An inquiry into grade 10 students’ leadership experiences in public and private secondary schools in the Ghizer District of Giltgit Baltistan

Student leadership has emerged as an important topic in contemporary educational literature (Abrahim, 2011; Hine, 2012). Successive educational policies and curriculum documents in Pakistan emphasize students\u27 leadership development in schools, however, schools seem to put little or no efforts to promote and nurture students\u27 leadership skills. There scant of literature on student leadership in Pakistan. This study explored the experiences of Grade 10 students of mixed groups including Science, Arts and Computer Science about the practices that promote/hinder their leadership skills in public and private secondary schools of Ghizer district, GB. This study was conducted using concurrent mixed method research design where quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed simultaneously. Purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select the research sample. Out of 17 secondary schools (11 public and 6 private), four public and four private schools were sampled for data collection. Moreover, 220 Grade 10 students and two head teachers were the research participants. The data collection tools include survey questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the schools\u27 vision, school development plan and Punishment policies about students help in promoting students\u27 leadership skills in public and private schools. Students, irrespective of the school system and gender, positively view the practices of schools towards their leadership development. The qualitative data findings second students\u27 views that schools arrange and encourage students\u27 participation in the number of classroom, outside classroom and other related activities to improve their leadership skills. The findings indicate that schools face challenges in terms of system policies, resources, and relationships. Study results further revealed that schools employ some strategies to overcome the challenges that hinder schools\u27 and teachers\u27 efforts to promote students\u27 leadership skills