EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW

Educational leadership has undergone profound transformation in the twenty first century,shaped by technological advancement,globalisationsocial justice movements, and unprecedented crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review, synthesising conceptual, methodological, and thematic trends in recent scholarship. Drawing on literature indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, and Latindex, the review examines three primary dimensions: the evolution of leadership conceptualisations, the preparation and professional development of leaders, and the impact of leadership on student learning, teacher wellbeing, and institutional improvement. Particular emphasis is placed on distributed, inclusive, and ethically oriented models of leadership, alongside the integration of digital technologies and the promotion of resilience and wellbeing within educational communities . Persistent challenges, including inequity, cultural bias in research, and the need for sustainability-oriented leadership, are identified.The review also acknowledges the instrumental role of artificial intelligence in facilitating the systematic search, initial categorisation, and preliminary synthesis of literature, while emphasising that interpretation and critical analysis remain the domain of human expertise. Educational leadership is thus positioned as a transformative, shared, and ethical endeavour essential to fostering resilient, democratic, and equitable societies.