Re-thinking educational leadership: exploring the impact of cultural and belief systems

This article argues that people from diverse ideological and ethnic backgrounds conceive, perceive and practise educational leadership differently, drawing upon their beliefs, values and knowledge sources. It draws on data collected by 11 in-depth interviews with female heads of 'girls-only' colleges in a region in Pakistan. The paper briefly introduces leadership as a concept formulated in context. It presents philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of these conceptualizations from an Islamic perspective as a case, and highlights the interplay between belief systems, educational leadership and gender. The article deliberates as to how these discourses interact to formulate 'educational leadership' in Muslim societies, and explores the implications of these constructions for women in educational leadership in a Muslim society.