In this study, we inquired about patterns of leadership distribution, as well as which leadership functions were performed by whom, the characteristics of nonadministrative leaders, and the factors promoting and inhibiting the distribution of leadership functions. We consider our account of distributed leadership in this district to be a probable example of “best practice” at the present time—not perfect, but likely more mature than average by a significant degree. The most noteworthy detail to emerge from our study was the critical part played by formal school and district leaders in helping to foster apparently productive forms of distributed leadership.

Drawing on a number of primary and secondary sources, the paper identifies major perspectives and debates on themes, issues, challenges, developments important in the field of Islamic education. Against the backdrop of the rise of religious discourse and politics in the public sphere, this paper (i) discusses the sources and evolution of the concept of education as a discipline in the Muslim world; (ii) situates Islamic education within the wider Islamization project and examines the need to re-conceptualize the concept within the epistemological and ethical perspectives while balancing it with a re-examination of self and the appreciation of the ‘other’; (iii) explores the educational implications of the Muslims vs. the West divide, (iv) highlights the proliferation of Islamic schools and the concomitant innovative ideas globally; and (vi) suggests insights into improving Islamic education in the twenty-first century. The paper highlights the continuity and change in these themes across time and space. The paper finally concludes that Islamic education has reached a cross-road. To succeed in the new millennium will require ingenuity and collaboration, learning not only from the past, but also from the present and looking into the future.

In the 70 year history of Islamic schools in North America, there is yet to be an accredited teacher education programme to train and professionally equip Islamic school teachers with an understanding of an Islamic pedagogy. Arguably, there has been an imbalance of energy placed on curriculum development projects over the considerations of teacher training. From my experience working as a teacher trainer/education consultant for Islamic schools for the past 10 years, it is evident that the underlying assumption for many school administrators is that a State/Ministry certified teacher who is Muslim will know how to teach ‘Islamically’. The aims of this paper are to first establish some semblance of what it means to teach Islamically or, more accurately, to teach through an Islamic pedagogy. From this framework, the crux of the paper is to present findings from a series of focus groups with Islamic school educators about their teacher training needs. The findings of this study establish the need for a formal teacher education programme in Islamic pedagogy within an established faculty of education. Such a programme would achieve three major ends in cultivating the stewardship of Islamic schools in North America:

Increasingly, educators committed to the vision of Islamic schooling are expressing sentiments of moral dissonance. On the one hand, they choose Islamic schools because they aspire to affect hearts, nurture whole human beings, and grow spiritually while impacting their learners’ sense of higher purpose. On the other hand, they are up against an era of globalised educational reform, characterised by neoliberal-engendered market forces and neoliberal policy logic that promote performativity and efficiency. This narrows what counts as learning, technicises the art of teaching, and assumes all learning that counts is visible and measurable. The teacher education and ongoing professional learning that educators working in Islamic schools have access to remains bifurcated. It is unable to address how an educator committed to tarbiya as “soul-making” ought to navigate aspirations with realities. This paper serves as the introduction to a special issue (SI) dedicated to conceptualising why Islamically grounded teacher education is needed and what it may entail. This SI will also offer empirical studies related to existing Islamic teacher education and professional learning programmes that capture essential reflections for a burgeoning subfield of Islamic Education Studies. In this introduction specifically, the co-editors and a co-author colleague make three big moves to lay the foundations for Islamic teacher education, including (1) establishing urgency for why Islamic teacher education is needed, (2) conceptualising what makes teacher education “Islamic”, and (3) providing an example of one Islamic teacher education programme’s attempt to advance a coherent professional learning journey for Islamic school educators. Together, these three moves serve as an attempt to redress bifurcation and advance a contextually relevant in-road to teacher education that is rooted in an Islamic paradigm and worldview while conversant with contemporary debates in education.

A systemic challenge for K-12 Islamic schools in Western contexts is a disconnect between purpose and practice. This challenge underscores the urgency for empirical research to advance teaching and learning approaches distinct to education in the Islamic tradition. This qualitative study explores educator perspectives on Islamic pedagogy in practice after immersion in a teacher education programme designed for Islamic school educators. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 alumni of the Islamic Teacher Education Programme (ITEP). Islamically coherent research methodology honoured participant agency as expressions of a distinct pedagogical approach. The study contributes new knowledge to the under-researched area of Islamic pedagogy, highlighting that Islamic pedagogic renewal must privilege (a) faith-perspectives, as legitimate and credible ways of knowing; (b) local voices, perspectives, contexts, and lifeworlds of learners in shaping and reshaping classrooms and schools; and (c) educational values that influence praxis in light of the unique visions of Islamic schools.