Perspectives of teachers’ on the selection and the development of the school leaders in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine teachers’ perspectives on school leaders’ selection and development strategies in order to propose/recommend strategies that are relevant to the context of the United Arab Emirates. Design/methodology/approach The study gathered data through group discussion of school teachers who attended the module “leadership for school improvement” taught by the researchers. The teachers who participated in this study include local and expat teachers who are currently working in both public and private schools in the UAE. The reports of the group discussion were used as transcripts and thematic analysis was used to analyse the results. Findings The results indicate that there is a strong aspiration for setting better standards for the selection of the school leaders. There is great interest in engaging experts and instrumenting accredited continued professional development training on developing school leaders. The respondents emphasised on the required qualifications, experiences and knowledge, and the need for mentorship approach. Research limitations/implications The key limitation of the study is the smaller sample size. Practical implications The outcome of the study offers necessary insight to the decision makers on the selection and development of school leaders in the UAE. Social implications The study insists that the social and cultural values of the UAE to be considered in the selection and development of school leaders in the UAE. Originality/value The study offers potential gap and scope for further research on school leadership in the UAE that could be further explored with many samples and cases for broader understanding.

Exploring school leadership profiles across the world: a cluster analysis approach to TALIS 2018

“…At the other extreme of this spectrum countries such as TUR, SAU, ARE, BRA, BGR, and CYP are found, representing countries with very heterogeneous leadership practices and schools that are relatively evenly distributed across all clusters. Although we cannot relate these findings to specific previous literature on leadership in each of these countries, a study by David and Abukari (2020) on school leadership in the United Arab Emirates provides an interesting example -concluding that there is a lack of robust national policies and strategies on school leadership in this country. This finding is consistent with the observed heterogeneous leadership practices in this part of the world.…”

Teacher's Organizational Commitment in Mechanistic School Structures: A Study Conducted on the Job Characteristics of a Private School in Abu Dhabi

“…Al Samkari et al [7] suggest that authentic leadership support staff engagement. David & Abukari [29] recommend leadership practices to pay careful attention to local culture and context. Al Hassanieh et al [5] accounted for the effect of distributed leadership on school governance.…”

The influence of entrepreneurial leadership and sustainability leadership on high-performing school leaders: mediated by empowerment

“…According to Óskarsdóttir et al (2020), leadership is the process of influencing people and will contribute to the organisation's goals and objectives. David and Abukari (2020) mentioned that high-performing school leaders is the exercising of influence on organisational members and diverse stakeholders towards the identification and achievement of the organisation's vision and goals. This influence is typically reciprocal, rather than unidirectional, and is exercised through relationships between and among individuals, groups, and the settings in which they find themselves.…”