Date of Award

2026-01-14

Degree Name

PhD Leadership Studies

Dissertation Committee

Robert Donmoyer, PhD, Chair Leslie Boozer, EdD, JD, Member Fred J. Galloway, EdD, Member

Keywords

leadership for international schools, crisis, resilience

Abstract

This study investigated the leadership of a long-serving head of an international school during six periods of significant crisis affecting the school. The study was conducted at a private school in Islamabad, Pakistan, often referred to locally as The American School.

The study paid particular attention to the development of resilience in the leader and in the follower group during and after periods of crisis. Initially designed as a heuristic inquiry, in practice the study emerged more as a collection of oral histories, although heuristic inquiry methods were employed throughout the study. Polkinghorne’s conception of narrative analysis also was employed to construct a linear narrative of each of the crisis situations, identify key findings, and interpret the data.

Data were collected through 12 semi-structured, conversational interviews with the superintendent of the school who identified the six most significant crises the school had faced up to the time of the study. Consistent with the methods of heuristic inquiry, discussions of each crisis situation occurred during one primary interview and one reflective interview held at a later time. Four interviews also were conducted with long serving members of the school’s leadership team, as well, primarily to triangulate the superintendent’s accounts of crisis situations.

The research revealed the vast experience of a significant leader within international education, how resilience was constructed within the leader and also within the international school studied, and how members of the follower group responded to the leader’s ability to navigate and lead during crisis situations. The research should be useful to those studying leadership for international schools, the construction of resilience, how to lead and manage crisis situations, and how crisis or periods of adversity may construct resilience in the community.

Document Type

Dissertation: Open Access

Department

Leadership Studies

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