Self-Learning to Lead: A Grounded Theory on the Transition in Leading from Elementary to Integrated School

The increasing trend of school conversion into an integrated school posed new responsibilities and challenges to the elementary school heads. Following the rigorous method of Qualitative Grounded Theory, through in-depth interviews of the four school head participants, this aimed to generate a theory that is grounded on the narratives and experiences of the elementary school heads, as they transitioned to lead an integrated school. The recorded interviews were transcribed and followed the three phases of thematic analysis; open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. In open coding, the researcher looked for substantial categories and saturation of the data, using the constant-comparative analysis to identify the central or core phenomenon. As a result, Self-learning to Lead emerged as the core phenomenon which characterizes the transition in leading of the school heads. This paper presents a new andragogy that supports how school heads learn in a self-directed conduct. It highlights how they learn in a manner that could be distinct or a continuation of their previous post. The researcher then engaged in the axial coding process, now that the core phenomenon was generated. This coding process explored and examined the core phenomenon that was generated. In which the researcher reviewed and collected other data to explicate the core phenomenon. These data were further elaborated through selective coding, which formed and systematically linked the narratives of the participants to complete the generated theory. This paper presents a significant impact both in theory and in practice in the field of leadership in education, especially in this distinct field of interest.