Rurality and School Leadership: The Displacement of Pedagogical Leadership in Schools in Alhué

Abstract

This article examines how rurality and school vulnerability shape the exercise of school leadership and generate tensions in the relationship between principals and teachers in municipal schools in the commune of Alhué (Chile). The objective of the study is to analyze the gap between the pedagogical leadership promoted by national education policy and the leadership effectively exercised in rural contexts, as well as its effects on school climate and teacher participation. A qualitative case study with an exploratory and interpretative approach was conducted. The research included semi-structured interviews with 25 participants (10 school leaders and 15 teachers) from the five municipal schools in the commune, together with a documentary analysis of national regulations and institutional documents. The analysis was carried out through thematic coding and triangulation of sources, considering data collected between 2019 and 2023. The results reveal a mismatch between normative leadership expectations and the organizational conditions of the territory. The administrative and teaching overload of school leadership teams, role ambiguity, limited pedagogical presence in classrooms, and teacher participation perceived mainly as formal create a scenario in which leadership is primarily oriented toward institutional functioning and administrative compliance. The study proposes understanding this phenomenon as a structural displacement of instructional leadership, in which instructional functions do not disappear but become subordinated to organizational demands. This finding helps explain the gap between educational policy and school practice and highlights the need for policies that recognize the structural conditions of rural territories.