This case study explains the functional or practical difficulties that many organizations face when they change their leaders. By describing the experiences of the two principals, two distinct styles of leadership are displayed, each of which provides the reader with the opportunity to understand some aspects of frames in organizations:…

The current focus on instructional leadership within a high stakes accountability environment has frequently ignored the political role of school leaders. This article examines the perceptions of a group of new English headteachers to determine the features of their political role and their process in learning this role. The investigation is part…

Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the literature and practice on beginning principal socialization by identifying the features of post-industrial work that create a more complex work environment for the practice and learning of the principalship in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: Based on recent literature on the changing nature of…

The headteacher's role in school improvement and the changing nature of the role suggest the need to investigate how new school leaders learn their jobs, that is, their socialization to the leader role. This study has two purposes: (1) to identify the content and methods used in the professional and organizational socialization experiences of new…

Examines role conceptions of newly appointed urban principals to identify personal and organizational forces influencing the emergence of transformational leadership. Responses from 158 new principals reveal their role concepts, while incorporating some aspects of transformational leadership, remain along traditional lines and suggest district…

Proposes a framework to examine principals' careers and argues for more research attention on that subject. The framework facilitates understanding of the principalship incentive system by showing how objective features of the principal's role and the principal's own assessment of the career are intertwined. Principals' accounts of their careers…

The move from teaching to administration is pivotal for creating innovative leaders. The National Policy Board on Educational Administration has called for principal recruitment and preparation reforms. This article discusses the socialization processes leading to the principal's role and describes implementation, benefits, and problems of New…

To implement school restructuring, midcareer administrators must change their role conceptions. This article examines literature concerning the major issues of socialization to a role conception (including definitions, sources, and socialization mechanisms for changing role conceptions) and presents a research agenda focused on two reform…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined how the internship experience serves as a rite of passage for the teacher making the transition to aspiring principal. The experiences of 54 participants in an administrator internship program at Bank Street College of Education in New York City were analyzed. Data were derived from analysis of…

Defining community politically (as a flexible arena for debating perspectives and achieving purpose) provides different ways to consider diversity. Diversity becomes not an anomaly but an integral part of the community process; conflict is legitimized as appropriate and inevitable in achieving school purposes. Administrators must mediate conflict,…

Examines differences and similarities in role conception between principals participating in a state-sponsored restructuring program (the Centennial School Program) and nonparticipating principals. Findings from a statewide survey of administrators show that CSP principals generally report practices and attitudes congruent with program elements.…

This monograph explores the notion of viewing leadership as a single, interconnecting system at work in the internal and external school environment, rather than as a collection of individual roles. The document explores what the new leadership paradigm--a decentralized, collaborative model--means to schools. Leadership is viewed as an…

Discusses the institutional and organizational environment of schools of choice in the public sector, focusing on the role of the principal. The principal's leadership role is that of middle manager, entrepreneur responsible for attracting and holding parents and students, and symbol manager, responsible for developing an organizational…

This book, for the practicing school principal, is intended to bridge the gap from the traditional notion of the principal's role to innovative conceptions that respond to changing conditions and demands. It describes the traditional understandings of the role and then proposes innovative conceptions that focus on change and instructional…

The "ideal" principal is facing a world of decentralized school structures, increasing and changing environmental boundaries and roles, less homogeneous schools, closer contact with stakeholders, and a market-driven view of education. Principals should view themselves as environmental negotiators, not merely school-system managers.…