This study analyses the "de facto" emerging intra-school competition between the Israeli Ministry of Education (MOE) and external organisations at public Israeli secondary schools by exploring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programmes. Given on-going privatisation processes within the education system, the…

Purpose: Turning an education reform program into school reality greatly depends on the principal. In certain cases, principals choose to implement reform instructions only partially. The purpose of this paper is to explore school principals' considerations leading to their decisions not to fulfill a national reform's guidelines in a full and…

In Israel, the Ministry of Education determines all aspects of educational policy, including teachers' initial teacher education, licensing and professional development. As part of the New Horizon educational reform, the Ministry announced in 2010 a new plan for the professional development of teachers in Israel. The Ministry assigned a mediating…

The present study purpose was to investigate the unique role and activities of school principals in managing their senior management team (SMT) boundaries. The study examined how school principals' internal and external activities mediate the relationship of principals' personal factors from the Big Five typology, the team and contextual…

Most policymakers and academics agree that entrepreneurship is indispensable to society's development and well-being. Fostering entrepreneurship has become a matter of highest priority in public policy worldwide. Given the growing pressures of decentralization and competitiveness that schools have faced over the last 20 years, the role of school…

This paper examines emotional expression experienced by female principals in the Arab school system in Israel over their managerial careers--role-related emotions that they choose to express or repress before others. I employed narrative methodology, interviewing nine female principals from the Arab school system to investigate expression of…

The present study aims to examine whether principals' emotional intelligence (specifically, their ability to recognize emotions in others) makes them more effective transformational leaders, measured by the reframing of teachers' emotions. The study uses multisource data from principals and their teachers in 69 randomly sampled primary schools.…

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) refers to all behaviors outside the formal role definition but which contribute to organizational functioning and performance. To date research has focused on teachers' OCB in an attempt to identify the causes and consequences of such behavior for the individual and the organization. Questions that have…

This article discusses challenges facing novice principals (hereinafter: NPs) and the coping strategies they develop at the inception of their managerial careers. Qualitative research employed semi-structured interviews with 40 principals in the Arab education system in Israel. Findings indicated that Arab NPs face conflicting demands of their…

The current study was set to examine the role of school principals in Israel in the professional development process of their teachers following the implementation of a new professional reform. 159 teachers and 13 principals responded to a questionnaire designed to collect data concerning the involvement of principals in initiatives developed by…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore leadership trainees' perceptions of determinants of collective learning in school settings and of the principal's role in collective learning. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 24 interviews were conducted with all leadership trainees in a university-based principal preparatory program. Data…

Purpose: This study examines the objectives, nature, and perceived outcomes of school-nongovernmental organization (school-NGO) engagements in the Israeli education system, focusing on a single case study of a school-NGO interaction. We aim to characterize the conflicting motivations of each stakeholder involved in the creation and formulation of…

Principals' implementation of national reforms in the educational arena resembles a wild ride on a roller coaster as they face with contradicting demands, ongoing confusion and ambiguity. As critical change agents, principals interpret and translate reform demands into local practices through a process of sense-making. This current qualitative…

This paper discusses the decision of Muslim female principals in Israel to don the hijab following their appointment to school principalship. This research employed narrative life-story interviews to understand the women's decision to alter their appearance and how this transition is connected to their role as female school principals in the…

All large high schools have teachers in middle tier roles who help run the school, and subject leaders (SLs) who engage in administrative and pedagogical practices to improve departmental achievements. By applying structuration theory (Giddens, 1984. "The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration." Berkeley, CA:…