Exploring the Role of Context for Social Justice Leadership: Perceptions, Practices, and Challenges Through the Lens of Ecological Systems Theory

Addressing the educational inequalities experienced by disadvantaged student groups is now considered a key responsibility for school leaders worldwide. Using Ecological Systems Theory (EST), this study explores school leaders’ perceptions and implementation of social justice leadership in Türkiye, focusing on how contextual factors shape, enable, or constrain their efforts. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 school principals and assistant principals from different levels and diverse educational settings. Three main themes emerged from the data: 1. Perceived inequities and perception of social justice in education, 2. Social justice leadership practices, and 3. Contextual opportunities and challenges of social justice leadership. Findings mainly reveal that despite their limited autonomy and resources, many school leaders drew on community relationships and informal networks to meet students’ academic, material, and emotional needs. Interpretations of the findings within the current literature and suggestions for practice and research were provided in the discussion section.