Reconceptualising leadership as a place-responsive practice in rural and remote contexts

This paper challenges context-neutral assumptions in educational leadership by examining how rurality and remoteness constitute leadership practice. Drawing on 11 semi-structured interviews with headteachers, deputy headteachers and local authority leaders in a Scottish island context, the study uses an exploratory case study design and reflexive thematic analysis to consider how rurality and remoteness constitute school leadership, and what this reveals about leadership as a relational and place-responsive practice . We argue that leadership is ontologically inseparable from the relational, spatial and material conditions within which it emerges. From this perspective, rurality and remoteness are not simply contextual variables but generative conditions that constitute leadership enactment, practices and purpose. This reconceptualisation positions rural-remote leadership not as an adaptation of urban-normative models, but as a distinct and valuable form of practice. Three interrelated themes capture leadership as place-responsive practice: (1) leadership as place-based relationality; (2) leadership as systemic mediation of structures and (3) leadership as a boundary-spanning practice. Leadership is enacted through rich relational networks, high levels of social visibility and ongoing negotiation across organisational and community boundaries. The study contributes to educational leadership theory by advancing a situated and relational understanding of leadership, with broader implications beyond rural contexts.