Purpose This study aims to examine the relationships among students' academic aspirations (AA), teachers' classroom leadership, student-perceived principal social justice leadership (SJL), students' cultural capital (CC) and academic achievement. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the relative predictive power of leadership-related and socio-cultural factors in explaining students' academic outcomes within the context of urban secondary education in Türkiye. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional quantitative research design was employed. Survey data were collected from 1,751 students attending Anatolian high schools in Ankara, Türkiye. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the extent to which AA, student-perceived teacher classroom leadership, student-perceived principal SJL and CC predicted students' academic achievement. Findings Findings show that CC by itself was a major factor in predicting academic achievement, and it explained 6% of the variation. On the other hand, the leadership elements perceived by students and their AA had no statistically significant direct effects, which underscore the continuous role of socio-cultural resources in distinguishing educational results. Originality/value This study empirically contrasts the predictive power of leadership and CC on academic achievement among urban Turkish secondary students. Findings reveal that while family-embedded CC significantly explains 6% of achievement variance, student-perceived leadership constructs and AA show limited direct effects. Consequently, school leadership likely influences outcomes through indirect, mediated pathways, highlighting the urgent need for policies addressing socio-cultural disparities and further research into leadership mechanisms.
Akman et al. (Mon,) studied this question.