EXPLORING THE ROLE OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP IN RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED SECONDARY SCHOOLS: EVIDENCE FROM DISTRICT KECH, BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN

Abstract

This qualitative case study investigates how secondary school principals in District Kech, Balochistan, enact leadership amid acute resource scarcity, addressing a critical empirical void in educational leadership research within Pakistan's most marginalized province. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten principals and twenty-five teachers, alongside document analysis and school observations, the study reveals that principals practice "adaptive resourcefulness “a dynamic interplay of bureaucratic navigation, community engagement, and teacher capacity-building that compensates for systemic deficiencies. Leadership enactment is profoundly shaped by geographic isolation, cultural norms, and a coercive "sink or swim" professional socialization process, positioning principals as critical boundary-spanners between state apparatus, local communities, and schools. Notably, female principals encounter intensified constraints related to mobility and positional authority within patriarchal structures. As the first empirical inquiry of its kind in this context, the study advances adaptive and transformational leadership discourses by proposing an Adaptive-Resourceful Leadership (ARL) model, offering a culturally situated framework for understanding school leadership in resource-constrained settings across the Global South.