A Phenomenological Exploration of School Leadership Development Programme: Improved Practices of School Leaders a Breakthrough Triumph in the Province of Punjab

The major driver of the phenomenology research was to explore the lived experiences of school heads about the School Leadership Development Programme (SLDP) in improved practices of leadership in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in public sector schools of Punjab. The sample of the study was based on the geographical distribution of the province of Punjab i.e., central, southern and northern. The seven districts were taken, and 14 SHs were selected through purposive sampling. The in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted after the prior consent of the participants. The instruments were self-developed and validated from five experts along with Mock interview practice. The researcher collected the data personally, and thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed that SLDP is inseparable in the development of improved practices of SHs. It was strongly recommended to continue the SLDP encased with certain paraphernalia to get better results in the future.

Exploring causal relationships qualitatively: An empirical illustration of how causal relationships become visible across episodes and contexts

Causal relationships are traditionally examined in quantitative research. However, this article informs the discussion surrounding the potential use of qualitative data to explore causal relationships qualitatively through an empirical illustration of a school leadership development team. As school leadership development is supposed to offer continuing development to practicing school leaders, it brings into question the issue of causal relationships. This study analyzes audio and video recordings from 10 workshops involving a team of principals, municipality leaders, and researchers who met over two years to support the principals in leading a local school improvement program. The process data are organized into episodes and analyzed in three layers of causation an interpretative layer, a contradictory layer, and an agentive layer grounded in cultural-historical activity theory. When tracing a problem statement across episodes and relating the processes to events in a principal’s practice, causal relationships became visible across the episodes and contexts. The argument, then, is that the results are achieved in the processes. As such, process data can reveal causal relationships that quantitative data cannot.

Facilitating Leadership Coach Capacity for School Leadership Development: The Intersection of Structured Community and Experiential Learning

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine how the leadership coaching capacities of experienced school leaders can be developed to support less-experienced school leaders to lead continuous improvement efforts. In this article, we report the findings of a 2-year study of experienced school leaders who developed their leadership coaching knowledge, skills, and dispositions to enhance the capacities of less-experienced school leaders in a research–practice partnership called the Leadership Learning Community. Research Methods: We drew on qualitative research methodology to answer the study’s research question. To collect our data, we utilized participant observations of 12 professional development days and 70 job-embedded coaching sessions over a 2-year period, yearly semistructured interviews with the eight leadership coach participants, and other artifacts related to the Leadership Learning Community. We analyzed our data using multiple rounds of coding to arrive at the themes. Findings: The findings highlight the possibilities of developing leadership coaching capacity through a combination of community-based structured and facilitated learning opportunities and experiential learning. The findings also add to the limited research regarding leadership coaching as a strategy for enhancing school leadership development. Conclusion and Implications: The results of the study provide assistance to national and state administrator organizations, educational service districts, and school district administrators endeavoring to meet the learning needs of school leaders through leadership coaching. Further research should be conducted to understand how the leadership coaching capacities of leadership supervisors and developers can be facilitated.