Educational Change in Thailand: Opening a window onto leadership as a cultural process

This article uses a case study of change leadership in a Thai school to illustrate the salience of multi-cultural perspectives on school leadership. The case study explores the role of leadership in implementing ‘modern’ systemic reforms in a traditional Thai school. The study employs a cultural analysis of the change process that contrasts the nature of the ‘empowering’ reforms with the underlying cultural norms of Thai society. The results suggest differences in the nature of educational change that are rooted in the social culture of the country. Implications for leading educational change in the East and West are discussed.