Reimagining the School Leadership Paradigm in a Postsocialist Context

Abstract

Although Azerbaijan's education sector has experienced intermittent democratization efforts since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, school leadership has remained untouched. This article argues that while Anglo-American models such as transformational and distributed leadership could benefit the schools, based on interview and self-assessment data from a select group of principals in Azerbaijan, such foreign models of leadership may not be readily acceptable in the cultural context of Azerbaijan. Principals in Azerbaijan are well skilled in task management and place lower priority on relationship building and developing visions or strategic plans for their schools, both unsurprising given the legacy of centralized decision making in Soviet times. The article concludes that local principals, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, will need to consider the current strengths and needs of principals in Azerbaijan and the future direction of schooling in Azerbaijan as they develop locally relevant school leadership policy and a first-ever principal preparation program in a country struggling to move toward public-sector accountability and transparency.