Who Leads Gulf Schools Through Crisis?

Recent discussion has rightly drawn attention to how regional conflict can disrupt education in the Gulf, forcing schools and universities online and exposing risks related to learning loss, wellbeing, and inequality. Yet one policy question has received far less attention: who is expected to lead schools through these disruptions, and how well are they prepared for this role? Ministries may issue emergency protocols, but school principals are often the ones who translate those policies into daily practice. They communicate with parents, support teachers, reassure students, coordinate with local actors, and maintain learning when normal routines collapse.

This makes school leadership a central part of educational resilience in the Gulf, not a secondary administrative matter. If the region is entering an era of recurring crises, whether geopolitical, environmental, technological, or public health-related, then Gulf education systems need to prepare school leaders not only for reform and improvement, but also for uncertainty, disruption, and recovery.

Reform-Ready, But Not Yet Crisis-Ready

Since the 2000s, Gulf education reforms have been closely tied to national efforts to diversify economies and build competitive knowledge-based societies less dependent on oil and petrochemical industries. Education reform became part of a wider development agenda: improving human capital, modernizing public institutions, and preparing citizens for more complex economic futures.

Central to these reforms was the recognition that traditional models of teacher and school leader preparation were no longer sufficient. Several Gulf systems turned to international models and external expertise to redesign teacher education, leadership preparation, and professional development. For example, Bahrain and the UAE established new teacher education institutions influenced by Singapore’s National Institute of Education. Qatar’s Education for a New Era reform, developed with support from the RAND Corporation, introduced autonomy, accountability, and variety into the country’s K–12 system. Saudi Arabia’s Khebrat program similarly reflected a regional interest in exposing teachers and school leaders to international school practices through immersion and professional learning.

These initiatives have not been free from criticism. Policy borrowing in the Gulf has raised questions about contextual fit, sustainability, cultural relevance, and whether imported models can meaningfully transform school practice. Successful international practices cannot simply be transplanted into Gulf systems without adaptation to local governance structures, professional cultures, and community expectations.

Yet it would also be inaccurate to dismiss these investments entirely. Indicators from TALIS 2024, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) survey of teachers and school leaders, suggest that teachers in several Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) systems report positive relationships with their principals. In Bahrain, 90 percent of teachers reported that their principal has good professional relationships with staff, 89 percent said their principal provides useful feedback, and 91 percent agreed that their principal has confidence in teachers’ expertise. The corresponding figures were 94 percent, 92 percent, and 96 percent in the UAE, and 96 percent, 96 percent, and 98 percent in Saudi Arabia. These results exceed OECD averages across most indicators, particularly for principals providing useful feedback, where the OECD average was 77 percent.

These figures suggest that Gulf systems have developed some important foundations for professional leadership: trust, feedback, and positive staff relationships. The policy challenge, therefore, is not to reject previous leadership reforms, but to extend them. Earlier reforms helped prepare school leaders to support teaching quality, manage accountability, and translate national reform into school-level practice. The next stage should prepare staff to lead during disruption, uncertainty, and crisis.

Beyond Emergency Protocols

The Gulf’s education systems have shown notable capacity to respond quickly to disruption. During the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent regional crises, ministries and schools relied on digital platforms, central guidance, and emergency measures to sustain learning. These responses matter, but they should not be mistaken for comprehensive crisis leadership capacity.

A crisis in education is not only a logistical problem. It is also an emotional, social, organizational, and community problem. School leaders are expected to make decisions under pressure, communicate clearly, protect students and staff, support wellbeing, manage uncertainty, and maintain trust. The literature on crisis leadership shows that principals are often required to act as agile decision-makers, coordinators, emotional anchors, and community-facing leaders during emergencies.

This is especially important because crises rarely arrive in one form. A school may face regional security concerns, extreme weather, digital disruption, public anxiety, and staff exhaustion at the same time. Such compound crises cannot be managed through circulars alone. They require prepared leaders who can interpret guidance, adapt it to local realities, and mobilize people around a shared response.

The Gulf Context Matters

International models of crisis leadership offer useful lessons, but they cannot simply be imported into Gulf education systems. School leadership in the GCC is shaped by distinctive cultural, institutional, and policy conditions. School leaders often work within centralized systems, strong ministry direction, hierarchical structures, reform pressures, and culturally grounded expectations around authority, community, and national identity.

These features shape what school leaders can and cannot do during emergencies. In highly centralized systems, principals may wait for ministry instructions before taking action. This can ensure policy alignment, but it may also slow school-level responses when local needs are urgent. At the same time, Gulf school leaders operate within close-knit community contexts where trust and communication with families are essential. For this reason, the Gulf needs context-responsive crisis leadership models that recognize the importance of central coordination while also giving school leaders enough professional discretion to respond to the specific needs of their students, staff, and communities.

From Crisis Response to Crisis Readiness

Gulf policymakers should now move from crisis response to crisis readiness. First, crisis leadership should be embedded into initial preparation and professional development programs for school leaders and teachers. These programs should address pandemics, extreme weather, environmental disruption, local emergencies, cyber disruption, regional conflict, and compound crises.

Second, school leaders need bounded autonomy and voice. Ministries need central strategies, but principals understand the realities of implementation. They know which families lack devices, which students are most vulnerable, which teachers need support, and which community partnerships can be activated quickly.

Third, policymakers should invest in the wellbeing of school leaders. Crisis leadership places heavy emotional demands on principals, who are often expected to support students, teachers, parents, and communities while suppressing their own stress. A principal experiencing burnout cannot be the foundation of a resilient school.

Finally, the region needs to develop a shared knowledge base on school leadership during crises. Much has been learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, regional tensions, environmental disruptions, and school-level emergencies, but this learning often remains informal. More Gulf-based research, case studies, leadership forums, and policy briefs are needed to document what school leaders actually do during crises and what support they need.

As the Gulf confronts an increasingly uncertain regional environment, the demands placed on school leaders will only grow. Preparing school leaders to navigate disruption must become a core element of education policy. The next crisis will demand educational leaders who have the skills, authority, and support to act and adapt quickly. Gulf education systems must ensure they are prepared before that moment arrives.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Gulf International Forum.