they addressed the issue of the disruption of the education process due to the COVID-19 quarantine.

Prior research has suggested that well-performing school leadership clusters around a set of general core practices, which appear to be effective across a range of national, social and cultural contexts, yet contingent of school leaders being responsive to context and responding appropriately to their different contextual demands when they employ these core practices. So far school leadership in rural regions has received only modest attention in leadership research. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the relationship between the core practices of school leaders, organizational school climate and student academic achievement in primary and lower secondary rural schools in a county in Norway. The research design involved a cross-sectional study based on ratings from 275 teachers situated in 20 rural schools, split into two sub-groups of 10 "high-performing" and 10 "low-performing" schools. The results from the multivariate analysis and comparisons between the sub-groups suggest that two distinct core practices of school leadership emerge as critical in Norwegian rural school settings. Further, the results indicate that in the higher performing rural schools, the teachers reported a more positive organizational school climate, with higher level of collaborative learning and self-confidence, than in the opposite sub-group.

The present study aims to generate broad insights from the large corpus of literature on the associations between a comprehensive range of school leadership practices and student outcomes in different school contexts. Three-level meta-analysis of 493 independent effects from 108 studies published since 2000 showed that the mean effect size was small at r = 0.14. Effect sizes for leadership practices ranged from r's = 0.10 to 0.26. Results underscored the importance of different types of leadership practices related to instructional management, enhancing teacher capacity, and engaging external stakeholders to improve student outcomes. School leadership practices were significantly associated with students' academic achievement (in different subjects except science) and learning attitudes/processes but not attainment. Moderator analyses showed that school leadership effects were significant in studies using a school-level analysis but not in those using a lower-level of analysis. Additionally, school leadership effects were significant at different grade levels (G1-G6, G7-G12) and in research reported in different study types (articles, dissertations) and in different years (2000-2009, 2010-2018).

The annual "What's Hot in Literacy" survey uncovers the current focal points within literacy education. A panel of twenty-five literacy leaders participated and engaged in interviews to identify the most and least emphasized literacy topics, as well as those deserving more attention. The findings for 2023 spotlight several topics categorized as "very hot," including dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities, early literacy, phonics/phonemic awareness, and social justice/equity/anti-racism in literacy. The topics of the science of reading and structured literacy emerged as "extremely hot," and the sole topic ranked as "should not be hot" for the 2023 survey cycle. Assessing these outcomes and their potential impacts on literacy education holds importance for educators across all levels.

Educational visits to historical sites related to the Holocaust face significant constraints: Groups have limited time to see the site; guides are meeting students for the first time; they do not know them or what preparation (if any) students have had. Teachers and students expect guides to share their expertise, show them the most important parts of the site, and relate the historical narrative. Guides, similarly, often feel a tremendous responsibility to share their knowledge and impart meaning, perhaps even more so in the case of the Holocaust. All of these factors can lead to highly guide-centered tours and very passive participants. We, the authors, argue that this approach disempowers the learner and may miss opportunities for deeper engagement. Therefore, we propose a more participant-centered approach based on social constructivist pedagogy that encourages deep conversations about ethical issues and in which students are more actively involved in their own meaning-making.

Technology-enhanced teaching and learning (TETL) is the integration of technology into teaching and learning practices to improve the quality of learning outcomes. This is an essential strategy for improving educational quality. School leaders significantly affect the integration of effective TETL in classrooms, and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) provides Standards for Leaders that serve as a framework for innovation in education. This study employed a qualitative, multi-level, multi-case study to investigate highly effective TETL public school districts in a southern state. Results of this study lead to the development of the Team Empowered Leadership Model, a multi-level leadership focused on encompassing the following key elements: vision, curriculum focus, student-centered, foster growth, empower future leaders, and support.

E-leadership as one of the new leadership paradigms is located in a wide field of different leadership theories and titles like remote leadership, virtual leadership, digital or distance leadership mean. However, all new leadership styles are mainly influenced by their environment above all by the organisational infrastructure of their companies as well as the individual competencies actual leaders have or need to have in dealing with new media. The following paper shows statistically proven, that the main competencies of e-leadership are e-trust, e-communication and e-technologies and that they are mainly influenced by the organisational infrastructure. The final result of the study contains the finding that information symmetry plays a crucial role in the whole e-leader-follower cooperation, which could be further explored in future research.

Purpose: By a thorough bibliometric examination of the area through time, this paper analyses the research landscape of metaverse in education. It is an effort that is focused on the metaverse research trends, academic production and conceptual focus of scientific publications. Design/methodology/approach: The Web of Science (WoS) database was explored for information containing research articles and associated publications that met the requirements. For a thorough analysis of the trend, thematic focus and scientific output in the subject of metaverse in education, a bibliometric technique was used to analyse the data. The bibliometrix package of R software, specifically the biblioshiny interface of R-studio, was used to conduct the analysis. Findings: The analysis of the metaverse in education spanning from 1995 to the beginning of 2023 reveals a dynamic and evolving landscape. Notably, the field has experienced robust annual growth, with a peak of publications in 2022. Citation analysis highlights seminal works, with Dionisio et al. (2013) leading discussions on the transition of virtual worlds into intricate digital cultures. Thematic mapping identifies dominant themes such as "system," "augmented reality" and "information technology," indicating a strong technological focus. Surprisingly, China emerges as a leading contributor with significant citation impact, emphasising the global nature of metaverse research. The thematic map suggests ongoing developments in performance and future aspects, emphasising the essential role of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Overall, the findings depict a vibrant and multidimensional metaverse in education, poised for continued exploration and innovation. Originality/value: The study is among the pioneers that provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis in the area of metaverse in education which will guide the novice researchers to identify the unexplored areas.

This case explores Coach Rosa's efforts to gain access to teachers' classrooms to support teaching and learning. As Rosa demonstrates, working to gain access is a complex coaching practice and coaches cannot assume that their classroom access at any school is universal. School leaders, including district administrators, principals, coaches, and teacher leaders, using this case will learn about the wide range of access-granting strategies Rosa strategically leveraged to support her classroom entry for coaching work. Furthermore, school leaders will have the opportunity to reflect upon their own classroom access for coaching work and consider which access-granting strategies may enhance their access.

This paper narrates the concept of Sustainable Peace Leadership and examines how three prominent Peace Activists from South and Southeast Asia measure up to the concept. The article will consider the works and ideas of Mohandas K. Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Lhamo Thondup (The 14th Dalai Lama), and Nguyen Xuan Bao (Thich Nhat Hanh). Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in achieving Indian independence from the British Empire. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and has managed a difficult relationship with the Chinese government following the occupation of Tibet. Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist and is known as the 'father of mindfulness'. The paper identified several characteristics of Peace Leaders. These include being a charismatic leader who motivates their followers to achieve their goals in a non-violent and inclusive manner. Peace leaders meditate and spend time developing inner peace which then leads to outer peace. The paper also asserts that peace leaders are capable of recognizing the humanity in their opponents and seek a mutually beneficial solution. The three chosen individuals are all recognised as being charismatic leaders who were prominent peace leaders. All were deeply spiritual and practiced meditation and other inner work on a regular basis. They stressed the humanity in their opponents, based on their religious beliefs and the concepts of non-duality and interdependence.

This article addresses study programme leadership, a still-emerging phenomenon in European higher education (HE). Given its novelty, descriptions and insights into study programme leadership remain sparse. Therefore, this study aims to describe and critically explore health profession study programme leaders' work tasks and responsibilities as they appear in institutional mandates. A qualitative hermeneutical interpretative text analysis is conducted using data derived from 14 Norwegian HE institutions. This research focuses on expectations of study programme leadership actions as expressed through the verbs used in the sentences of the mandates. Accordingly, we reveal that the verbs reflect diverse directions: controlling, facilitating, coordinating, and advising. To obtain our findings, we draw on a reflexive leadership approach. We demonstrate that diverse study programme leadership actions require different modes of organising. Thus, this study reveals the tensions among the various leadership actions constructed in HE mandates.

This conceptual article examines the role of team-building in outdoor learning, reviews group development theory in relation to teamwork, and outlines the Behaviour Analysis model as a tool to facilitate team-building. Working with this foundation, the theory and model are combined with discussion about team, leader, and facilitator behaviours at each stage of group development. The applications are valid for all clientele in all outdoor settings. Several strong recommendations for practitioner behaviours and future research are presented.

Viewpoints on different assessment systems used in many educational bureaucracies are diverse and continually evolving. Schools are tasked with translating those reforms' philosophies and principles into school-based assessment practices. However, it is unclear from research evidence what approach and factors best support the implementation of assessment reforms. To guide school leaders to design and implement school-based assessment reforms, there is a need to develop coherent knowledge of how school-based assessment reforms are implemented. We reviewed the literature on school-based assessment reforms using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. From a synthesis of the 28 articles included, we reported what approaches are used to implement assessment reforms and what factors influenced their implementation. Furthermore, we have proposed a framework that defines the political, cultural, structural, chronological, paradigmatic, and technological perspectives that need careful attention when implementing assessment reforms in schools.

Purpose: This case study explores different perspectives on integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in universities to achieve university transformations. This study recognises that university actors think differently about the purpose of universities, hold diverse perspectives on the SDGs, and, thus, prefer specific types of SDG integration. Design/methodology/approach: Using Q methodology, 29 participants from one university expressed their perspectives by sorting 50 statements covering different types of SDG integration. Statements were based on academic and grey literature on SDG integration in universities, and interviews with university actors from a previous study. After the sorting task, participants were interviewed to understand the reasons behind the placement of particular statements. Findings: The study identifies three perspectives held by the study participants. Perspective 1 emphasises the value of the SDGs and supports a deep integration of the Goals in their university. Perspective 1 also advocates for incorporating the SDGs into the university's identity. Perspective 2 sees the university's purpose as more comprehensive than the SDGs; thus, the university should develop knowledge regardless of its relevance to the SDGs. This perspective supports a pragmatic integration of the SDGs -- favouring actions that benefit the university without introducing significant changes. Finally, Perspective 3 argues that the university should approach the SDGs through social justice and empowerment lenses. This perspective also questions the suitability of the SDGs for universities, arguing that the SDGs fail to challenge current structures underpinning the unsustainability of the world. Originality/value: Although previous studies have analysed diverse ways of understanding the SDGs in universities, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to treat the SDGs as a governance framework of 17 goals and adopt a whole-institution approach to study universities.

The way in which school leaders implement professional learning communities (PLCs) is important for realizing sustainable school improvement. The assumption is that school leaders act based on their interpretation of the PLC, which is based on their underlying educational beliefs. In this study, we explored these latter aspects by interviewing six formal and informal school leaders, discussing the sustainability of PLCs in two secondary schools that had each worked with PLCs for seven years. The results of this in-depth qualitative study show that the schools differed in the degree of sustainability they achieved: one still used the PLC as intended; the other now omitted one step of the original format. This can be explained by the leaders' interpretations of the PLC and their educational beliefs. Furthermore, we found that student- and collaboration-oriented beliefs are critical for continuing the work of a PLC. Finally, we found that the organizational context mediates whether leaders act upon their beliefs. Tensions between leaders' beliefs and the organizational context, such as fear of colleagues' resistance, appeared to influence their choice to act or not concerning specific aspects of the PLC. These findings can give school leaders insights into conditions for sustainable school improvement with PLCs.

Student evaluation of teaching (SeT) is ubiquitous in higher education but has been criticized by many scholars because of low use for course improvement benefiting student learning. Academic developers (ADs) are responsible for pedagogical courses and to support leadership and academics in processes enhancing educational quality. We could therefore expect ADs to play a key role in SeT practice. This paper investigates how Norwegian ADs and Academic Development Units (ADUs) are engaged in SeT practice. Norwegian academic leaders of twelve ADUs are interviewed about ADs' roles and responsibilities in evaluation policy and SeT practice. The empirical data are analyzed by using the terms 'accountability' and 'professional responsibility' aiming to better understand the use of SeT. Before the turn of the millennium, ADs were actively engaged in SeT practice, but our study found that they are no longer central actors and little time is spent on the topic in pedagogical courses. Today evaluation is dominated by accountability logic and is professionalized by administration and leadership. We will argue that there is a potential to strengthen SeT as a tool for educational development by inviting ADs into evaluation policy development and by including evaluation as part of pedagogical courses.

Purpose: How leaders' empowerment impacts followers' job performance in learning organizations seeks much attention. Under the lens of self-determination theory, this research examines the mediating role of work-related curiosity between empowering leadership and job-crafting behaviors. Furthermore, by applying trait activation theory, this study aims to examine the moderating role of gender egalitarianism in the relationship between empowering leadership and work-related curiosity among teachers. Design/methodology/approach: A time-lagged data from 310 teachers was collected. The quantitative research method under the deductive approach and positivism research philosophy was applied. The data was analyzed through the SPSS and structured equation modeling technique under SMART-PLS. Findings: The results show that empowering leadership is positively related to job crafting dimensions. Simultaneously, work-related curiosity mediates these predictive relations. Moreover, low gender egalitarianism moderates empowering leadership and work-related curiosity. Originality/value: Investigating the direct and indirect effects of empowering leadership on the dimensions of job crafting is scarce, especially in learning organizations with a low gender egalitarian culture. By using the self-determination theory, this study analyzed work-related curiosity as a mediating path between empowering leadership and job crafting. The cultural circumstances under empowering leadership are important for work-related curiosity. Finally, the moderating role of gender egalitarianism is established between empowering leadership and work-related curiosity in the unique context of an underdeveloped country, Pakistan. In addition, this study provides important theoretical and managerial implications for learning organizations for needful job crafting behaviors.

Although multilingual learner (ML) students are present in nearly all K-12 settings, they tend to be served by schools and educators who are inadequately prepared to support them. While state education agency leaders may be well-positioned to address inequities in ML education, given their roles as policy intermediaries, their work is politically complex. Further, professional development support for state-level leaders has historically been limited. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) represent a promising avenue for addressing this absence in state leadership support, as RPPs aim to promote educational transformation through collaboration between researchers and practitioners. In our case, we posit that state-education-agency leaders' engagement in a cross-state RPP has the potential to support enactment of "transformative-leadership practices", specifically through opportunities to think and work with role-alike colleagues and external researchers. Drawing on qualitative case study methods, our findings reveal how ongoing RPP collaboration in small groups supported state leaders' enactment of transformative approaches, such as developing a statewide framework for ML education and supporting district leaders with using ML-specific funds in equity- and evidence-based ways. Findings shed light on specific RPP activities that supported leaders' collaboration, which may inform how future partnerships are facilitated to advance equity-focused change efforts.

Despite ongoing efforts to recruit and support successful school leaders, relatively little is understood about the professional experiences and skillsets that principals possess upon entry into their positions. We trace the professional experiences and instructional effectiveness of all educators in Oregon over 14 years. We highlight that many principals acquire leadership experience outside the assistant principal role and outside of the school district in which they serve as principals. When future school leaders were teachers, they improved student achievement at modestly higher rates than their peers. Insight into these topics may inform the recruitment and professional development of school leaders.

Teachers who crave more leadership responsibilities but don't want to leave the classroom are often left with few options. Even when teacher leadership positions are available, many teachers don't know about them or have chances to develop the skills to succeed in them. Teacher leadership programs at higher education institutions fill this gap. These programs have sprung up over the last 15 years at colleges and universities across the U.S. They help teachers learn how to become leaders in their schools and districts without formally becoming administrators or leaving their classrooms. This article examines how a teacher does not need to enroll in a formalized program to become a teacher leader in their school, but they benefit enormously from opportunities to develop their leadership skills, and structured programs can provide that. In these programs, teachers are able to network with like-minded peers, share ideas, and bring those outside ideas into their own schools.

As a major component of leadership development, professional development (PD) support needs more researchers to focus on possible ways to build school leaders' instructional capacity. Despite the increasing use of virtual professional development (VPD) as venues for leadership development, little is known about the essential components of an effective VPD. With the advent of COVID-19, we pivoted to VPD focused on improving school principals' abilities to help teachers increase their instructional capacity. More specifically, we provided a virtual Summer Leadership Institute (VSLI) on peer coaching via VPD. Since research on effective PD calls for school leaders to translate their learning into leadership practice, we addressed in our sequential explanatory mixed methods study how practicing school leaders in the United States perceived the effectiveness of VPD on school leaders' professional knowledge and growth related to the VPD topic of peer coaching. We conclude with seven specific principles to consider when developing and providing such a VPD experience for school leaders.

In the author's study of leadership, they have found distinct connections between the adaptive leader and the experience of working as a K-12 special education teacher. They find these connections are even clearer when reflecting on navigating the complexities of educating students in a Pandemic impacted world. The author describes their study of a special education school's adaptive and inclusive leadership and presents a framework for leadership support of special education in an inclusive school.

The need for social-emotional learning for adults has emerged due to accountability stressors and the COVID-19 pandemic. While many school leaders believe in SEL for adults, major disconnects exist between their understanding and belief in SEL and their plans to implement it. The main problem this research sought to address integrated two ideas in the affective world of school leaders: First, research literature today does not describe what competencies from the most commonly used framework for SEL, CASEL, mean concerning school leadership. Second, research literature today does not describe how school leaders explicitly develop SEL skills and operationalize these competencies to influence teachers' SEL. Considering the phenomenon of this study was school leaders' understanding and use of SEL skills, the overarching purpose for this study was to explore how school leaders in schools known for their SEL focus make sense of and use SEL skills for their leadership and with their staff and students. This study utilized a more modern form of grounded theory research called Constructivist Grounded Theory and used semi-structured interviews to collect data. Using the CASEL competencies as sensitizing concepts, five categories and 13 subcategories emerged from the data along with a separate but related category with three subcategories. The analysis of these findings suggests eight challenges school leaders face when trying to support the SEL of their teachers.

The purpose of this study was to better understand how the current COVID-19 global health pandemic has professionally and emotionally impacted elementary-level teachers. Teachers experienced diverse challenges during this unprecedented time with a rapid shift from in-person to online learning. Two overarching themes emerged based on participant experiences: abandoning best practices and increased stress and emotional pain. Implications for practice included the need for school leaders to evaluate the current level of support being provided to teachers and assess areas of need to support professional and emotional growth with the backdrop of the pandemic. We encourage future research with all educators to better understand how they are experiencing this health pandemic including the school leaders themselves.

This article draws extensively on data from "Cultivating Talent: A National Study Examining Pathways to Increase the Presence of Hispanic Teachers and Leaders in Catholic Schools," conducted by Boston College researchers and released in January 2022. The report looks to understand and appreciate the various ways in which Hispanics educators are transforming the American Catholic school experience. Our findings clearly show that Catholic schools in the United States are and will be further enriched by the presence and contributions of Hispanic teachers and leaders. The report encourages stakeholders of Catholic education and pastoral leaders at all levels, across the nation, to make a renewed commitment to investing and cultivating talent within the Hispanic community.

Transformational leaders have been shown to influence positive work environments and support the retention of nursing staff. While exemplars have been found in upper-level management, the implementation of these characteristics in unit-based leaders is less explained. The elements of the transformational leader on followers and the organization--individual consideration, individual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence--can engage nursing staff to remain in an organization which will promote positive patient outcomes. This article will review the elements of the transformational leader and share two exemplars of the transformational metanarrative as demonstrated in nursing care units. Both exemplars demonstrate how the transformational leader can influence the retention of nursing staff and support unit level change to support positive patient outcomes.