Leadership in the digital age: Examining school websites as a window into educational practices

Hengameh Karimi () and Sarwar Khawaja ()

International Journal of Innovative Research and Scientific Studies, 2025, vol. 8, issue 1, 2544-2553

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between leadership models and school improvement in two outstanding primary schools in West London, with a particular focus on the period leading up to and including the Covid-19 pandemic. A qualitative case study methodology was employed, using semi-structured interviews with school leaders, headteachers, and teachers. In the subsequent phase, school websites were analyzed to determine whether their online representations aligned with leadership practices identified in the initial study. The findings indicate that the academy school followed New Public Management (NPM) principles, characterized by a hierarchical structure, restricted teacher autonomy, standardized teaching approaches, and a competitive environment. In contrast, the community-maintained school adopted a distributed and transformational leadership model, fostering collaboration, teacher agency, and broad professional engagement. The analysis of school websites during the pandemic confirmed these findings, demonstrating that the academy school’s website reflected its managerial approach, whereas the community-maintained school’s website highlighted its collaborative and innovative culture. The study underscores that school websites serve as reliable representations of leadership models and institutional culture. The consistency between interview findings and website analysis suggests that online platforms effectively convey leadership priorities and organizational ethos. These findings emphasize the importance of digital representation in educational leadership, suggesting that schools should strategically utilize their websites to reflect their leadership practices and core values. The study also provides insights for policymakers and school leaders on aligning online communication with institutional identity and improvement strategies.

Keywords: Distributed leadership; Educational leadership; New public management; Qualitative case study; School improvement; School websites. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ijirss.com/index.php/ijirss/article/view/5030/787 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aac:ijirss:v:8:y:2025:i:1:p:2544-2553:id:5030

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Innovative Research and Scientific Studies is currently edited by Natalie Jean

More articles in International Journal of Innovative Research and Scientific Studies from Innovative Research Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Natalie Jean ().