The impact of transformational leadership on transforming education in secondary schools: the case of Kuwait

Abstract

National prosperity depends partly on a population’s knowledge and education, but some countries, such as Kuwait, have weak secondary education, producing poor outcomes. This research develops a transformational school leadership framework, supported by implementation guidance for academics and practitioners, to show how transformational leadership can transform secondary schools. It focuses on understanding leadership in Kuwait’s secondary schools and analyses the factors that support and enhance transformational leaders’ roles and practices in transforming secondary schools via teachers’ motivation and commitment. Research Methodology: Twenty-five individuals from eight secondary schools in Kuwait, three of which were public, participated in this qualitative research - school leaders (principals, viceprincipals, senior teachers, administrators) and followers (schoolteachers). Research Results and Conclusions: Analysis showed that Kuwaiti schools are led mainly by transactional leaders, not transformational leaders. Most leaders have transactional, undemocratic, and patriarchal leadership styles. Favouritism and nepotism undermine transformational leaders. Institutional, social, patriarchal and religious values shape the situation, silencing the voice of stakeholders, including teachers, and restricts their involvement in decision-making. Research recommendations: Secondary schools in Kuwait must overcome the challenges of transactional leadership, and implement democratic, empowering, and non-authoritarian styles of leadership, so teachers will be motivated and committed to an effective education process and schools will be positively transformed. This would help realization of the country’s Vision 2035, stimulating the country’s economy through its knowledgeable and well-educated people. Research Limitations: This research uses the qualitative method. The limited number of secondary schools covered may not allow findings to be generalized. Future Research: Quantitative research could cover more teachers and school staff, students and parents, it could also use a comparative approach, for example, comparing public and private secondary schools. Other influencing factors could be investigated. Key words: Transformational Leadership, Secondary Schools, Contextual Factors, Institutional Factors, National Culture, Organizational Culture, Organizational Structure.