Dr. Ian O'harae

Leadership in Christian Schools Dr. Ian O'harae

This research investigated the extent to which the biblical and theological beliefs held by principals of the Christian Schools Australia (CSA) group influenced their school leadership practices. The notion of leadership was explored through examining various theories. Additionally an inductive method was employed to explore the biblical dimensions of leadership. Against this theoretical and theological background the research was undertaken in three interconnected phases, adopting a case study methodology which offered a multi-method, triangulated approach. Findings indicate that Christian school principals do hold a set of core biblical and theological beliefs which they view to be highly influential for their leadership practices and that they do possess core educational leadership competencies generally equivalent to national benchmarks. A major conclusion is that biblical and theological beliefs do influence school leadership practices, especially in the important areas of vision, leadership style and relationships, but they do not do so uniformly or consistently.