Abstract

Dilemmas in decision-making are prevalent among school head-teachers. However, studies on how dilemmas are addressed and how their multi-dimensional aspects impact school education quality have not been carried out. With this consideration, a narrative study was conducted to explore how community school head-teachers address ethical dilemmas to ensure quality education. In this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with the head-teachers of seven selected schools. Then, the lived narratives about how head-teachers address their ethical dilemmas were analyzed, and themes were drawn with the lens of multiple ethical paradigms: ethics of care, justice, critique, and professions and other relevant literature. The study shows that the head-teachers address the ethical dilemmas by focusing on their leadership worldviews, responsibility as an ethics, and ethics of organization, and they strive to improve the quality of education in their schools. The findings can be utilized to draw insights into how head-teachers can address ethical dilemmas while remaining in ethical positions to ensure quality education in community schools in Nepal.