In the context of developed countries, a lot of research has been done to uncover and identify the problems school leaders face in their work but little is known about the school leadership of underdeveloped countries. In a quest to discover contextual problems in terms of role conflict and role ambiguity of school leaders, this qualitative study…

The experience of headteacher socialization has been described as challenging and often traumatic for new headteachers. The research reported in this article provides a theoretical explanation of that experience by analysing the socialization of new primary school headteachers in England from a role boundary perspective. The role boundary is the…

This paper examines middle leadership of the heads of English, maths and science departments in four international secondary schools in Malaysia. It focuses on their roles, responsibilities, role relationships, instructional engagement and leadership involvement within the theoretical framework of instructional, distributed and teacher leadership.…

The purpose of this study is to assess to what extent public school principals experience role uncertainty and risk on the job and to examine the joint effect of school principals' leadership style and use of power bases on school outcomes, under perceived role uncertainty and role risk. Questionnaires were administrated to 191 school principals…

Effective schools research gave birth to a new role for principals: instructional leader. Recent studies have suggested the relationship between strong school instructional leadership and higher student achievement. Skeptics question whether the principal's job is realistic and reasonable, with its emphasis on instructional leadership, multiple…

This article highlights the boundary crossing and brokering work of two instructional coaches in one Washington State urban district. A distributed leadership frame helps foreground how the coaches, based in the central office, exercised instructional leadership across the district. This inquiry contributes to emerging pictures of the kinds of…

This article reports on the values and moral dilemmas of one Icelandic headteacher. The article draws on doctoral research currently being conducted with educational leaders in Icelandic basic schools. The research explores the values underpinning the work of female and male educational leaders and how values impact upon their actions, in…

All the 11 publications in this annotated bibiliography explore the department head's dual role as teacher and instructional leader. Three articles characterize principals' role as managerial and recommend that primary instructional and curriculur responsibilities be delegated to department heads with clearly designated positions in the school's…

Research concerning the changing roles of the school principal is summarized in this paper, with a focus on the historical conflict between the instructional leadership and administrative roles. Efforts in educational reform are reviewed, which have brought about school restructuring, role conflict, and changes in communication. A review of reform…

This document examines role theory limited to the major studies related to educational administrators. The nature and history of role theory are reviewed and three theoretical approaches to the study of role theory are described: (1) role conflict resolution theory; (2) role theory related to social systems theory; and (3) the Fundamental…

The principal's office is frequently a collection point for problems and demands. Secondary school principals often average 1,000 interactions daily. Principals can manage stress by declining to solve every problem, delegating responsibility, reexamining their supervisory role, developing networks of trusted friends, and engaging in…

The coordinator role is being increasingly used to provide curricular leadership in both primary and secondary schools. This article analyzes difficulties and unintended consequences that can emerge when a low-key management approach is adopted. "Low-key" sometimes translates to low visibility, recognition, and status, which can…

This report examines the rural principal's role by investigating the attitudes of rural school teachers who have "principal potential." Interviews were carried out with 25 teachers from 5 rural school districts who were identified by their peers as having school leadership potential. Respondents were asked to reflect on advantages and…

Headteachers in the United Kingdom face the challenge of acting as both the main strategic planner for the whole school and as the leading professional practitioner within it. This paper describes how general changes in the occupational characteristics of school headteachers have been contingently interpreted in a large urban primary school in…