School Leadership Under the Conditions of Digitalization: A German Insight into Conditions and Challenges for School Leaders

School leaders are internationally regarded as central actors for school and school development (e.g., Ärlestig et al., 2016; Hallinger & Heck, 1998; Leithwood et al., 2020; Pietsch & Tulowitzki, 2017) and thus usually face a multitude of different tasks and demands. At the same time, school leaders, their everyday work, and their activities are transformed by social transformation processes (Krein, 2023b). One example of such transformation phenomena, which is also frequently discussed in the discourse on development processes (in) schools, is digitalization (Brumme, 2020). Digitalization does affect school leaders not only in the context of school development: Likewise, the everyday work and actions of school leaders, e.g., school administration or cooperation with non-school actors, are cross-sectionally shaped by digitalization (Schiefner-Rohs, 2019). This chapter aims to provide insights into the actions of school leaders in Germany under the conditions of digitalization. Based on a qualitative research project, school leaders’ actions as well as potentials and challenges in the context of digitalization are presented. Implications for school leadership research as well as for the professionalization of school leaders in Germany are discussed.