Female teachers as leadership role models for young girls in single-sex schools in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

With the increasing participation of women in Saudi society, researchers’ interest in female leadership has been growing rapidly. This qualitative study focused on female leadership in the educational setting. Specifically, it tend to explore how female teacher leaders understand the value of leadership, opportunities and obstacles for leadership, as well as their role in relation to followers and students. In-depth interviews with five female leaders working in an all-girls school in Riyadh were conducted to collect the data. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the findings. It has been found that women had a good understanding of educational leadership, but their perceptions varied. While some teachers embraced a more authoritative and traditional leadership styles, others tended to support transformational leadership, which may be due to differences in educational and professional background. Furthermore, teacher leaders perceived their role and nurturing and caring and were eager to help their followers develop their leadership potential. Similarly, they recognised their role in cherishing leadership in pupils. Participants reported developing their students’ leadership potential through academic achievement, expansion of horizons, and role modelling. While not all of these methods are evidence-based, teachers’ awareness of the need to prepare future leaders and readiness to do it are not questioned. These findings may be used to inform future research on female leadership in Saudi educational institutions. Keywords: female leaders, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, authoritative leadership.