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Emotions of school leaders influence school culture and structure. Understanding emotions is under-researched and under-theorized in non-western contexts, especially during educational change. The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of the leadership team’s (LT’s) emotional responses to change, their coping strategies and conditions that maintain their commitment to change.

The study used intrinsic case study research, drawing on data from interviews and a focus group that illuminated perceptions of the LT in a school. The data set was analyzed following the general inductive approach.

The LT’s experienced three critical incidents (CI) of educational change that provoked a range of intense negative and positive emotions, a national curriculum reform. Despite the team’s attempt to cope with the national curriculum reform (i.e. CI1), negative emotions and unsupportive conditions challenged their commitment to change. In CI2, supportive conditions and effective personal coping strategies helped elicit positive emotions, which led to sustained commitment to change. Emotions experienced during the capacity-building program (i.e. CI3) were predominantly positive due to support from the school principal and coaches, resulting in sustained commitment to change.

Findings from this small-scale case study in Lebanon are not generalizable to other contexts. The time lag could have affected the recollection of experiences. All participants were female, and their experiences might not reflect those of other school members affected by the changes.

Examining emotions during change uncovers insight into school leaders’ subjective experience, facilitates a more nuanced understanding of change, and supports change implementation. Considering emotions during change informs the development of tailored interventions that provide effective support.

This study examines how emotions affect the success of educational change. Contrary to common understanding, change does not always generate negative emotions that impede implementation. School-based improvement creates structural and cultural conditions for effective change as it considers practitioners’ socio-emotional needs, eliciting positive emotions.

There is a growing interest in showcasing what building school capacity looks like empirically. Although there has been considerable focus on school reforms globally, the actual impact of such attempts on building school capacity, particularly in a non-Western context, remains less explored. This paper aims to illustrate the process of building school capacity in a Lebanese private school following its participation in a school-based improvement project.

Data were gathered using focus groups and individual interviews, document analysis and participant observation by the researcher. Thematic analysis and emergent coding techniques were conducted, and the findings were compared to existing literature on school capacity building.

Findings of this study explore various facets of school capacity for leading school-based improvement. They show building of personal, interpersonal and organizational capacities of the case school as termed by Mitchell and Sackney’s (2011) theoretical framework.

The paper demonstrates the process of building school capacity in a non-Western school context where participating in a school–university partnership is unusual. Being a case study, it explores the complex process of building school capacity in a given context, offering an in-depth and more nuanced understanding of this topic and illuminating its actionable and transformative effects for sustainable school improvement. It enriches the field of building school capacity by expanding to underexamined societies, especially in the Arab region, setting a foundation for future comparative research about this topic in diverse educational settings.