Selahattin Turan

Teacher retention is about more than labor churn — it affects educational quality, continuity and equity. According to the OECD, in many countries a third of teachers leave within five years of beg...

With the acceleration of digital transformation in education, this paper examines how blockchain is being framed as a governance solution for trust, transparency, and decentralization. Using a hybrid bibliometric and thematic analysis of 93 Web of Science and Scopus publications, the study maps publication trends, leading outlets, author networks, and conceptual clusters. We analyze co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence patterns, and conceptual structures using VOSviewer version 1.6.19 and the R-based Bibliometrix package. Then, we apply qualitative coding to offer a more profound interpretation of governance stories. Findings show that blockchain in educational governance is predominantly positioned through techno-managerial lenses—focusing on secure credentials, tamper-proof records, and efficiency—while critical perspectives on power, equity, and participation remain limited. Global North institutions and computer science–oriented venues dominate the field, with little engagement from Global South contexts or educational leadership scholarship. The paper concludes by proposing a research agenda that reimagines blockchain not as a neutral tool, but as a socio-technical assemblage that must be interrogated through equity-, ethics-, and community-centered frameworks.

This study examines how school culture shapes teacher collaboration in a private school setting, focusing on the transition from hierarchical structures to community-driven educational environments. Using a single case study approach, the research investigates collaborative practices at Seven Valley Schools in Türkiye, emphasizing the impact of interdisciplinary planning, peer mentoring, and participatory governance. The study also explores the role of the Simurg Philosophy, which integrates self-discovery, freedom, and holistic learning into the school’s educational framework. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers, school founder, and principal, supplemented by focus group discussions and individual interviews. Thematic analysis was employed to identify key patterns and relationships in teacher collaboration. Findings indicate that a strong collaborative culture enhances teacher motivation, professional development, and student engagement. Leadership practices that support autonomy and innovation further contribute to a dynamic and inclusive school environment. The study highlights the importance of distributed leadership, trust-building, and participatory governance in fostering sustainable teacher collaboration and suggests future research on the long-term impact of such cultural models in education.

Improving access to education for refugee students in Türkiye is a critical global leadership challenge. This chapter reviews the major barriers refugee students experience in accessing education, including language barriers, segregation from the society, aggressive behaviors, and cultural incompatibility, students’ unfamiliarity of the Turkish curriculum, and a lack of inclusive care within the education system. The chapter presents leadership strategies to overcome these problems, such as regional planning for language support, post-traumatic psychological support, and cultural adaptation activities for social acceptance, and needs analysis.

Current advances in academic research stem from two main sources: artificial intelligence technologies and the specific field of generative artificial intelligence. However, the ethical use of these technologies and their implications for academic integrity has not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, this research examines the ethical use of artificial intelligence technologies and Generative Artificial Intelligence in academic research. It focuses on the current field conditions, detection of research trends, and critical gaps. The study uses a combination of bibliometric and thematic content analysis methods to examine the methodological framework of AI, GenAI, and academic integrity from an interdisciplinary perspective. The research reveals that GenAI integration speed has accelerated across all research stages, including academic writing, literature review, data analysis, and hypothesis development. The study also identifies risks such as biased algorithms, plagiarism risk, false information production, and potential damage to academic integrity. The research ethics approaches developed by academic institutions and journals have not reached maturity in the context of AI. Future research on GenAI within academic processes requires forming ethical principles integrated with oversight systems and policy frameworks.

This chapter extensively outlines the various forms of problems education systems face worldwide and highlights the significant benefits of place-based and situation-grounded interventions in overcoming these complex issues. Through comprehensive research spanning geographical and cultural landscapes, this chapter delves into the multifaceted dimensions of educational boundaries. These include challenges related to equal access to quality education, resource allocation, technological integration, curriculum development, gender-based issues, language barriers, teacher attrition, and the integration of refugees and migrants into cohesive education systems. The authors have utilized case studies from various parts of the world to demonstrate how culturally specific educational approaches, that resonate with their respective cultures, can effectively address issues of inequality and enhance the quality of education systems globally.

This chapter maps pictographically the main educational reforms and policy development in the MENA region in the last half century. It also explores the pendulum of internationalization versus localization and contextualization of educational policy, reforms, and leadership in the region. Hence, there is rapid growth and interest in educational restructuring, educational reforms, policy, and leadership landscape in the region. This chapter aims to systematically collect, document, scrutinize, and critically analyze the current main challenges facing education systems in the region, their features, impact, shortcoming, and future development. Furthermore, we will map and identify key scholarship, knowledge production, and research strengths and weakness in order to set the stage for the next future research agenda. Beyond this, our review is to consider policy informing education development in this region. This analysis allows us to identify policy, strategy, and research patterns, trends, geographic origins, and scholarship scope that affect leadership and managerial perceptions in leading educational system. Nevertheless, our analysis will identify policies, theoretical, conceptual, and methodological limitations contributing to the nature of scholarship in this region and its interrelated connection with global trends. Further conclusion and implication for future research and practice will be fully discussed.

In our introductory chapter, we noted that our intent in this book was to provide readers with insights about the development of educational leadership and administration (ELA) as a discipline in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, how it is constructed in this region, and how the social and political stances of governments have a great influence on the ELA field. In this concluding chapter, we take a more macro view and consider some of the challenges and promises of some of the current trends we have observed in the ELA field in the MENA region based on the chapters that have important implications for systemic improvement. In contrast to the rest of the book, where each chapter aimed to provide a deep understanding of how ELA in each presented country has been developed and contributed to policy, practices, and research, our intent in this chapter is to offer more questions than answers, that is, we aim to highlight issues for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers that are important for extending and deepening the ELA field in the MENA region.

This volume explores how educational leadership and administration (ELA) is constructed in the Middle East and North African region (MENA), and charts the development of ELA as a discipline. Against the backdrop of rapid growth and interest in the educational restructuring, educational reforms, policy and leadership landscape of the region, chapters investigate issues concerned with the production and utilization of knowledge in the field, and analyse the future of ELA in relation to the educational policies and practices in MENA countries. Featuring a broad range of geographically dispersed specialist contributors involved in leadership, policy, and administration, the volume ultimately sheds light on this little-researched area of study to demystify common tropes and misunderstandings surrounding ELA in the MENA region. This book will be of use to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students involved with international and comparative education, higher education management, and education policy and politics more broadly.