Women in Education Management in Kosovo: A Hard Road Less Travelled

Abstract

This article presents limited yet significant findings of a pilot study of the experience of potential female leaders in education in Kosovo. It explores a small-scale qualitative study of the barriers to women’s accession in school management positions and the under-representation of women in management positions in primary schools in Kosovo. A qualitative, multiple case study approach is employed. Semi-structured interviews are employed to explore the experiences of four female teachers who have engaged in a leadership development scheme, and two government officials. In spite of being qualified for promotion to school management positions, none of the participants had applied for a school leadership role and opted to remain class teachers. Mirroring other contexts, the study found a mixture of factors acting on their decision not to progress into a management role. A lack of aspiration was influenced by their perception of the primacy of maternal and uxorial roles, political interference in school leadership appointments, gender stereotyping, and the constraining forces of social expectations in Kosovo. These constraints were only thinly balanced by the positive influence of familial support and female role models, encouraging women to engage in leadership roles.