Why do teachers become poor performers? In semi-structured interviews, forty elementary school principals in Israel described the personal story of one poor-performing staff member. Half of the problematic teachers were veteran teachers who faced a marked internal and external shift in mid-career. The seeds of their problems were probably planted…

The life stories of seven female midcareer elementary principals in Israel who transferred to new schools depicted a process of self-renewal, including coping with lack of fulfillment, setting new goals, reframing perspectives, and seeking new challenges. Interorganizational transition appeared either to evoke the process or to be stimulated by…

This article discusses a phenomenon that gained prominence in the 1990s, namely the entry of retired senior Israeli army officers as managers into the educational system. This development will be analyzed through an exposure of the socio-educational mechanisms contributing to this process and an examination of the motivations underlying it. These…