Since the 1980s many educational systems have undergone decentralisation. This trend has expanded the role of school principals and redesigned their relationship with teachers. To improve schools, educational reformists expect principals to empower teachers and increase their participation in school governance. Yet the implementation of such a…

Theories often assume that schools in communities with high violence also have high rates of school violence, yet there are schools with very low violence in high violence communities. Organizational variables within these schools may buffer community influences. Nine "atypical" schools are selected from a national database in Israel.…

Since the wave of school reform decentralization, schools now maintain a more dynamic and diverse relationship with their environment than they did in the past. School principals' relationships with the local educational authority (LEA) are a prominent example of this change in Israel. LEAs try to gain more pedagogic influence over schools while…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the aims, rationale and design of a principal preparation programme that draws, partially, on career stage perspectives, and to provide an assessment report of it gleaned from two cohort groups of participants. Design/methodology/approach: The programme was evaluated using two modes of inquiry:…

Purpose: The current paper aims to tell the stories of six female supervisors who have successfully managed to access this high-level position in the Bedouin educational system, putting forward some implications for understanding and exploring the lives and career of women in patriarchal, minority groups. Design/methodology/approach: Six female…

The current study explored male and female principals' views of classroom and discipline management from a gender perspective. Based on semi-structured interviews with 16 primary school principals from Israel, the study points to gendered views of school discipline, in that certain perspectives to prevent or handle discipline problems in school…

After a short theoretical discussion of the topic, research findings on the status, role, and authority of the elementary school principalship are presented. The findings are based on an attitudes questionnaire administered to a sample of school system personnel and elementary school inspectors. (Author/IRT)

Examines the relationship between principals' strategies to coordinate organizational activities and school effectiveness. The dominant view of effective principals suggests that they generally emphasize tasks directly related to teaching and learning and exert influence to coordinate these tasks. Results of a study of Israeli elementary school…

Oplatka demonstrates the process of self-renewal that was experienced by Israeli mid-career teachers subsequent to the arrival of a new woman principal and discusses contextual and biographical determinants of the process. He says that most teachers felt stagnated and even frustrated during the middle of their career cycle. He also stresses that…

Explores how the relationships among principals, parents, and administrative superiors affect the degree of parental involvement in educational policymaking at the school-site level, using a stratified random sample of Israeli elementary school principals. The nature of relationships differs for principals of high- and low-socioeconomic status…

Israeli principals are actively redefining their role and are evolving from routine-managers to leader-managers. This role change is reflected in four pivotal areas: resource allocation, organizational framework, governance, and market structure. Israeli principals are required to be environmental managers who mobilize resources and manage…

This article is an attempt to reflect on the doubting process as an emerging perspective in school change. After introducing the notion of doubt and its importance to school change, the author describes conditions influencing the doubting process. She reflects on these conditions in a case example of a secondary school principal who doubted the…

The current study emphasizes the significance of the positive job experiences that promote individuals' satisfaction on the job and the potential contribution of the transformational leadership style for the shaping of these experiences. Questionnaires were administered to elementary school teachers in five of the six districts comprising the…

One definition of an educational leader is a professional and pragmatic person capable of setting a direction and goals for his or her school. Another definition of the educational leader is a social and moral agent. This second definition supports the idea that schools should be communities with shared moral and social values and highlights the…

Examines conflict and ambiguity in the pedagogical and administrative domains of principals' roles. Questionnaires completed by 65 elementary school principals in Israel and content analysis of formal education documents indicate that role stress forces principals to neglect pedagogical duties in favor of administrative duties. (Author/MLF)