Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Saudi School Leader’s Perceptions on Leadership Preparation: Public School Leadership in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-09-13) Algarni, Badr; Liliana, BelkinThis study sought to investigate the perceptions of leadership preparation among public school leaders in Jeddah City in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jeddah City as the second largest city in the nation has about 1225 schools. The paper is organized into five section which are introduction, literature review, data analysis and presentation, discussion and conclusion section. The study was necessary because no such study has been carried out in the study area before and because it may help shape policies on teacher leadership preparation. An assessment of past studies showed that formal and informal preparation of leaders are common across the world and trends of focusing on instructional leadership and decentralized decision-making. A qualitative methodology was adopted to undertake the study, which involved interviewing four school leaders in Jeddah city. A thematic analysis was done and outcomes of the study summarized using the model proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). School leadership preparation in Saudi Arabia was found to involve three critical stages, which are nomination, in-service training courses, and practical experience accumulation, that were perceived differently by school leaders. School leaders rated the nomination process as ineffective as it creates competition in preparing leaders and uses weak measurements in choosing people for administration positions. Annual nominations were deemed most ineffective as they are theoretically organized based on written tests and personal interviews in choosing school leaders while ignoring practical experience. Another crucial finding was that in-service training courses were perceived as somewhat effective, but most participants rated them ineffective as they did not match their needs. Various elements were perceived necessary in determining the effectiveness of training courses, like delivery approach, content covered, tools used, and attitude of the school leaders. Another major finding was that practical experience acquisition is favoured as the most effective approach in preparing school leaders for their future roles among the three. It was recommended based on the leader’s perceptions that evidence-based courses at the in-service and pre-service levels should be organized to prepare school leaders. Ongoing professional development is also recommended by sharing practical experiences to increase leaders' perception of tangible benefits instead of being deemed a waste of time. Lastly, offering comprehensive practical experience to subject school leaders to different environments can help them act as good school models in future.31 0