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Describes a multiple case analysis of six elementary school principals considered to be successful as leaders of inclusive schools. Analyses the structural and behavioural factors present in six elementary schools considered to have successfully included students with disabilities in regular classroom programmes. Outlines several factors which were found to be common among the principals of the six schools. Each principal: established a system of communication that allowed staff members to disagree with policies and practices and to make recommendations for changes; was actively involved in the IEP development process; was personally involved in dialogue with the parents of students with disabilities; worked with staff to agree collaboratively on a building philosophy of inclusion; established policies for addressing specific discipline issues arising from students with disabilities; followed a personal plan of professional development regarding issues of inclusion; demonstrated skills in data gathering; and demonstrated skills in problem solving.

This paper reports on the design of an attitude scale to be used in studies investigating relationships between principals and members of school councils in Victoria. The scale, which is composed of twenty‐four items, measures attitudes toward principal domination of council. The Likert method of scale construction was used. Item analysis demonstrated that all items discriminated between high and low scorers (Edwards t≥3.17). Internal consistency, estimated by using Kuder Richardson and Cronback's Alpha, yielded a coefficient of .80705. The corrected split‐half reliability based on the responses of 297 principals and council members was .72835. Test‐retest reliability was .69314.

At role conferences, high school deputy principals are continually re‐examining their role in the schools. Increasingly, in school level co‐operative evaluation programmes they are analyzing their work and its contribution to school effectiveness. This paper attempts to develop a classification that would provide a useful framework within which, at both system level and school level, they might examine their behaviour and consider modifications. From a Queensland study, five dimensions of leader behaviour are identified. They are Consideration, Classroom Facilitation, Staff Utilization, Authoritarianism and Routinisation. Other behaviours identified from the literature are Teacher Classroom Contact and School Management Maintenance tasks. These seven behaviours can involve interaction with either of two groups of people; clients and colleagues, thus providing a 14 segment grid that deputies might use to classify their behaviour when considering what they are doing in schools and what might be done better.

Hypotheses on principals’ optimism, teacher perceptions of that optimism, and of school effectiveness were tested. The school was the unit of analysis. Teachers and principals in 50 secondary schools responded to two standard measures. To avoid same respondent bias, about half of the teachers in each school completed one instrument, half the other. Teacher perceptions of their principal’s optimism and of their school’s effectiveness were correlated, but the principal’s self‐reported optimism was not a predictor of perceived effectiveness. The congruence of teacher perceptions of the principal’s optimism and the measured optimism was associated with perceived school effectiveness. Teachers saw the principals to be less optimistic than the principals scored; however, teacher perceptions of optimism and self‐reported optimism were correlated across schools. We suggested explanations for this unusual combination of significant difference with significant correlation, and for other findings

Explores the question of why principals rate their schools more highly than do their own teachers. Following the work of others, showing that disagreements between teachers and principals stem mainly from disagreements on discipline, reports on results which show that views on disciplinary policy are the only factor which is strong enough to overcome the somewhat biased grading by principals. Concludes that, if a principal wants higher teacher morale and higher grading of their school, efforts must be made to develop greater congruence between teacher and principal expectations and actions on discipline.

The elementary school principal, the chief administrator at the local school level, occupies the boundary‐spanning role. One aspect of the principal′s role as boundary spanner is to engage with parents. The principals′ interactions with parents in terms of their boundary‐spanning functions are described. Interviews of 113 suburban elementary school principals suggest they are concerned with buffering and bridging between the school organisation and their parental clientele as boundary spanners. When buffering, principals mediate between angry parents and their superiors at central office and moderate the impact of complaining parents on their schools. When bridging, principals aim at obtaining parental support through promoting public relations.

Investigates how high school department heads may play a role in the alignment of teachers with a principal’s vision for the school. A survey study based on a theoretical position of the high school as a loosely‐coupled system consisting of departments with distinct subcultures and department heads who are influential leaders is reported. As expected, principal components and multiple regression analyses suggest that behaviours of the principal which emphasise and reinforce the school vision, predict the extent to which teachers support the principal’s vision. However, the congruence of department heads and the principal, in terms of school vision, is a much stronger predictor of teachers’ support for the vision. To a lesser extent, stronger structural coupling between departments also contributes to teachers’ support of the school vision.

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.

This research aimed to assess the leadership role of principals in the implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa.

This study employed qualitative research approach to assess the leadership role of principals in the implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. Data were gathered from a small sample of six principals from six selected secondary schools which were engaged in the implementation of a peace education programme, and data were analysed using thematic content analyses.

Findings of the study suggest that principals possess a low level of understanding or awareness of their leadership role in the implementation of peace education. The study pointed out the constraints such as time constraints and learners' negative attitudes and social influences hinder the effective implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools.

First, the data were self-reported and therefore subject to social desirability bias; participants may have provided socially desirable responses rather than their true belief or experiences. Thus, participants may have overstated their role in and commitment to the peace education programme.

Studies that aim to explore alternative approaches to combat violence, such as peace education, are still limited in South Africa. Hence, this paper served to close that gap by contributing to the growing body of research on the leadership role of the principal in the implementation of peace education in the school and exploring barriers hampering its effective implementation.

Reports on a research project which investigated the preparation of beginning principals in Queensland primary and secondary government schools. Thirty‐six principals completed a questionnaire, a return rate of about 80 per cent. Of these principals, 13 were surveyed early in the second year of their principalship, and 23 in August of their first year. Six of the first‐year principals were interviewed in the following month. Presents an overview of the findings, along with some general observations on their practical implications and recommendations for action.