Empowering Educational Leaders

Editor’s Preface

We live in a rapidly changing world with its unique challenges and opportunities for growth and innovation. The world is changing and transforming institutions and leaders. Thus, it has become increasingly challenging for people to keep up with the technological, economic, and social advances in this rapidly changing world. This world is defined as VUCA which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The term VUCA describes the changing nature of business environment and has gained importance in recent years. To be able to adjust changes, complexities, and deal with them effectively, leaders need to be prepared for the crises and opportunities that await them. Thus, this book aims to develop educational leaders for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, and help them gain a new mindset to manage their educational organizations. Many of us agree that we need different tools, a new set of skills and attempts to deal with future challenges and opportunities. It is obvious that traditional ways of leadership and management are not working anymore. Leaders need to understand the context and implement effective leadership practices with a new mindset. That’s why this book provides current information on the new leadership skills and enhancing VUCA readiness of educational leaders. This book can be seen as a practical guide for educational leaders by discussing the insights and perspectives that would help them to lead schools. Whereby, the educational leaders understand and apply these guiding principles, they will adapt to changes quickly and be ready to follow future trends as an effective leader in the VUCA world. In this context, our book is thought to be important for practitioners, leaders and teachers who need new skills and guidance on how to manage with an effective, agile, and authentic manner. In the light of the current discussions, this book tries to relate theory and practice through discussing leadership in a changing world with practical suggestions.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all the authors for their time, energy, interest and contribution to get the book completed on time, which would not have been possible without them. I wish to thank Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz, the President of Bahçeşehir University for her academic leadership, encouragement, the supportive environment that she provided for us. Lastly, I would also like to thank the publishers, Peter Lang for their support and agreeing to publish this book.

Sabiha Dulay, PhD Bahçeşehir University,
Istanbul, Turkey
May 2023

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