Instructional and moral leadership in early twentieth century: The story of Yehuda Antebi, a primary school principal in Galilee

Izhar Oplatka, (Ph.d) ;
Elioz Hefer-Antebi (M.D) ;

Abstract

The current paper explores the leadership patterns of Yehuda Antebi, a school principal who lived and worked in the area of the Galilee (in the north of Israel today), in the first three decades of the twentieth century. His personal diaries and letters that have been preserved since then provide insight into educational leadership in an emergent educational system and illuminates the link between the social-historical contexts in which the educational leader works and his/her leadership patterns. In this sense, Antebi’s story represents a sort of leadership that was less likely to have been influenced by globalisation, marketisation, standardisation, and thereby gives us an opportunity to observe some authentic patterns of instructional and moral educational leadership that are independent of current policy drafts. The paper concludes by recommendations for further research on school principals in history.