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In this chapter, I propose a model for how school-level leaders manage their emotions. This model consists of six components. School-level leaders typically have little direct influence over the first component of the model, which are the socio-contextual factors in the schools, school communities and jurisdictions in which they work. A school-level leader's identity, sense of self and their personal characteristics comprise the second component of the model. The third component of the model is a multi-directional arrow demonstrating connections and interactions between the socio-contextual factors and a school-level leader's sense of self. Factors that heighten school-level leaders' emotional experiences in schools are considered as part of the fourth component of this model for school-level leaders' emotional regulation. The fifth component are the emotional regulation strategies school-level leaders use to manage emotions that emerge as part of their workday, while influence of supports and professional learning are considered as part of the sixth component, Finally, the model also accounts for the chain reactions and feedback loops that can occur when an individual utilizes an emotional regulation strategy that is unsuccessful. Those processes produce new emotions that must be regulated using similar, or different, emotional regulation strategy(ies).

This chapter addresses international educational governance by exploring some of the factors contributing to increasingly internationalized national educational policymaking and the ways that related trends in educational policymaking either constrain or shift to meet particular needs and challenges within specific national contexts. After discussing the phenomenon and the impact of globalization on international educational governance, the role of the state, and some examples of both contextualization and bounded rationality, the impact of national policy convergence is discussed. This chapter concludes by summarizing the ways that national policy convergence became the focus of international educational governance and national educational policy based on the same ideas and structure through seemingly different implementation, but often-identical measurable outcomes. Examples from Japan and Saudi Arabia highlight the discussion.

The purpose of this study is to review the landscape of empirical evidence on school leadership preparation and subsequent school-level effectiveness while conceptually exploring how societal transformations and educational changes shaped leadership development within the mainland of the People's Republic of China. Conceptually, this study is informed by Murphy and Vriesenga's (2006) comprehensive review of empirical work on leadership preparation, evaluative work on the pathway from preparation to school-level practice (cf, the UECA taskforce on evaluating the effectiveness of leadership preparation; Orr & Kottkamp, 2003; Orr & Orphanos, 2011) and empirical literature on school improvement. Data come from extensive reviews of English and Chinese language articles, conference papers, doctoral and master's theses, and other reports of research on the preparation of school leaders in Mainland China. Using a combination of inductive and deductive strategies, the lead author analyzed all selected sources using a three-pronged framework: who is being prepared for school leadership positions in China, by what design and delivery methods they are being prepared, and how well they are fulfilling leadership practices and expectations for which they are being prepared. The current analysis adds to the international knowledge base of the pathway between preparation and practice. It also highlights the importance of considering the cultural, social, and political context that shapes conceptions of leadership and the design and implementation of educational leadership preparation programs.

In September 2009, a special committee of the Israeli Institute of School Leadership has published its final report in which new perspectives, contents, and teaching strategies are suggested to replace old, traditional forms of principal preparation programs in this country. The purpose of this chapter is to describe, first, the new construction of leadership development programs in Israel and its underlying principles and historical background, and, second, to raise some ponderings into its applicability and its quality in terms of practical suggestions and expected teaching strategies. The chapter includes the following elements: a brief introduction of the current principal preparation programs in Israel (briefly), the special committee, the aims of this chapter, importance, and organization of the chapter; the theoretical background based on the research on principal preparation programs worldwide, its shortcomings, and impediments; a historical debate of principal training in Israel – the current state, American influences, weaknesses, rational, basic principles, the new model, purpose, contents, and instructional methods; and critical and future considerations including the weaknesses of the new model, the “chances” to apply this report into the Israeli (or any) educational system, and the potential facilitating versus impeding factors.

In Ontario Canada, being a vice principal is not considered a career goal. Rather, school principals are drawn from the ranks of practising vice principals. Potential administrators must first pass the principal qualification program and spend several successful years in the interim position of vice principal (known as assistant principal, deputy principal, and assistant headmaster in other countries) before applying for the principalship itself. The current system appears to be replete with inherent challenges both for vice principals and the educational stakeholders they serve. Administrator training is based on a quantitative paradigm, but the vice principal role is highly qualitative in nature, requiring strong interpersonal skills to address conflict for which no training is provided. The current system addresses the dual role of management and leadership but from the perspective of the principal, not the vice principal. Training also favors management over leadership, yet hiring processes for vice principals place a high value on demonstrated leadership. Facility with ethical decision-making is central to the vice principal role yet absent from qualification programs. Qualification programs use classroom-based learning with no “in-role” field experience. Mentoring systems designed to provide new vice principals with help are inadequate for supporting daily tasks. As a consequence, newly appointed vice principals find themselves in a role for which they have not been trained.

In a global context characterised by a growing recognition of the role that educational leaders play in ensuring school effectiveness and the consequent need to design effective leadership preparation programmes, many educational leadership preparation providers around the world have borrowed international standards and frameworks in order to guide their programmes and assure their quality. This trend has been on the rise as a response to globalisation pressures and a growing interest in acquiring international recognition through accreditation agencies. However, this raises important questions about the potential repercussion of using foreign, mainly Western, frameworks to develop or assess national leadership preparation provision. Evidence from relevant literature indicates that these frameworks, when applied to local contexts, need to take contextual factors into account. In this chapter, we engage with existing literature in relation to leadership preparation, internationalisation and professional standards to reflect on our experience of using international standards to develop the Masters in Educational Administration programme offered by Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman. We hope to contribute to existing internationalisation literature by providing a different perspective on educational administration and leadership preparation from a non-Western tradition, thereby expanding the understanding of meaningful leadership preparation in general.

This chapter examines the process of ongoing planning and changing of an innovative urban school leadership development and preparation program at California State University Dominguez Hills. Currently in its fourth consecutive year, the five-year Urban School Leaders (USL) program is the result of a partnership with Local Districts 5, 6, 7, and 8 within Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). The program is intended to prepare, place, and retain leaders for high needs schools and provide staff development to these leaders with the ultimate outcome resulting in student achievement gains. LAUSD Local Districts 5–8 are contiguous and in close proximity to CSUDH. These districts encompass some of Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods, including East LA, South LA, South Central LA, and the Harbor area. In this chapter, we outline the various components of the USL program and share reflections on the planning and improvement process in our efforts to strengthen and improve the community of professional practice within the program.

As the people responsible for guiding the efforts toward school improvement, principals must juggle the tricky balance of their combined position as managers and educational leaders. Achieving this balance is not easy when the demands of day-to-day administration coupled with loyalty to employers draws principals’ learning toward system initiatives, priorities, and policies. In this sense, this chapter articulates the importance of integrating both management and educational leadership in principal preparation. We illustrate the importance by referring to the Spanish context, notable for its recent historical development in terms of the problems, dilemmas, and challenges in the principalship. Despite the lack of consolidated pre- and in-service programs for the principalship in Spain, this context offers an example of attempts to articulate a delicate balance between the two roles in principal preparation. The emergence of an increasingly competitive international economic reality, combined with rapidly changing social conditions and external pressures for accountability, increases the urgency for more focused attention on the tension between problem solving and administration required in organizational leadership and the knowledge and skills associated with pedagogical and educational leadership.