The school principals have possible the most important role in schools as they lead the creation of purposeful school cultures, respond to the demands of governments, parents, and communities (Anderson, 2017), and lead reforms and the school development (Nets, 2017). Supporting principals to help them improve practice is therefore important (Nets, 2017) and this should include opportunities for the high-quality professional development from when principals begins and throughout their career (Nasreen & Odhiambo, 2018).

In reviewing the state policies in the USA focused on developing principals, Manna (2015) argues that in a time of rapid change, numerous policy initiatives, technological advances, and increasing expectations, school principals face pressures to adapt. There is additional tension, however, as new responsibilities are given to principals without traditional responsibilities being removed. For example, Retna (2015) reports that principals are not only responsible and accountable for the day-to-day management of the schools but also “for enculturing students and teachers with twenty-first century knowledge and skills” (Retna, 2015, p. 529).

In this scenario, the professional development (PD) is considered of vital importance to develop school leaders for the effective management of the schools. Therefore, the professional development has attained unprecedented attraction and interest as a means to develop school leaders - equipping them with the required knowledge and skills for the school improvement (Wright & da Costa, 2016). Gümüş (2019) highlights that professional development of principals is one of the most discussed educational leadership topics, and Darling-Hammond, Meyerson, La Pointe, and Orr (2010) term professional development for school principals as being crucial.

There is an acknowledgement that the principal’s role is critical for the school effectiveness, and the professional development plays key role in equipping the principals for the effective management of the schools: yet little attention has been given to enhancing professional development to better support principals (Retna, 2015). Thus, the principals’ professional development has been a prominent issue (Wright & da Costa, 2016).

Generally, the funding for professional development prioritize classroom teachers’ needs over the professional needs of school principals (Manna, 2015). Although, professional needs of teachers should be addressed but it is key to understand that professional needs of the principals are also as important as the needs of teachers (Manna, 2015). In this regard, Stewart and Matthews (2015) have identified that the greatest professional development needs of school principals are improving staff and students’ performance 57 percent and 51 percent respectively. Following this, improvement of school/community relations (38%), budgeting (34%), management of student behavior (31%), and supervision (22%) are some other key professional development needs for the school principals (Stewart & Matthews, 2015).

Much is known about what good professional learning for principals is (Darling-Hammond et al., 2010), yet it seems to not be widely implemented (Darling-Hammond, Lapointe, Meyerson, & Orr 2007). The knowledge base is also dominated by Western-centric research and in Pakistan there is a paucity of research (Khan, 2010). Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to explore the in-service professional development of government secondary school head teachers in Pakistan to better understand their perspectives and experiences related to the professional development, and how they are supported to develop professionally and the influence that this development has on their work. This study was guided by the following research questions:

• How do Pakistan head teachers view in-service professional development, what has been their experience of this, and how has this experience impacted on their work?
• How can in-service professional development be improved to help Pakistani head teachers to lead and manage their schools now and in the future?

In order to get a detailed understanding about the central phenomenon (in-service professional development) of current study, qualitative research method is a best fit. Qualitative research, as Creswell (2015) illustrates, is the qualitative approach that helps to explore a detailed understanding of the central phenomenon. The underlying objective of qualitative research is on understanding the meaning people have constructed (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Therefore, it aims to get an in-depth understanding of peoples’ perspectives and experiences related to a phenomenon – how they make sense of or interpret their lived experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Keeping in view the purpose and research questions of the current study, I chose the hermeneutic phenomenological design of the qualitative research (van Manen, 1990). Hermeneutic phenomenology is focused on gaining insights about the lived experience (phenomenology), and the interpretation of that lived experience (hermeneutic) (van Manen, 1990). Thus, the focus is two folded - description and interpretation - researcher is continuously engaged in interpretations to make sense of the lived experiences of individuals about a phenomenon (Creswell and Poth, 2018). The research participants were selected by adopting purposeful sampling strategies (Creswell, 2015). Purposeful sampling refers to a process of selecting research participants, based on an understanding that these can purposefully contribute to get an in-depth understanding about the central phenomenon of a study (Creswell & Poth, 2018). Moreover, by doing criterion sampling (Creswell & Poth, 2018), I selected the research participants by adopting following procedures. I selected those head teachers who have participated in the in-service professional development and had at-least 5-years’ experience of the school headship. Bifurcating government secondary schools as per location and gender in the Sindh province of Pakistan, I purposefully selected 20 government secondary schools’ head teachers. Moreover, gender-wise, 7 boys’ schools, 6 girls’ schools, and 7 co-education schools’ headteachers were selected as participants for the current study. The primary source of data collection for this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study (van Manen, 1990) was one-to-one in-depth interviews (Creswell & Poth, 2018). I conducted and recorded total 40 telephonic interviews of 60 to 90 minutes time duration with 20 headteachers. The interview questions have generated enough information that is sufficient to addressing the research questions and meeting the purpose of the study. I analysed the data in NVivo 12 by employing the open coding strategy of data analysis. Open coding involves line-by-line close reading of data (Johnson, 2017).

The participants shared some key PD features, which are described below. Moreover, the results include data about the impacts of PD – on the headteachers, teachers and students. Emerged themes are as under: • Reported features of the PD o Needs assessment  Remembering their lived experiences of diverse PD programs, 80% of the headteachers informed about the absence of needs assessment exercise in almost every PD program. o Key content areas in different PD programs  The focus of key content areas in different PD programs of the headteachers had remained on three major categories, 1) school leadership and financial management, 2) teaching and learning, and 3) community involvement. o Teaching and learning methodology during different PD programs  Thirty percent of the headteachers reported that trainers adopted activity-based teaching and learning strategies. Mainly, the cooperative learning methods such as group work, role play, inquiry-based and case study were adopted by the trainers. o Evaluation of different PD programs  Fifty five percent of the headteachers informed that pre and post-tests were conducted by the PD providers. o Follow up of different PD programs  Ninety five percent of the headteachers referred to an absence of the follow up exercise in almost each PD program. • Direct and indirect impacts of PD on the participants o At the personal and professional level  Personally, some of the headteachers informed about boast in confidence, improvement in communication skills, and development of sense of responsibility.  Professionally, 40% of the headteachers informed that they learnt about school leadership, administration and planning, whereas 35% learnt about school finances. • Direct and indirect impacts of PD on teachers and students o Constructing the supportive committees at schools o Improved academic and assessment practices at schools

Anderson, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in education: A review of existing literature. International Social Science Review, 93(1), 1-13. Creswell, J. (2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Darling-Hammond, L., LaPointe, M., Meyerson, D., & Orr. M. T. (2007). Preparing school leaders for a changing world: Lessons from exemplary leadership development programs. Executive Summary. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Stanford Educational Leadership Institute. Darling-Hammond, L., Meyerson, D. La Pointe, M., & Orr, M. T. (2010). Preparing principals for a changing world: Lessons from effective school leadership programs. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Gümüş, E. (2019). Investigation of mentorship process and programs for professional development of school principals in the U.S.A.: The case of Georgia. International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management, 7(1), 2-41. doi: 10.17583/ijelm.2019.3718 Johnson, L. R. (2017). Community-based qualitative research: Approaches for education and the social sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Khan, A. (2010). A case study exploring perceived professional development needs for secondary school principals in Pakistan (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Administrative and Policy Studies, School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. Manna, P. (2015). Developing excellent school principals to advance teaching and learning: Considerations for State policy. New York, NY: The Wallace Foundation. Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Nasreen, A., & Odhiambo, G. (2018). The continuous professional development of school principals: Current practices in Pakistan. Bulletin of Education and Research, 40(1), 245-266. Nets, M. (2017). Professional development of school principals in the pilot program ofpedagogical flexibility: The Israeli case. Economics and Culture, 14(2), 12-21. doi:10.1515/jec-2017-0014 Retna, K. S. (2015). Different approaches to the professional development of principals: A comparative study of New Zealand and Singapore. School Leadership & Management, 35(5), 524-543. doi:10.1080/13632434.2015.1107038 Stewart, C., & Matthews, J. (2015). The Lone Ranger in Rural Education: The Small Rural School Principal and Professional Development. The Rural Educator, 36(3), 49-60. van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. Ontario, Canada: The Althouse Press. Wright, L, & da Costa, J. (2016). Rethinking professional development for school leaders: Possibilities and tensions. EAF Journal, 25(1), 29-47.