ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Leadership in Education
Exploring leadership for learning in an Estonian school context
Provisionally accepted
- Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
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Leaders drawing on a similar repertoire of leadership practices must align their actions to the context. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the Leadership for Learning (LfL) approach in an Estonian school context by examining which associated practices principals implement in their work. The data were drawn from interviews with 13 experienced exemplary school leaders and analyzed thematically in four dimensions: learner-centered goal setting, curriculum development, supporting professional learning, and building a supportive environment. The findings highlight the relevance of LfL in Estonian school context and provide a set of exemplary practices in each of its domains. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on global school leadership practice research highlighting the importance of LfL in a specific national setting and providing insights that inform the design of future leadership preparation and support programs in Estonia.
Keywords: Estonian education5, leadership for learning1, leadershippractices4, principal leadership2, school leadership3
Received: 03 Oct 2025; Accepted: 18 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Reinaru and Eisenschmidt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Daniel Reinaru
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