Abstract/Summary

This thesis seeks to gain in-depth insights into the views of female headteachers working in girls’ state secondary schools (students 15–18 years old) in Saudi Arabia regarding the effectiveness of the current arrangements for leadership development both before they accept a promotion to headship and while they are in post. The analysis of the data collected in this research has been assisted by theories of learning. An interpretivist approach was employed for this research. The data were collected in two stages. In the first stage, a questionnaire was sent electronically to a sample of 131 headteachers working in schools in one area of high population density in Saudi Arabia. These headteachers were asked to complete the survey only if they had been in post for five years or less (42 responses). The second stage involved a representative sample of these headteachers (seven in total) to be interviewed in semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The main findings from this study indicate that (i) many of those in the sample had not previously served as a deputy headteacher; (ii) the importance of family support emerged as a key factor in acting as a motivator for teachers to take on this role; (iii) the existing courses (i.e., Training and Qualifying Courses for New Headteachers (TQCNH)) were not considered to be wide-ranging enough to cover the many different problems a newly appointed headteacher faces; (iv) observing good role models is important for helping in the development of a new identity as a headteacher; and (v) budget issues and limited authority were the most significant challenges that the headteachers faced when taking up the leadership. As a result of this study, a number of recommendations can be made which might help improve the quality of leadership development and make the ongoing supply of new headteachers more effective and sustainable in the long run in Saudi Arabia.