SCIENCE@home

Teacher leadership through an Arab lens: a contextual and culturally grounded reconceptualisation

Norma Ghamrawi,Tarek Shal,Najah A. R. Ghamrawi

Published 2025 in School Leadership & Management

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explored teacher leadership as conceptualised through an Arab lens, drawing on perspectives of 17 non – teacher leaders from ten Arab countries. Using an interpretive approach grounded in situated praxis theory, semi-structured interviews were thematically analyzed to reveal three intersecting conceptions: (1) contextual enactment rooted in spiritual consciousness, moral discernment, and alignment with communal values; (2) relational enactment expressed through trust-building, humility, and compassion; and (3) political mediation involving the negotiation of imposed reforms and affirmation of localised educational ethics. While findings affirm elements of existing relational and identity-based models, they also problematise the applicability of leadership frameworks predominantly developed within Western sociocultural contexts and often transferred to non-Western systems without sufficient cultural adaptation. The study foregrounds a spiritually attuned, ethically grounded, and socially legitimised conception of leadership, calling for a re-theorisation of teacher leadership that is ecologically responsive and epistemologically plural, offering an empirically derived definition centred on spiritual integrity, moral purpose, and collective trust.

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-59 of 59 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY

Showing 1-7 of 7 citing papers · Page 1 of 1