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This paper presentation regards a scoping review (Grant & Booth 2009) centering the scarce research on school leadership and digitalisation. Schools worldwide are becoming increasingly integrated with digital technologies. The significance of school leadership for overall school development is widely acknowledged in international research on school leadership and development. Especially concerning digital development of schools, school leaders are vital (Håkansson Lindqvist & Pettersson, 2019). Compared to the extensive research on teachers' roles in digitalized environments the literature on school leaders' roles in such contexts is scarce and fragmented (Tømte et al, 2024). Therefore, shedding light on school leaders regarding digital leadership is crucial since school leaders are crucial in schools adapting to the rapid technological changes, fostering an innovative learning environment and preparing students for a digital future.
A literature review by Krein et al. (2023), analyzing 31 articles from 2000 to 2020, found that school leadership is viewed through both formal roles (e.g., principals) and perceived tasks. Digitalization is largely framed around technology implementation, with cultural and societal perspectives often overlooked. Key research areas include (1) the use of digital media, (2) school leaders' perceptions of digitalization, (3) their competencies and professional development, and (4) the impact of social media on leadership. A recent bibliometric analysis of articles more broadly addressing research trends on digital school leadership over time (Wollenscheid et al. 2025) shows that publications have increased since 2019, peaking in 2021. Further, the focus has shifted over time, with the most important themes evolving from technology to school and finally to leadership. These findings indicate that the body of literature focusing explicitly on school leadership and digitalisation has increased since Krein’s (2023) review. Therefore, it is of interest to conduct a scoping review in the same topic area, employing similar research questions but slightly different conceptional frameworks. We aim to build on and Krein’s (2023) work, broadening it and adding new perspectives. This scoping review is guided by the following research questions:
What conceptionalisation of digitalisation and school leadership prevail in current research in the topic area?
What themes are addressed in current research?
What theoretical perspectives, if any, dominate research on school as organisations and educational / organisational leadership?
How digitalisation is conceptionalised differs greatly. When analysing and discussing conceptualisations of digitalisation in this article we draw on understanding digitalisation as different phases (Verhoef et al. 2021). First, digitization which comprises converting paper-based materials and processes into digital formats, like scanning documents or using word processors for lesson planning. Second, digitalization which related to implementing technology to improve specific processes, such as adopting systems for student data management or using digital tools for teaching and grading. Finally, digital transformation which entails rethinking and redesigning education with technology at the core, such as personalized learning, fully online courses, and digital communication platforms to enhance teaching and learning.
Concerning leadership, unlike Krein (2023), we are not occupied with who is defined or identifies as a leader or part of a leadership team. We draw on theory on leadership as enacted practice and styles such as autocratic, authoritative, transformational and distributed leadership to analyse and discuss what conceptualisations of school leadership prevail in current research in the topic area.
Method
Our research review was conducted following the Prisma Protocol for scoping reviews for a systematic approach and transparency in the process (Tricco et al., 2018). For the search, the databases ERIC, Education Source, Scopus and Web of Science were used with specific focus on peer-review journal articles in English in the period of 2014-2024. This process was supported by a librarian who is an expert in searches for reviews. The databases were searched using the following search string: digitalization OR "digital transformation*" OR digitization OR "digital transition*" OR "digital shift" AND "school leader*" OR "school leadership" OR "school principal*" OR "leadership in school*" OR leader* OR leadership OR "educational leadership" OR "pedagogical lead-ership" AND "K-12 school*" OR "Elementary school*" OR "elementary education" OR "primary school*" OR "primary education" OR "High school" OR "Upper secondary school*" OR "upper secondary education" OR "secondary school*" OR "secondary education" OR "grammar school*" OR school* The selection of articles for analysis was an iterative process which included thoroughly dis-cussing the inclusion-exclusion criteria and our understanding of school leadership which led to us going back and forth to ensure we had not excluded an article. We agreed on including articles that: 1) used school leaders as data source and focused on digital school leader-ship as a topic, or 2) used school leaders as data source and focused on a topic within digitalisation, or 3) used school leaders in combination with other groups (e.g. teachers, pupils etc) or other groups as data source and focused on digital school leadership as topic. Summarizing the selection process, we started with 406 articles and after removing dou-blets the abstracts of 281 articles were screened. This resulted in 75 articles for full text screening in which 50 were excluded. We thereafter checked the reference list of the remaining 25 articles and found 12 additional articles that were included. In sum, this process resulted in the total number of 37 articles to be included in the final analysis. We conducted a descriptive analysis of year of publication, journal, country where the re-search is conducted, participants and methods as well as a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) related to research questions.
Expected Outcomes
The analysis will be finalised during spring 2025 and presented at the conference. The first descriptive analysis shows that there is a clear increase in the number of published articles after 2021, not only peaking in 2021 as Wollenscheid et al. (2025) suggest. Con-sequently, the analysis comprises a majority of articles not included in previous research reviews in the field (cf. Krein et al., 2023; Wollenscheid et al., 2025). Distinctly most of the research was conducted in Sweden. Furthermore, we can state a regional focus on the Middle East, specifically, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Israel and Europe, with most research stemming from Sweden but also Switzerland and additional studies from Ireland, Spain, and Norway. The articles are published in diverse journals covering education, technology, and leadership without an obvious pattern or preferred journal. Concerning methods, mixed methods seem to be most prominent. Further expected findings are that conceptualisations of digitalisation as implementing digital technologies prevail and little emphasis is placed on actual transformation even though the terminology is used. Conceptualisations of what school leadership entails, and how it is enacted depends on the cultural context but there seems to be an empha-sis on transformational leadership perspectives. Themes addressed in the research are 1) Digital Transformational Leadership, 2) Technology Integration strategies, Teachers' Perspectives on Professional Development strategies, 3) Challenges and Barriers for dig-ital transformation, 4) Socio-Demographic Factors influencing Leadership Practices, 5) Crisis (COVID 19) Management and 6) Educational Reform and Policy. It seems only some of the articles employ theoretical lenses when analysing the data or discussing the findings.
