For IIIT, examining the leadership and governance environments and decision-making processes of leaders such as in education systems are essential steps to improve governance at the local and regional levels which, of course, requires paying attention to the local contexts and values. Many leaders in Muslim societies do in fact highlight the importance of citizenship and positive values as part of their leadership strategies especially because many of these values come from the Quran and Sunnah where good counsel, sincere conduct, consultation, and seeking the common good (Brooks & Mutohar, 2018) are at the center of Islamic teachings. This division will delve more into the educational as well as geopolitical environments to identify cases and models for good governance and leadership that takes into considerations a value based approach to growth and social prosperity.
Reading Materials
“It is urgent that education scholars explore how Islamic values shape (and are shaped by) Muslim school leader beliefs, given the heightened anti-Muslim sentiment present in western contexts. Yet, there is a lack of scholarship on non-western approaches to leading schools. To address this gap, we drew from extant Islamic and educational leadership literature to develop a conceptual framework for Islamic school leadership. The framework is grounded in Islamic values and beliefs that cross socio-religious and contextual boundaries. Outside the framework are Islamic leader values. Inside the framework are four inner domains that influence the encircling values. Some beliefs will hold more sway that others, which will provide new insight into how Muslim leaders perceive their work and how this may influence their practice. Our expectation is that this framework will be tested, refined, and interrogated through empirical inquiry, thereby furthering scholarship in non-western contexts.” (p. 1)
