The sacrificial leader: Ritual,expendability and ancient sacrifice in modern school leadership

Abstract

This article reports research that explores headteacher attrition in England through a theological-anthropological lens, and I argue that contemporary educational systems replicate ancient sacrificial logics in their treatment of leaders. Using a case study approach, informed by an interpretivist epistemological orientation and qualitative interview data, focused on a retired headteacher, it reveals how headteachers are positioned as ritual scapegoats, figures whose removal serves to maintain systemic stability while obscuring deeper dysfunctions. Drawing on ritual theory and anthropological accounts of sacrifice in ancient Greek and Mesopotamian societies, the article conceptualises headship as a ‘sacred office’ burdened with symbolic and moral responsibility beyond its practical remit. It contends that the expendability of school leaders is not simply a managerial issue but a cultural phenomenon rooted in long-standing patterns of communal purification through sacrifice. This reframing opens new avenues for leadership scholarship by highlighting the cultural and existential dimensions of leadership attrition, thereby challenging the technocratic narratives that currently dominate the discourse.