Lived Experience of Educational Leaders in Nepali Schools

Educational leaders in Nepali Schools face a situation of intricacy in their everyday experience. This study answers the fundamental question of ' what does it mean being a teacher leader?' Acknowledging the pedagogic significance of being a teacher leader, this inquiry applies Hermeneutic Phenomenology as a method of researching the leadership experience. The research question is answered in analogy using metaphors where being at the top equals to 'walking a labyrinth', being in the middle is like ' Waiting for Godot' and being at bottom is like ' burning like a candle'. This qualitative inquiry explores the lived experience of being leaders in Nepali institutional schools at a time the education system of Nepal is going through a transition. Tallied against the principles of distributed leadership, this study concludes that Nepali educational fraternity is not yet fully prepared to implement the inherent assumptions that distributed leadership postulates i.e.an ideal harmony among leaders, followers and the context.