Transformative educational leadership as organizational practice: a practice theory perspective on reconfiguring teacher agency and professional culture in schools

Abstract

Educational leadership has increasingly been understood as a relational and practice-based phenomenon rather than an individual managerial attribute. However, limited research has examined how transformative educational leadership functions as an organizational practice that simultaneously reconfigures teachers' work, professional agency, and professional culture, particularly within Islamic educational institutions in the Global South. This study employed a qualitative multiple-case study design involving three public Islamic senior high schools (Madrasah Aliyah Negeri) in Tulungagung, Indonesia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and institutional document analysis involving principals, teachers, and administrative staff. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and cross-case comparison. The findings reveal that transformative educational leadership operates through everyday organizational practices that restructure teachers' work from individual and routine-based labor into collaborative and reflective professional activity. Leadership practices also expand professional agency through participatory decision-making and foster professional cultures characterized by trust, dialogue, collaboration, and shared responsibility. The findings further indicate the emergence of hybrid professionalism in which teachers derive professional legitimacy simultaneously from organizational accountability, collegial collaboration, and religious-moral responsibility. This study demonstrates that transformative educational leadership functions as an organizational practice that mediates the relationship between institutional structures and professional agency. By reconfiguring teachers' work and professional culture, leadership contributes to organizational adaptability and sustained innovation. The study extends Practice Theory within educational leadership research and contributes to the sociology of professions by demonstrating how transformative leadership mediates professional jurisdiction and fosters hybrid professionalism within Global South educational organizations.