Dr. Shadma Absar is an Assistant Professor at the National Centre for School Leadership, NIEPA. She completed her Ph.D. at the National Institute of Educational Policy and Planning and Administration. The research focus of her dissertation was on distributed leadership of school heads and its impact on teachers’ work behaviour. The study explored the practices and perceptions of teachers and school heads on distributed leadership of school heads in senior secondary government schools. It also explored the similarities and differences in the practices and perceptions of the two government-managed school systems. The research mainly focused on the impact of teachers’ perceptions of distributed leadership on their work behaviour. She also completed her M.Phil. degree from NIEPA with a research focus on perceived leadership styles, work motivation, and organizational commitment of university teachers in Delhi. The M.Phil programme on educational policy and planning involved an internship with the erstwhile planning commission as training to experience the subjective and objective knowledge in the field of educational planning and administration.

Prior to joining NIEPA, she worked as a guest teacher in the Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia, where six students of education completed their post-graduate dissertations under her supervision. She also organized workshops and was actively involved in all departmental activities at the university. Her research areas include leadership in School Education, School Leadership and Management and training of school heads and teachers. As a researcher and academician, she has written extensively on her areas of interest, particularly school leadership and work behaviour of teachers. She has various published papers to her credit. She has also presented research findings at various national and international seminars and conferences. In addition, she is the national coordinator for the following states and UTs working closely with their School Leadership Academies- Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Assam, Kerala and Nagaland.