INCLUSIVE POLICY-MAKING WITH FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN PROTECTING TEACHERS’ RIGHTS BY EMPLOYING THE RAWLSIAN LENS

Abstract

This study examines the persistent disparity between what we want to achieve through policy objectives and what we really achieve despite the stress on equity goals, especially when it’s about teachers’ rights and freedom. Through the lens of John Rawls’ Social Justice Theory, researchers analyze the role of leadership practices in assuring the equal rights of teachers in the policy implementation process. Using a qualitative theory-driven analytical method, researchers show that although teachers are key policy interpreters, their capacity to guarantee fair outcomes is influenced and frequently limited by leadership practices, including uneven institutional support, minimal involvement and limited professional autonomy. However, implementation strategies often fail to favor the least advantaged; these conditions represent inconsistency with Rawls’ principles of equal liberty and difference principle. The study highlights the need for more inclusive and justice-driven educational leadership practices by claiming that policy frameworks are unlikely to achieve sustainable fairness in the absence of equity-oriented leadership that actively promotes teachers’ rights and agency. Moreover, it contributes to the literature by emphasizing teachers’ rights as a fundamental prerequisite for policy execution and by indicating that teacher empowerment is just as important as the realization of educational equity in policy design.