This item is non-discoverable
Fostering Innovation and Creativity in the UAE Educational System: Examining the Role of Educational Leaders in High Schools
Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
© 2023 Journal for Researching Education Practice and Theory
Abstract
Fostering creativity and innovation in secondary education is considered as a crucial
element for students’ holistic development. However, evidence shows that there is limited
research and understanding as far as the relationship between principal leadership styles
and the development of creativity and innovation within the context of the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) is concerned. To contribute to this important area, the paper focuses on
assessing the role of education leaders in developing innovation and creativity in the
UAE secondary education system. The study is based on a systematic review of fourteen
scholarly sources related to educational leadership within the UAE's secondary school
system. By collecting and analyzing relevant research from both survey-based and
semi-structured interviews studies, the paper looks to identify traces of influence and
potential influence of educational leadership on creativity, innovation, teacher
performance, and student outcomes. The findings show that, while no research
specifically considered the impact of educational leadership on creativity and innovation,
several research papers discussed mediating factors. School leaders were cognizant of
what innovation in schools meant and particularly acknowledged the creative problem-solving facet of innovation, however, only about half of school leaders
facilitated the implementation of UAE policy on innovation in their schools. The review
also found that managerial support for creativity was likely to promote creativity and
innovation in teaching and in learning, thus improving teacher performance and student
learning outcomes to some extent. The transformational leadership came up as a potential
leadership style that could promote innovation and creativity in secondary schools despite
the gross misunderstanding of the approach by some school leaders. The paper also
identified a number of barriers hindering educational leaders from implementing
innovative and creative practices and some suggestions on how these might be mitigated.
While the findings are quite useful, the paper has some limitations; especially related to
the lack of primary data to understand the role of school leaders in fostering innovation
and creativity.
Description
Keywords
Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership, UAE Secondary Education, Creativity, Innovation.