Evaluation of educational leadership theories in schools: a systematic literature review
Abstract
Due to the widespread belief that the quality of leadership makes a significant difference to school and student outcomes, educational leadership became very interesting topic in this century. Therefore, this paper aimed to review the most relevant and useful leadership theories for understanding how educational leadership works in schools. In doing so, this paper employed a scoping review methodology, the study synthesizes literature published between 2014 and 2025. The selection process followed four stages outlined in the PRISMA flow diagram: identification, eligibility, screening, and inclusion, in which 79 records were identified through a comprehensive search across various databases, including Google Scholar, ResearchGate, ERIC, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. The paper found that the major theories of leadership include great man theory, traits, behavioral, situational, contingency, path-goal, participative, transformational, transactional, and servant leadership theory. The paper recommended the necessity of raising awareness of educational administers’, school principals’, and teachers about the importance of practicing educational leadership through workshops and training courses. The present review suggests several future directions, including the need to incorporate latest AI technologies in applications of leadership theories in education context.