رهبری

This study aims to analyze the role of school principal leadership in shaping students’ character of discipline, responsibility, and independence at SMP Negeri 4 Pekanbaru. This research employed a qualitative phenomenological approach involving 16 participants consisting of one school principal, five teachers, and ten students, selected through purposive sampling based on their involvement and understanding of the research phenomenon. Data were collected through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation, and analyzed using data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings indicate that school principals play a crucial role in character formation through exemplary leadership, integration of character values into the school vision and mission, habituation programs, routine activities, supervision, and continuous evaluation. The strategies implemented include effective communication, motivation and appreciation, enforcement of school regulations accompanied by guidance, and collaboration with teachers, parents, and the community. Character development is supported by the principal’s commitment, involvement of school members, extracurricular activities, and family and community support. However, several challenges remain, including limited student awareness, insufficient parental supervision, peer influence, and uncontrolled use of technology and social media. This study highlights the importance of transformational and collaborative leadership in creating a school environment that supports sustainable student character development.

Madrasah leadership is increasingly expected to translate educational regulations and institutional visions into accountable practices that strengthen teaching, organizational culture, and Islamic character formation. This study is designed to examine how ethical, servant, spiritual, and authentic leadership are interpreted and enacted in educational policy at MTs Darussalam Lubuklinggau. A qualitative single-case study will be conducted. Purposively selected participants are expected to include the madrasah principal, vice-principals, teachers, educational staff, committee representatives, and selected students, subject to access and ethical approval. Data will be generated through in-depth interviews, non-participant observations, and analysis of institutional documents. The analysis will combine iterative data condensation, display, and conclusion verification with theory-informed and inductive thematic coding. Source and method triangulation, participant checking, and an audit trail will be used to strengthen trustworthiness. Since fieldwork has not yet been conducted, this manuscript does not report empirical findings. Its intended contribution is an analytical framework connecting four complementary leadership perspectives with the stages of madrasah policy formulation, communication, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

This study investigated the challenges facing head teachers in providing leadership support for the implementation of the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) in public primary schools in Muleba District, Tanzania. The study was guided by one specific objective: to identify the challenges faced by head teachers in providing leadership support for CBC implementation. Grounded in Hallinger and Murphy's (1985) Instructional Leadership Theory, the study adopted a pragmatic paradigm with a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. The target population comprised 2,166 individuals from 237 public primary schools. Data were collected using structured questionnaires from 112 respondents (100 classroom teachers and 12 heads of schools), semi-structured interviews with head teachers and one School Quality Assurance Officer, and document review. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics through SPSS Version 22, while qualitative data were analysed thematically following Braun and Clarke's (2006) framework. The findings revealed seven interconnected challenges: inadequate CBC training for head teachers themselves (84.8%), inadequate funding preventing leadership support (81.3%), heavy administrative workloads (76.8%), unclear government support (76.8%), financial constraints generally (67.9%), overcrowded classrooms (64.3%), and teacher resistance to CBC changes (52.7%). The study concluded that head teachers' effectiveness in leading CBC implementation is systematically undermined by systemic factors beyond their control. The study recommends mandatory CBC training for head teachers, reduction of administrative workloads, increased capitation grants with CBC-specific allocations, clear national implementation guidelines, and investment in school infrastructure.

ABSTRACT. The relationship between instructional leadership behaviours and lecturers’ job performance is important in higher education. Understanding this relationship can help academic leaders support lecturers and improve teaching, research, and academic development. Therefore, this study determines how instructional leadership behaviour of heads of departments (HoDs) influences lecturers’ job performance at the major public universities in Kumasi, Ghana. A cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from lecturers in public universities at a single point in time. The sample includes public university lecturers. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 155 lecturers to provide quantitative data. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, along with the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. The findings indicate that HoDs demonstrate active involvement in setting institutional direction, monitoring instruction, and supporting staff development. However, the findings reveal insufficient mentorship to support lecturers’ professional learning and performance. This lack of mentorship could limit opportunities for developing leadership potential among teachers and supporting their career growth. Lecturers displayed effectiveness in their teaching practices. The statistical results confirmed a significant effect of instructional leadership behaviours on lecture delivery (F(4,98) = 20.382, p < 0.01). It was recommended that HoDs should communicate departmental goals clearly and ensure that lecturers understand their teaching, assessment, research, and administrative responsibilities. Additionally, the strong positive correlation between the communication of institutional objectives and lecturer effectiveness highlights the need for university goals, teaching expectations, and performance standards to be communicated clearly across departments.

This study focused on the competency profile of managers and the performance of MFIs in Goma. The objective of this study is to establish a link between the competency of managers and the performance of MFIs in Goma. The data used in this study were collected in the city of Goma on the basis of qualitative surveys (individual surveys, questionnaires). The data was processed using SPSS and Smart PLS 4 statistical analysis software with a structural equation econometric model.Based on a sample of 148 agents within the MFIs surveyed in July 2024, we selected a total of nine variables, including three independent variables serving as indicators of managerial skill profiles (generic, technical and conceptual skills), three dependent variables serving as performance indicators (financial performance, market performance and operational performance) and three socio-demographic variables: the seniority of managers, their level of education and the number of training courses they have completed. The results of our research confirm that all the competency indicators and variables analysed have a positive and significant effect on the performance of the MFIs surveyed in Goma. These results encourage MFIs to develop the managerial skills of their managers with a view to improving their institutional performance.

Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) provide frontline guidance and support in demanding military environments, where operational workloads can affect personnel well-being and performance. This study described junior enlisted personnel’s assessments of NCO leadership, occupational burnout, and operational performance at the 560th Air Base Group, Brigadier General Benito N. Ebuen Air Base, during 2026, and examined challenges encountered by First Sergeants. A descriptive survey design involved 180 junior enlisted personnel selected from 326 eligible personnel through squadron-stratified sampling, supplemented by qualitative accounts from 11 First Sergeants. Adapted questionnaires measured four leadership dimensions, three burnout dimensions, and four performance dimensions; frequency, percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation, and thematic analysis were used. Leadership ratings ranged from 3.9236 for supervision, mentorship, and welfare support to 4.0361 for task guidance. Emotional exhaustion was moderate (M = 2.7833), whereas depersonalization (M ≈ 2.42) and reduced personal accomplishment (M = 2.1375) were low. Operational performance ratings were favorable (M = 4.0056–4.1667). Interview accounts identified manpower shortages, inadequate resources, strain on personnel welfare, and interpersonal leadership concerns. The findings informed a proposed Leadership Enhancement and Sustainability Framework prioritizing staffing, mentoring, workload management, and leadership integrity. Because the thesis did not report predictive regression or correlation tests, the results support descriptive assessment and an intervention proposal rather than established statistical prediction.

While existing literature recognises mentorship as an important strategy for leadership development, there is limited empirical understanding of how women experience and negotiate mentorship as they advance into school leadership in the South African context. Despite policy efforts to promote gender equity, women remain underrepresented in school leadership, and the role of mentorship in addressing this disparity remains insufficiently understood. This study explores mentorship as a relational mechanism through which women negotiate access, leadership identity, and social capital in their advancement into school leadership. An interpretive qualitative design, underpinned by a narrative phenomenological approach and informed by Social Capital Theory, was used to explore the experiences of six purposively selected women leaders from township schools in a single district in KwaZulu-Natal. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and were analysed thematically. Participants reported that supportive mentoring relationships provided them with confidence, professional visibility, networking opportunities, leadership guidance, and encouragement to pursue leadership positions. Participants with limited access to mentorship described feelings of isolation, reduced access to leadership guidance, and fewer opportunities for professional development. They also reported seeking mentorship through external professional networks and women-centered spaces when support within their immediate school environments was limited. Some participants described mentoring relationships characterised by unequal power dynamics, limited trust, or inappropriate behaviour. Based on these accounts, the researchers interpret mentorship as an uneven, relational, and context-dependent mechanism through which women negotiate access to professional resources, leadership identity, and social capital. The findings suggest that mentorship can facilitate women's leadership development when relationships are supportive and trusting, but may also constrain agency when mentoring relationships reproduce hierarchical and gendered power relations. The study, therefore, extends understanding of mentorship by shifting attention from the mere availability of mentors to the relational, institutional, and power conditions that shape how mentorship is experienced and mobilised. Although limited by its small, context-specific sample, the study provides contextually grounded insights into mentorship and women's advancement into school leadership. It highlights the need for structured, responsive, and gender-sensitive mentoring opportunities.

Educational change requires educators to adapt to evolving pedagogical, technological, and organizational demands. This cross-sectional study examined associations among instructional leadership, psychological empowerment, perceived collective efficacy, and adaptive performance among 401 educators recruited through convenience sampling from three public and private schools in Sulu Province, Philippines. Partial least squares structural equation modeling showed no significant direct association between instructional leadership and adaptive performance. Instructional leadership was nevertheless indirectly associated with adaptive performance through psychological empowerment, perceived collective efficacy, and the theoretically specified sequence involving both variables. The coefficient for the indirect association through perceived collective efficacy was numerically larger than those for the other indirect pathways, although the differences between indirect effects were not formally tested. The findings are consistent with the hypothesized indirect-association model but do not establish mediation as a temporal or causal process. Because the data were cross-sectional, self-reported, and nonprobability-based, the results apply to the participating educators and should not be generalized to Philippine educators as a whole.

Digital transformation is reshaping school management and creating new demands for leadership competencies, decision-making, and resource allocation. This study examines the development of management competencies among general secondary school principals in Uzbekistan and proposes an organizational and economic mechanism to support their professional growth. Drawing on scientific literature, functional analysis, and process modelling, the research identifies key factors influencing effective school leadership in a digital environment. The proposed mechanism integrates competency assessment, targeted professional development, collaborative implementation, and systematic evaluation of managerial performance. Particular attention is given to evidence-based decision-making, efficient resource management, and staff coordination. The findings provide a conceptual foundation for strengthening school governance and improving organizational practices while highlighting the need for further empirical validation.

This study examined sustainability-oriented school leadership, environmental management practices, and climate resilience among selected school heads in Sapa-Sapa I District, Tawi-Tawi, as a basis for developing a Sustainable School Governance Framework. Anchored in the Whole-Institution Approach to Education for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Educational Leadership, and Organizational Climate Resilience, the study employed a descriptive-correlational design using a structured five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Kendall's tau-b correlation were applied to 12 school-head response profiles. The illustrative results indicated High levels of sustainability-oriented leadership (M = 3.55) and environmental management practices (M = 3.43), while climate resilience was rated Moderate (M = 3.33). Limited financial resources (66.67%), insufficient training (58.33%), inadequate infrastructure (50.00%), and limited technological support (41.67%) emerged as major challenges. A significant positive relationship was observed between leadership and environmental management (τ = 0.467, p = 0.048), while relationships involving climate resilience were not statistically significant. A preliminary Sustainable School Governance Framework was proposed, emphasizing strategic leadership, environmental resource management, disaster preparedness, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement. The study recommends strengthening institutional monitoring, resource conservation, capacity-building initiatives, and learning continuity mechanisms, subject to validation using actual survey data. The study aligns with SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). Its potential sustainability impact involves strengthening environmental responsibility, institutional resilience, collaborative governance, and climate-responsive educational management in island-based school communities.

Folk Development Colleges (FDCs) are intended to equip young people and adults with practical capabilities for productive work, yet little is known about graduates’ transition from training to self-employment. This study explored how vocational training, entrepreneurship education, and life-skills training were perceived to support graduates’ self-employment in two selected FDCs in Mtwara Region, Tanzania. Guided by Human Capital Theory, it used an interpretivist qualitative multiple-case design. Thirty-six participants were selected purposively: 24 graduates, 10 tutors, and two principals. Data were collected through two focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews, then analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Participants reported that vocational training developed practical competencies applied in tailoring, agriculture, poultry keeping, welding, food processing and other income-generating activities. Entrepreneurship education strengthened opportunity recognition, business planning, costing, marketing, record-keeping and financial management, while life-skills training supported communication, teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, adaptability and confidence. Experiential learning connected the three training components. However, outdated or insufficient equipment, restricted finance and markets, weak mentorship and industry linkages, limited incubation support and incomplete graduate tracking constrained application. FDC programmes therefore provided complementary preparation for self-employment, but training alone could not ensure enterprise establishment or continuity. Modern resources, sustained practical learning, stronger enterprise-support linkages and systematic graduate tracking are required. As the evidence is context-specific and self-reported, the findings indicate perceived contributions rather than causal effects or verified long-term business sustainability.

Effective leadership is important to the functioning and development of private higher education institutions. This study analyzed leadership experiences and perceptions at Africa Renewal University (AfRU), focusing on the qualities and practices perceived to contribute to effective leadership. A mixed-method case study design was used, combining structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with students, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, management and senior leaders. The study obtained responses from 133 participants out of a target population of 200, representing a 66.5% response rate. Transformational leadership was the most frequently identified leadership style across all respondent groups, reported by 86.96% of students, 77.5% of teaching staff, 66.67% of non-teaching staff, and 70% of management and senior leaders. Among the leadership qualities examined, integrity and ethics received the highest number of responses, followed by effective communication, problem-solving and decision-making. Empathy and emotional intelligence and visionary thinking were also identified, although their emphasis varied across respondent groups. The findings indicate that perceived leadership effectiveness at AfRU was associated with a combination of ethical conduct, effective communication and practical leadership capabilities within a predominantly transformational leadership context. The study highlights the importance of developing leaders who can combine ethical character with effective communication, decision-making and problem-solving in private higher education.

Curriculum reform depends on how school leaders support its everyday implementation. This study examined the relationship between curriculum leadership practices and perceived curriculum implementation effectiveness among public school heads in Albay, Ligao City, and Iriga City, Philippines. Guided by Hallinger and Murphy’s instructional leadership model, a cross-sectional descriptive-correlational design was used. Fifty school heads voluntarily completed a questionnaire containing 60 items across six subscales. Analyses included descriptive statistics, internal consistency estimates, Pearson correlation, and simultaneous multiple regression, supplemented by rank-based correlation, robust standard errors, and influential-case checks. Respondents reported very high leadership practices (M = 4.702, SD = 0.375) and implementation effectiveness (M = 4.678, SD = 0.359). However, 71.2% of item responses received the highest rating, indicating a ceiling effect. Overall leadership and implementation scores were strongly associated (r = .804, p < .001). The regression model explained 66.8% of the observed variance. Positive learning climate was the only dimension with a significant unique association (B = 0.535, β = .595, p = .002), a finding retained in sensitivity analyses. Mission definition and instructional management did not contribute significant additional variance after their overlap with learning climate was considered. Findings suggest that collaboration, recognition, inclusion, and professional learning deserve attention in curriculum support. Nevertheless, the voluntary sample, common source of measurement, unverified content validity, and overlapping predictors limit interpretation. The results describe perceptions rather than independently demonstrated effectiveness and cannot establish causation. Larger studies using validated instruments, teacher reports, observations, and documentary evidence are needed to test these relationships.

In today’s dynamic service sectors, particularly aviation and tourism, innovation is a vital driver of performance. While leadership is known to foster innovation, the mechanisms by which leadership influences innovation outcomes through team learning remain underexplored. This study examines the impact of innovation leadership on team performance through team explorative learning, employee innovation, and team innovation, and further examines the moderating role of customer relationship management (CRM) practices in these relationships. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory and Social Learning Theory, innovation is conceptualized as a multi-level outcome shaped by leadership and team dynamics. Using Structural Equation Modelling on survey data from 430 employees and leaders in Vietnam’s aviation and tourism sector, the findings show that innovation leadership enhances team explorative learning, which in turn promotes employee and team innovation. These innovation outcomes subsequently enhance team performance, confirming their mediating roles in the relationship between team explorative learning and performance. Moreover, customer relationship management (CRM) practices moderate these relationships by strengthening the effect of team innovation on performance and attenuating the direct relationship between team explorative learning and team performance. In contrast, CRM practices had a limited moderating effect on the relationship between employee innovation and team performance. This study advances understanding of the indirect pathways through which leadership drives innovation and highlights CRM practices as a boundary condition. Practical implications for managing innovation in complex service environments are offered.

The effectiveness of young football players’ athletic training is determined by the interaction of physical, technical, tactical, theoretical, integrated, and psychological components. In team sports, communicative and organizational inclinations are of particular importance as psychological prerequisites for effective interaction and the realization of leadership potential. Purpose. To identify and compare the age-related characteristics of communicative and organizational inclinations in young football players and to determine their role in the implementation of leadership functions in team activities. Materials and methods. To achieve the aim of the study, an analysis was conducted analysis of scientific and methodological literature, comparison, psychological assessment using the «Assessment of Communicative and Organizational Inclinations» by V. V. Sinyavskyi and B. O. Fedorishyn, and methods of mathematical statistics, including the Kruskal–Wallis test. The study involved three groups of football players (n=108): aged 9–10 (n=33), 13–14 (n=37), and 16–17 years (n=38) from Children and Youth Sports Schools in Kyiv.Results. Significant individual variability in the indicators was established. Communicative inclinations were found to be more developed than organizational inclinations. Their mean values were 3.00±1.58, 2.92±1.40, and 3.21±1.45 points, respectively, across the three age groups, while organizational inclinations were 2.03±1.33, 2.24±1.42, and 2.34±1.38 points. The oldest group demonstrated a higher proportion of athletes with high and very high levels of communicative inclinations, whereas a low level predominated in organizational inclinations across all age groups. No statistically significant age-related differences were found in communicative (H=0.75; p=0.69) or organizational inclinations (H=1.11; p=0.57). Conclusions. Communicative and organizational inclinations are important psychological prerequisites, but not direct indicators, of leadership function implementation. The communicative component creates prerequisites for information, motivational, mediating, and representative functions, while the organizational component contributes to planning, coordination, and responsibility-taking. The findings support the need for targeted development of these characteristics and the application of distributed leadership principles.

We examine whether a top-up school grant for Ethiopia's emerging regions, introduced under GEQIP-E in 2018/19, narrowed mathematics learning gaps. Difference-in-differences estimates using Grade 4 data from the RISE Ethiopia survey (2018/19–2021/22) show relative gains of 0.42–0.52 standard deviations, largest among rural and poorer children. Results hold with regional controls, gain scores, school-level models and school fixed effects, but shrink under region-specific trends. About half of each gain reflects emerging regions avoiding a post-2018 decline elsewhere, so the estimates are upper bounds for the top-up alone. School leadership, community participation and teacher knowledge appear to be key channels.

این پژوهش بررسی می‌کند که آیا اعطای کمک‌هزینه تکمیلی به مدارس در مناطق در حال ظهور اتیوپی، که در سال تحصیلی ۲۰۱۸/۱۹ تحت برنامه GEQIP-E معرفی شد، شکاف‌های یادگیری ریاضیات را کاهش داد یا خیر. برآورد‌های تفاوت-در-تفاوت‌ها با استفاده از داده‌های پایه چهارم از نظرسنجی RISE Ethiopia (۲۰۱۸/۱۹–۲۰۲۱/۲۲) نشان‌دهنده کسب‌کردن‌های نسبی معادل ۰.۴۲ تا ۰.۵۲ انحراف معیار است که بیشترین میزان آن در میان کودکان روستایی و فقیرتر مشاهده شد. نتایج با کنترل‌های منطقه‌ای، نمرات کسب‌کردنی، مدل‌های سطح مدرسه و اثرات ثابت مدرسه پابرجا هستند، اما تحت روندهای خاص منطقه‌ای کاهش می‌یابند. حدود نیمی از هر کسب‌کردن ناشی از آن است که مناطق در حال ظهور از افت پس از سال ۲۰۱۸ که در سایر مناطق رخ داد، در امان ماندند؛ بنابراین این برآورد‌ها کران‌های بالایی برای کمک‌هزینه تکمیلی به تنهایی محسوب می‌شوند. به نظر می‌رسد رهبری مدرسه، مشارکت جامعه و دانش معلمان کانال‌های کلیدی باشند.

ABSTRACT Digital transformation in education has encouraged changes in school management, requiring school principals to demonstrate adaptive and visionary leadership and to facilitate organizational change. Transformational leadership is a relevant approach because it emphasizes the ability of leaders to build a vision, provide motivation, encourage innovation, and empower teachers in responding to change. This study aimed to analyze teachers’ perceptions of the principal’s transformational leadership in the digital era at SMAN 9 Mataram based on the dimensions of idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. The study employed a quantitative approach with a descriptive survey design. The study population and sample consisted of 57 teachers selected using total sampling (census sampling), in which all active teachers were included as respondents. Data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that teachers’ perceptions of the principal’s transformational leadership were in the positive category. The principal was perceived as demonstrating exemplary leadership, fostering motivation, supporting innovation, and paying attention to teachers’ professional development. These findings indicate that transformational leadership is reflected in various leadership practices that support an adaptive school environment in response to educational change and digital transformation. ABSTRAK Transformasi digital dalam pendidikan telah mendorong perubahan dalam pola pengelolaan sekolah sehingga kepala sekolah dituntut memiliki kepemimpinan yang adaptif, visioner, dan mampu menggerakkan perubahan organisasi. Kepemimpinan transformasional menjadi pendekatan yang relevan karena menekankan kemampuan pemimpin dalam membangun visi, memberikan motivasi, mendorong inovasi, serta memberdayakan guru dalam menghadapi perubahan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis persepsi guru terhadap kepemimpinan transformasional kepala sekolah pada era digital di SMAN 9 Mataram berdasarkan dimensi idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, dan individualized consideration. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dengan desain survei deskriptif. Populasi sekaligus sampel penelitian berjumlah 57 guru yang dipilih menggunakan teknik sampling jenuh (sensus), sehingga seluruh guru aktif dijadikan responden. Data diperoleh melalui kuesioner dan dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa persepsi guru terhadap kepemimpinan transformasional kepala sekolah berada pada kategori positif. Kepala sekolah dinilai mampu memberikan keteladanan, membangun motivasi, mendukung inovasi, serta memperhatikan pengembangan kompetensi guru. Temuan ini menunjukkan bahwa kepemimpinan transformasional tercermin dalam berbagai praktik kepemimpinan yang mendukung terciptanya lingkungan sekolah yang adaptif terhadap perubahan dan transformasi digital pendidikan.

This qualitative study examines how K–12 educational leaders describe and make sense of their leadership practices related to instructional support, evaluation and improvement strategies, collaborative relationships and trust, and parent and community engagement. Drawing on open-ended survey responses from practicing school and district leaders, the study employs inductive thematic analysis to explore leadership efficacy as enacted through daily practice rather than expressed solely as an abstract belief. Guided by Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, and transformational leadership theory as interpretive lenses, leaders’ narratives are situated within the relational and contextual systems shaping leadership work. Findings reveal a coherent, practice-oriented leadership narrative grounded in collaboration, trust-building, reflective practice, and responsiveness to local context. Instructional leadership and evaluation were consistently framed as growth-oriented, relational processes, while collaborative relationships and trust emerged as foundational conditions enabling leadership practice across domains. Parent and community engagement was described as a reciprocal, boundary-spanning function rooted in communication, visibility, and partnership. Collectively, the findings position leadership efficacy as a relational and contextually embedded practice and highlight implications for leadership preparation and professional learning.

This study investigated assistant principals’ self-perceptions of their role as instructional leaders and examined the corresponding perceptions of principals. Grounded in Weber's (1996) instructional leadership model and using the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS), this quantitative study surveyed assistant principals and principals from a large suburban district. Findings reveal a gap: assistant principals rated themselves higher in instructional leadership than their principals. The results indicate that the assistant principal role requires a clearer definition, targeted professional development, and leadership succession planning. These findings offer implications for educational leadership training and school district practices.