Search results

School leadership is found important for school development and student learning. Consequently, the interest in professional leadership education for principals has increased. In Sweden, professional leadership education for novice principals was made mandatory in 2010. Moreover, enhanced focus on leadership for teaching and learning in terms of ‘pedagogical leadership’ is highly topical. This study aims to deepen our knowledge of novice principals’ experiences of pedagogical leadership practices and relate these to their paths toward principalship. The study follows a qualitative and situated design and adopts a practice-based approach. Observations were conducted in the educational and workplace practices of novice principals in Sweden and interviews were conducted with principals and teachers. Using a conceptual framework of Wenger (1998), the analyses show that principals experience challenges concerning pedagogical leadership if their competence and experience are not aligned with practice and context. This mismatch seems to impair their pedagogical leadership practice. In addition, a lack of leadership experience obstructs their learning in the professional leadership education for principals.

This study followed four novice principals in two urban school districts through one or two years of their leadership coaching experience. The purpose of this study was to determine principals’ perceived benefits of the coaching experience, principals’ beliefs regarding the most beneficial attributes of a coach, and the match between these findings and the core leadership practices that most dramatically impact student achievement.

This study followed four novice principals in two urban school districts through one or two years of their leadership coaching experience.

Principals in this study appeared to have had a successful coaching experience in part because of: the coach's knowledge of curriculum, schools, and districts; the practicality of the experience; and the coach's ability to collaborate and shape the thinking of principals without being authoritative or intrusive. Principals experienced success on the job as identified by the student achievement on state tests and their advancement to district principal leadership roles.

The focus of the coaching in this study appeared to be centered on the core leadership practices noted to have the most impact on student achievement. The results revealed that the skills sets and knowledge of a coach are critical to the coaching experience. The general effects of a coaching focus on core leadership practices may also play a significant part in principal success; however, more research is needed to make a full determination.

Presents an exploratory study of principals’ (n = 104) experience, meaning, and learning and development in the contexts of pre‐service, preparation, and over the career span using qualitative methods of in‐depth interview and narrative analysis. Reports that the nature and quality of experiences in pre‐service influenced interpretations of experiences in preparation and practice and, similarly, the meaning of experiences in practice were influenced by experiences in preparation. Also reveals that striking contrasts emerged in the interpretations of experience by principals who were prepared in traditional and non‐traditional programmes. Concludes that the meaning of building human capacity through involvement, opportunity, participation, and advocacy was particularly consistent across the career span.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the independent effects of principal background, training and experience as well as teacher academic qualifications on school proficiency growth through time.

The authors analyzed the entire population of all elementary and middle schools in the state of Illinois, n=3,154 schools, from 2000 to 2001 through 2005-2006 using growth mixture modeling. The authors examined growth at the school level in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards on the Illinois Standard Achievement Test, analyzing separate models for Chicago and non-Chicago schools.

The results suggest that there are two statistically significantly different latent school proficiency trajectory subgroups through the six-year time period, one high and one low, for both Chicago and non-Chicago schools. In addition, the models suggest that teacher academic qualifications, principal training, principal experience as a principal and an assistant principal, and experience of the principal as a teacher previously in their schools are significantly related to school proficiency growth over time, dependent upon school context.

Recent studies on the independent effects of principal experience, training and teacher academic qualifications have shown inconsistent results on school achievement growth. The authors demonstrate that principal training and background may have an effect on school-level proficiency score growth.

This study is one of the first to examine statistically different proficiency growth trajectories using an entire state-wide data set over a long-term, six-year timeframe.

This study examined how cultural factors positively or negatively influenced women's access to the principal role and influenced their leadership experiences. The researchers used Hofstede (2011) six dimensions of national culture as a conceptual framework. The Hofstede (2011) model of national culture consists of six dimensions (6D) that the investigators utilized to interpret and code the data. This framework allowed the researchers to comprehend the impact of cultural norms and values on women leaders and how women leaders work within those behavioral patterns. Utilizing this framework to map women educational leaders' experiences provided nuances in the dimensions within this region.

Using a qualitative research paradigm and a phenomenological approach, this study explored the experiences of 12 women principals in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem District (KEEA) of the Central Region of Ghana. The phenomenological approach is represented in cultural and social experiences. It enables researchers to describe the meaning of individuals' experiences (Creswell, 2007). This approach helped the researchers describe the participants' perceptions and experiences as Ghanaian women school leaders. This study sought to answer the following research questions: What are the experiences of women principals in Ghanaian K-12 public schools? What challenges do these women encounter in their work as principals? What support exists for these women to effectively execute their leadership roles? A criterion sampling was used to select principals. Data collection included one-on-one in-depth interviews and field notes.

Findings revealed that these women navigated cultural norms and beliefs in order to exercise their own leadership style and pursue their careers in education. These women leaders were also able to gradually change the teachers' and community members' mindsets on women and leadership.

This study took place with 12 women within one district in one region of Ghana. While this is a limited sample, this study is significant because it increased one's understanding of how women leaders in patriarchal societies navigate cultural beliefs and norms in order to execute their responsibilities. This study informs educational reforms on gender equity and leadership preparation programmes and sheds light on culturally informed leadership practices unique to women.

Based on the study's findings, the researchers offer some recommendations for practitioners, policy makers and scholars.

Given the global call to promote equity in all aspects of social, economic and public life, the question is not whether we should support women educational leaders but rather how we can better support these professionals navigate cultural norms embedded in patriarchal and traditional societies.

Currently, majority of scholarly articles written on the experiences of women educational leaders come from South Africa (Diko, 2014; Mestry and Schmidt, 2012; Moorosi, 2010). In Ghana, quantitative studies have focused on factors accounting for gender disparity in education leadership in specific districts (Segkulu and Gyimah, 2016) and stereotypical perceptions of women principals (Pwadura, 2016). However, there are a limited number of qualitative studies that explore the experiences of women principals. This study is designed to fill this knowledge gap by employing a qualitative design to explore the experiences of 12 women school principals located in the KEEA municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. Thus, the gap in knowledge that this study seeks to bridge is both methodological – in terms of the use of a qualitative approach – and topical – in terms of exploring the experiences of female principals.

The literature indicates that sudden key experiences induce emotional and cognitive reactions strong enough to change perceptions and behavior over time. The purpose of this paper is to examine the question whether school principals undergo key experiences and whether these experiences are related to improvements in their work patterns and to professional empowerment beyond what could be attributable to the professional insights acquired through on-the-job experience.

Qualitative in-depth interviews of 15 public high school principals with 4–19 years of experience elicited information about the extent of their exposure to key experiences and any changes that occurred in their managerial thinking and functioning after having undergone these experiences.

All of the respondents implemented significant changes in their work after undergoing key experiences. The insights gained from key experiences had not been acquired through on-the-job experience. Nevertheless, the qualitative nature of this research does not allow for any conclusive findings about the causality of key experiences upon managerial changes among principals.

It may be possible to use the findings uncovered by this study and its conclusions regarding experiential learning acquired from key experiences by school principals to enrich managers in general.

This study demonstrates that the process of school principals’ professional development involves a unique component and source of knowledge resulting from key experiences, and this phenomenon has not previously been investigated. This study’s findings about key experiences contribute to a deeper understanding of the process of professional development among principals.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the many dimensions of the principal's positionality by using a unique research approach to link the experiences of the policy implementing principal to embodiment.

The researchers employed a form of critical policy analysis that utilized photovoice to examine the experience of two principals in South Carolina, USA.

The findings suggest that these two principals do feel, beyond a cognitive emotional level, the experiences of being the policy implementing principal, where the multiple physically imprinted identities typified one principal's experiences and the highly entropic world of her high school causes another principal to physically and metaphorically integrate situations into her physiology.

In this paper, the authors are able to expand discussions of the principals’ engagement with policy by using a unique theoretical and methodological approach.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of a shadowing/mentoring component of a post-graduate programme designed to prepare deputy and assistant principals for the principalship.

The research design is a qualitative evaluation of the shadowing/mentoring component of a principal preparation programme. The experiences of 13 individual aspiring principals who had taken part in the programme were explored using semi-structured interviews.

The shadowing/mentoring component of this programme allowed the aspiring principals to gain an understanding of the complexity of a principal’s role by shadowing and being mentored by experienced principals in a range of New Zealand schools. In addition to providing them with a network of effective principals, the experience led the aspiring principals to reflect on their leadership development.

The study drew on a small sample of 27 students enroled in the programme, 13 of whom were included in the data collection process.

This study presents the views of aspiring principals who valued the opportunity to relate theory to practice as part of a post-graduate programme.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the program structure and design considerations of a 25-day, full-time apprenticeship in a university-based principal preparation program.

The study used a qualitative case study design that drew upon interviews and focus groups with program participants as well as program-related documents. Qualitative data analysis was completed using ATLAS.ti.

The analysis suggests that the apprenticeship had three specific design features that were intended to support the apprentice’s development for turnaround leadership. These included locating the apprenticeship experience in a turnaround school setting; focusing the apprenticeship on district structures and procedures; and situating the apprentice’s work within the district’s approved improvement process.

The study was limited in that recurring, on-site observations of apprenticeship activities were not possible. The study has implications for principal preparation programs related to the design of fieldwork experiences, as well as for educational scholars seeking to study the impact of fieldwork on principal efficacy.

The study contributes to the broader discussion of effective fieldwork experiences for aspiring school leaders, particularly when specific conceptions of leadership are infused within program designs.

The purpose of this multiyear research study is to examine leadership in K-12 schools using a positive organizational perspective to understand how to foster, support and encourage flourishing in schools. In this article, the authors describe the lived experiences of a small group of principals and vice-principals in K-12 schools describing how they have experienced flourishing in their work.

The research was carried out using a qualitative, phenomenological approach to examine the lived, concrete and situated experiences of a small sample of school administrators (N = 9) in two school districts in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Data were collected through individual interviews that were designed to be appreciative in nature. These lasted between 60 and 90 min, were recorded and transcribed. The interview data were deductively and inductively analyzed and arranged into themes that demonstrate the key components of positive leadership for flourishing in schools, derived from these participants' experiences.

Building on and extending their findings that school administrators feel a sense of flourishing when they focus on their work from the values of purpose, passion and play, the authors found that a fourth value, presence, was important for these participants to experience well-being at work. Principals’ sense of well-being was strongly related to the notion of balance in their work and life, which helped them address potential stress and ill-being. Findings suggest that a strengths-based, positive approach to school leadership offers an alternative perspective for supporting and encouraging well-being at work.

Limitations of this research include the small sample size and the appreciative focus with which the data were collected that meant that participants were providing their experiences from a positive perspective. This article offers a complementary perspective for researching well-being in schools, from a positive, strengths-based approach to examining the work of administrators.

The authors offer insights into the work of school leaders from an appreciative, strengths-based perspective on understandings and practices that may be useful to principals and vice-principals who wish to enhance their workplace well-being. The authors suggest that administrators can learn to craft their work in ways that highlight existing well-being conditions toward amplifying and sustaining well-being. Working from four animating values for flourishing seemed to promote well-being for this small sample of administrators within the existing challenges and complexities of their work.

This article offers examples of lived experiences of principal and vice-principal well-being that highlight what happens when school leaders attend to their work from a positive, appreciative, strength-based perspective. This research perspective is an additional source of knowledge about well-being in schools complementing the existing research on well-being from a stress management and reduction perspective.