Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping technological infrastructures that increasingly support everyday life, particularly through the rapid expansion of generative AI (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT and similar systems, which simulate aspects of human behavior through information-processing technologies (Ofosu-Ampong et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2024). A universally accepted definition of AI does not currently exist (Collins et al., 2021; Kafa, 2025b; DeMatthews et al., 2026). Yet, AI is associated with specific algorithms that support web-based chatbots that autonomously perform a variety of cognitive, perceptual and conversational tasks that typically mimic human intelligence (Mohebi, 2024; Feng and Law, 2021). As these technologies become more embedded in social and organizational practices, AI has also emerged as a significant area of research and focus in education.Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly redefining school organizations and the education sector more broadly (Kafa, 2025b; Fullan et al., 2023; DeMatthews et al., 2026). To date, much of the focus on AI in schools has centered on its potential to enhance teachers' instructional practices and students' learning experiences. In particular, AI-supported systems have been positioned as tools that can augment traditional teaching processes and assessment practices through personalization, automation and data-informed feedback (Kafa and Eteokleous, 2024; Elbanna and Armstrong, 2024; Javaid et al., 2023; Chen et al., 2020).Within the field of school leadership, there remains a scarcity of research examining the intersection of AI and leadership practice. Empirical studies exploring how AI can support, enhance, or reshape the everyday work of school leaders remain limited, particularly in relation to leadership practices and organizational application (Kafa, 2025a; Wang, 2021; Mohebi, 2024; Adams and Thompson, 2025). Alongside this, emerging theoretical discussions increasingly emphasize the potential of AI to transform leadership practices and organizational processes in schools (DeMatthews et al., 2026; Adams and Thompson, 2025; Kafa, 2025b; Fullan et al., 2023; Karakose and Tülübaş, 2024).Against this backdrop, AI in school leadership matters because it increasingly intersects with the everyday work of school leaders and has the potential to reshape core managerial processes by streamlining administrative tasks, supporting communication with stakeholders and informing decision-making, thereby easing some of the growing pressures associated with contemporary school leadership. At the same time, understanding school leaders' capacity and readiness to engage with AI is critical, alongside careful consideration of the practical constraints, limitations and ethical, moral, and infrastructural issues that shape its responsible use within contemporary school organizations.This growing interest in AI has led to the establishment of the Emerald journal AI in Education, which aims to publish research studies relating to the applications of AI at any stage of education. This special issue, The Evolving Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in School Leadership, contributes to the purpose of this journal by focusing specifically on AI and school leadership in school organizations. The question, therefore, is not only why AI in school leadership matters, but also why this special issue is timely and necessary. The rise of advanced AI tools and technologies is expected to significantly affect schools. School leaders, as key stakeholders and heads of schools, are undergoing a transformative journey driven by the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as AI. Consequently, it is expected that school leaders are well informed and knowledgeable. This special issue, “The Evolving Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in School Leadership”, brings together seven empirical, conceptual and review-based studies that examine how AI intersects with leadership practice and governance across diverse educational systems and levels of schooling.Recent academic discourse (Fullan et al., 2023; DeMatthews et al., 2026; Adams and Thompson, 2025; Kafa, 2025a, b) highlights the expectation that school leaders need to develop the capacity to govern and enact AI in multiple contexts. Against this backdrop, the following three contributions expand on this aspect.One contribution to this special issue, titled “School leaders and AI-driven education: a comparative study of readiness, perceptions and implementation strategies”, examines school leaders' disparities in AI familiarity, perceived relevance of AI-related skills and institutional readiness between K-12 school leaders and teachers. Drawing on the technology acceptance model and distributed leadership theory, Kim's study uses survey data complemented by qualitative responses to illuminate how leaders tend to express greater optimism and confidence regarding AI, while teachers report more uncertainty and concern about implementation and ethical implications. The findings highlight persistent gaps in professional learning, shared understanding and organizational readiness, underscoring the importance of collaborative leadership approaches and job-embedded professional development in supporting ethical and effective AI integration.Another paper, by Raptis and Psyrras titled “Integrating artificial intelligence in primary education: empirical insights of school leadership perspectives”, examines how primary school leaders perceive and adopt AI in their professional practices and the factors facilitating AI integration, within the context of Greece ́s post-pandemic digital transformation of schools. Based on data from 26 school leaders, the authors examine attitudes toward AI, self-efficacy, perceived usefulness in decision-making and challenges to implementation. Their analysis reveals that while leaders generally hold positive views toward AI, readiness remains uneven and is shaped by both individual and structural factors, including infrastructure limitations and limited access to targeted training. By foregrounding the Greek context, the study contributes to a more geographically diverse understanding of how school leadership mediates AI adoption in primary education systems and highlights the need for focused professional development workshops, continuous support systems, an ethical AI culture in schools and significant investment in technological infrastructure to enhance school leaders ́ digital readiness.A scoping review by Kumar and Sarkar titled “Artificial intelligence in secondary schools: implications for administrators across four leadership dimensions” sets the ethical dimension of AI interaction within environments demanding technological innovation and educational value preservation. Specifically, this scoping review examines how AI intersects with instructional, managerial, strategic and relational leadership functions. The analysis identifies a notable misalignment between where AI is most commonly used, particularly in communication and relational tasks and where it may be most appropriately applied, such as managerial and strategic functions. Also, this paper provided a nuanced understanding of AI as a leadership challenge rather than a purely technical solution.Additionally, as AI becomes increasingly embedded in school organizations, issues related to ethics, governance and policy mediation have emerged as important topics for school leadership (Fullan et al., 2023; DeMatthews et al., 2026; Adams and Thompson, 2025; Kafa, 2025a, b). Based on the above, the following four papers address these challenges.In the paper by Avidov-Unger and Ganon-Shilon, titled “School principals' technology and transformational leadership practices for spreading the adoption of an Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) policy,” the study aims to explore school leaders' leadership practices for spreading the adoption of AI in education. Based on 16 interviews with primary and secondary school leaders, the study identifies technology leadership and transformational leadership practices that support innovation diffusion, including professional capacity building, shared leadership and engagement with parents and external partners. This study provides a theoretical insight emphasizing that the communication of an innovation, bridging top-down policy adoption with bottom-up stakeholder engagement, requires an integrated leadership.Chavez and Palaoag, with their exploratory study “Data-Driven Decision Making in School Leadership: AI-Based Academic Performance Prediction Using Machine Learning and SDT Motivation”, presented the growing role of data-driven decision-making in school leadership. By examining the potential of AI-based predictive models to inform leadership decisions related to academic performance, through a small-scale dataset and multiple machine learning techniques, their study demonstrates how AI analytics may be leveraged to support school leadership decision-making, while also drawing attention to issues of generalizability, interpretability and responsible use.Additionally, through a structured literature review, the paper “Artificial Intelligence in School Leadership: Organizational Benefits and Ethical Challenges” by Lipsou and Keravnos investigates how AI integrates into school leadership by examining organizational benefits and ethical challenges. As AI permeates educational administration, school leaders must navigate risks and opportunities in data privacy, fairness and accountability. The findings indicate that AI for school leadership supports administrative efficiency, decision support and, under data governance, more equitable resource allocation and at the same time ethical-legal challenges, algorithmic bias, opacity in decision-making and diffuse accountability. Overall, this paper links both benefits and challenges to accountability and legal implications, proposing a leadership governance frame to support equitable and transparent AI in school leadership.The last paper by Virella and Lamb, “Navigating Urgency and Innovation: How Pandemic-Era Leadership Informs the Evolving Role of AI in Educational Leadership”, draws on school leaders' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic to examine how insights gained from navigating urgent and sustained disruption can inform AI-related leadership practices. The study emphasizes the enduring importance of human relationships, equity and well-being as AI technologies become more embedded in educational contexts. By situating AI within the broader arc of pandemic-era leadership, the paper highlights how adaptive capacity, reflexivity and values-driven leadership remain central to effective school leadership in periods of technological change.In conclusion, the papers included in this special issue advance the current conversation on AI in school leadership, specifically by reframing AI not only as a technological innovation but also as a complex leadership and governance challenge. Additionally, the papers included in this special issue highlight ongoing gaps in training and shared understanding, underscoring the need for sustained professional development. The contributions also demonstrate that while AI has the potential to support decision-making, organizational efficiency and leadership practice, its use is dependent on critical ethical, policy and governance considerations, including accountability, transparency and equity, which must guide AI adoption in schools. Finally, these studies situate AI not as a replacement for school leadership but as an important tool whose value and necessity depend deeply on how it is governed and enacted by both education policy and school leaders across diverse contexts.Dr Antonios Kafa is an assistant professor of Educational Leadership and Management at the Open University of Cyprus, whose current research seeks to understand how school leaders build digital capacity and use artificial intelligence (AI) in leadership and management practices, particularly within centralized education systems. His latest book, as lead editor, The Power of Technology in School Leadership During COVID-19: Insights from the Field (Springer, 2024), explores how school leaders navigated digitalization during the pandemic and how these experiences inform post-pandemic leadership and AI integration.
Antonios Kafa (Wed,) studied this question.
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