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This study aims to test the mediated effect of school climate in the relationship of principal time use (PTU) to student academic achievement using data from Singapore's 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Capitalizing on the large-scale data, the study examined how Singapore principals distributed their time across 13 leadership activities and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) how Singapore principals' time use was related to student achievement through molding intermediate school conditions, such as school climate.

The authors' findings suggest that Singaporean principals, when allocating time, generally emphasized (1) monitoring students' learning progress, (2) promoting school vision, (3) developing curricular goals and (4) monitoring teachers in areas related to curricular goals. Furthermore, after classifying the 13 principal activities into three broad domains, the authors find that Singaporean principals prioritize the domain of vision and goals over the other two domains – facilitating teaching and learning through a safe, positive school environment and problem-solving with teachers, as well as self and organizational improvement. Finally, the authors' SEM manifested a partial mediated model, suggesting principals' strategic time use could serve as a malleable factor in yielding optimal student outcomes through developing a positive school climate.

This study at present is one of the early attempts linking PTU, intermediate school conditions (e.g. school climate) and student outcomes using a mediated design and corresponding statistical modeling.

As responsibilities of high school principals continue to expand, their workweeks become longer, and their attention is stretched in multiple directions. How principals from various school types use their time is influenced by their organizational structures and external policies. To gain deeper insights into the workload, priorities and constraints faced by high school principals, this study examines principal time use (PTU) patterns across different school types, including traditional public schools (TPSs), charter schools, Catholic schools and non-Catholic private schools.

Drawing on the national representative data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 in the USA, this study examines and compares PTU in various leadership tasks across different school types, controlling for school and principal characteristics.

Among various high school types, principals in TPS had the longest workweeks. However, the extended workweek did not necessarily result in significantly more hours or a larger proportion of their time dedicated to instructional leadership. Instead, TPS principals allocated more time to administrative tasks and student affairs than principals in other school types.

By examining PTU of different school types, this study adds new evidence on the influence of contextual factors on leadership behavior. It also offers policy implications to enhance principals’ capacities, alleviate their workload and to prioritize time use in different leadership domains.

As part of a broader qualitative study on well-being and social support, the study reported here explored the issue of principal well-being to provide further insight into the concerns of principals. Its aim was to identify aspects of the principal role that impact on well-being.

A phenomenological approach was used to study the experiences of the principals. Eight primary school principals in New South Wales, Australia participated in semi-structured interviews that examined this area and identified aspects of their leadership role that influence their well-being. Purposive sampling was used to ensure representation in terms of gender and school size.

Five themes emerged as the key concerns of the principals: the responsibility of the role; managing people; feelings of isolation; the stress caused by the role; and prioritising the well-being of staff. Comments from the principals highlight how each of these areas is experienced.

Identifying and exploring these concerns added to the extant research on principal well-being by providing detail on the specific experiences of principals. The study also offers a basis to consider how the current situation may be improved by addressing the well-being concerns that are common, as well as highlighting areas that warrant further research attention.

Several factors and forces in school-level leaders' work can heighten emotions and incite emotionally charged situations. Challenges that heighten school-level leaders' emotions are related to systemic factors, people factors and personal factors. The extent to which each of these different factors influence the emotional experiences of school-level leaders, and whether that influence ends up being positive, negative or neutral, is contextual in nature. The systemic factors include encountering barriers when advocating for students, managing an intensified and expanding workload, working within disorienting policy contexts, and receiving a lack of support from their employer. Changes in school-level leaders' work and workload due to the COVID-19 pandemic that heightened emotions and emotional labour are also considered when discussing the systemic factors. People factors evident in the literature include workplace conflict, gendered power relations and crises and tragedies in the school community. The emotional labour inherent in school-level leadership comes to the forefront when considering the impact of these people factors on emotions at work because school-level leaders are tasked with making decisions that can have an immense impact on peoples' lives. Personal factors discussed in this chapter surround a school-level leader's individual emotional intelligence abilities and media attention directed towards them.

Emotions are everywhere and, as multiple scholars have argued, can be considered a fundamental part of the human experience. Individuals are expected to behave in socially appropriate ways in a variety of public and private social situations, which often involve managing one's emotions. The management and regulation of emotions are also key components of effective school leadership. This chapter unpacks the emotional aspects of school leadership by exploring how the management of emotions is fundamental to the success of headmasters, principals, vice-principals, and other school-level leaders. I also provide the rationale for using the term ‘school-level leaders’ and call for emotional authenticity in educational leadership. Then I outline several benefits an increased scholarly and practical focus on the emotional aspects of school-level leadership offers for teachers and other school staff, school-level leaders themselves, and the students they serve on a daily basis. I also provide a short description of the methodology used for the participant quotes used to add richness and contextualize key themes explored in Chapters 4 and 5. The chapter concludes with an outline of how the rest of this book is organized and offers additional insight into the topics explored in the forthcoming chapters.

The global COVID-19 crisis posed many managerial and leadership challenges for principals. More specifically, after the crisis passed noticeable changes in school climate manifested and affected principal management style. The present study examined perceptions of principals regarding school climate and its impact on management style. The research literature clearly affirms the profound impact of school climate in terms of the relationship between students and school leaders. The study focused solely on religious high schools because, in Israel, the negative impact of the pandemic was most marked there.

The study was qualitative in nature, and included semi-structured interviews with 10 religious school principals in Israel. Study participants were asked about the existing school climate and their management style in light of the COVID-19 period.

This study indicated that positive school climate and interpersonal relationships between principals and students were affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Study participants reported that principals had to work arduously in the post-COVID-19 period to restore and improve positive school climate and consequently their management style also needed altering. Specifically, restoring open lines of communication and a sense of belonging as the main components of the school climate were the main foci of principal work. The principals' management style had to be more open and inclusive to restore a sense of belonging and security among students.

The study highlights the importance of an open and inclusive management style to restore positive school climate after crises.

Healthy and adaptive strategies for regulating emotions and coping with the demands of their jobs can help school-level leaders mitigate the factors and forces heightening the emotional aspects of their work, stave off the negative effects of work intensification and achieve wellness. As with most individuals in most professions, school-level leaders use several different strategies to manage their emotions and cope with the stresses associated with their work. Some of these coping strategies are associated with positive outcomes including situation selection and exercising autonomy over their workday, talking to colleagues, reappraisal, humour, controlled breathing, exercise and engaging in hobbies outside of work. However, even the most experienced and effective school-level leaders demonstrate a proclivity for engaging in coping strategies associated with maladaptive and negative outcomes. These maladaptive strategies include worrying about events over which they have little or no control, masking one's emotions using expressive suppression, using thought suppression to deal with symptoms of emotional exhaustion, distraction, manipulating the emotions of others as well as use of illegal or prescription drugs, alcohol and other forms of self-medication. This chapter concludes with a discussion of how there can be some overlap between these strategies in practice and how they are classified.