Abstract
This study explores the evolving understanding of school leadership in India through the lens of both contemporary theory and lived experiences. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with four school principals from diverse Indian cities, the research investigates how leadership is defined, enacted and challenged in everyday practice. The article reviews existing models of educational leadership while tracing the historical trajectory of leadership in the Indian context. In doing so, it foregrounds the importance of cultural and temporal specificity in shaping effective leadership competencies. The study suggests that leadership cannot be divorced from its sociocultural and institutional setting; instead, it must be continuously reinterpreted through the needs of time, place and audience. Indic philosophical traditions, such as the Gurukul system and thought frameworks by figures like Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore, are discussed as potential epistemological resources that could inform a more rooted and holistic approach to leadership.
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