Exploring the Omani Educational Administration and Leadership Literature: Hidden Gems or Concerns to Be Addressed?

• In Event: Interrogating the Truth in Educational Research in the Arab World: Perspectives From an Underrepresented Context

Abstract

The paper aims at exploring the Omani Educational Administration and Leadership (EAL) literature and is part of a larger array of studies responding to global calls from the field recommending scholars to undergo national reviews.
Theoretical Framework
The growth in EAL knowledge base does not show an even distribution between the global north and the global south; where a dominance of Anglo-American culture has been documented in several regional and international systematic reviews (Hammad et al., 2020; Hammad & Hallinger, 2017). This dominance has resulted in the use of mainly Anglo-American leadership theories in research and practice conducted in the global south despite logical concerns about the applicability of these theories to the respective culture and context (e.g. Belchetz & Leithwood, 2007). The Arab region lies in heart of this discourse, where several reviews reveal a number of concerns related to its knowledge production in terms of quality, quantity and its contribution to the international EAL literature (Karami-Akkary & El Sahib, 2019; Oplatka & Arar, 2017).
Methods and data sources
The method employed in this study follows the guidelines of systematic reviews of research (Hallinger, 2013). The study focused on finding patterns in the EAL literature in Oman, specifically with reference to volume of publication, study types, authorship trends, topical coverage, and research methods. The chapter reports, exclusively, on published research articles in both the English and Arabic languages. Quantitative data analysis was used to identify the general trends in the EAL literature in Oman.
Findings and Significance
Results of the review indicate a need to employ more complex/multivariate designs especially in the Arabic language research as this will help to better understand leadership and administration and to bridge the gap between EAL research and educational policy and practice in the country. Also, there is a need to encourage EAL scholars to adopt qualitative research that make use models developed by a number of scholars (e.g. Attari & Essa, 2021; Gunter et al., 2013) that ask critical questions about what, who, where, and, why is EAL knowledge produced. Moreover, the review also showed that topical coverage is dispersed and eclectic and does not facilitate the development of a well-balanced EAL scholarship. There is therefore a need for scholars to focus on the less researched, or not researched at all, topics such as gender, middle level leadership, finance, and cultural contexts especially that these are topics of interest at the international level and they are much needed within the development of policy and legislation.
References
Attari, A. T. M. Al, & Essa, E. B. (2021). Arab scholarship in educational administration , management and leadership : An overview. https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432211012011
Belchetz, D., & Leithwood, K. (2007). Successful Leadership: Does Context Matter and If So, How? (Vol. 5, pp. 117–138). https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-5516-1_8
Gunter, H., Hall, D., & Bragg, J. (2013). Distributed Leadership: A Study in Knowledge Production. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 41(5), 555–580. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143213488586
Hallinger, P. (2013). Mapping the terrain of educational leadership and management in East Asia. August. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-05-2012-0066

Author

• Yara-Yasser Hilal, Sultan Qaboos University
  Presenting Author