Background and Purpose: District school improvement efforts have increasingly focused on improving the quality of support principals receive from the central office. This study uses the theoretical lens of recoupling to examines efforts by one urban district in the midst of change to revise the role of principal supervisors. Analysis focuses on…

This study examines pre-service teacher expectations of the principal's role in teacher induction, using grounded theory methodology to explore the question: What role do secondary pre-service teachers expect of principals in the induction of novice teachers and how do their expectations develop? Findings show that pre-service teachers expect the…

Group coaching is emerging as an approach with a strong potential for developing leadership competencies. However, there is little research on its use in the professional training of school leaders. In this study, we investigate the outcome of and the processes involved in group coaching using data from reflection papers and evaluations. The…

Scholars have increasingly focused on the practice of central office administrators. Principal supervisors, who often work in central offices, have received attention as scholars view these administrators as an essential source of support for school principals. This study employed a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with 20…

Over the past decades, principals have experienced an increased pressure emanating from the responsibility for managing change and building organisations, whilst striving to improve students' learning outcomes (Abrahamsen, Aas, & Hellekjaer, 2015; Hargreaves & Fink, 2006). Leadership learning programmes appear to emphasise the requirements…

Against the background of the recently published Policy on the South African Standard for Principals, the aim of this article is to determine whether distributed leadership is catered for in the South African regulatory and policy framework. It is argued that due to the accountability demands of a fundamentally bureaucratic education system,…

The paper brings together for the first time a sequence of six studies, from the one university faculty, on middle leaders from Australia, Chile and Singapore. All studies followed a consistent approach using multiple-perspective interviews. Middle leaders were seen to be key personnel in improving teaching and learning, and when they have…

Roles of Hybrid Teacher Leadership (HTL), positions which involve classroom teaching for part of the day and academic coaching, curriculum planning, department chair, or professional development responsibilities for the remainder of the day, are becoming more prevalent due to budgetary concerns and teacher shortages. This autoethnography analyzes…

This paper focuses on group coaching, one of the newer school leadership development approaches to recently emerge. Using a group-coaching methodology developed at the University of Oslo, we deconstruct the concept of leadership identity as it is reported in texts from students in the National Principal Programme. We suggest that leaders develop…

Some insights gained in a first principalship are shared in hopes they may prove helpful to other new or aspiring principals in understanding the requirements of the job. (Author/MLF)

Describes occupational stereotypes of school principals based on interviews with 21 metropolitan elementary, junior high and senior high school principals. Roles defined are: administrator, public relations man, disciplinarian, entertainer and educator. Consequences resulting from unrealistic expectations of inaccurate stereotypes are also…

A parent recognizes principals as the educational leaders in their communities and urges them to be aware of the importance of parents in making schools effective learning places. (Author/MLF)

Responses from 134 superintendents, 134 principals, 134 vocational teachers, and 153 vocational directors (78%) revealed the perception that directors were primarily involved in administration, instruction, promotion, and personnel. Teachers, superintendents, and principals would like them to be substantially more involved in promotion and…

This study was conducted to: (1) obtain a first approximation reading of the role expectations and performance of administrators in the State Teacher Training Schools of Turkey; (2) explore the relationship between principals and teachers and ministry inspectors for role performance and expectations; and (3) conduct a comparative analysis of the…

Expectations for the principalship have mushroomed during the past 20 years. Principals are key reform agents and held mercilessly accountable. Candidates are in short supply. Capable principals are great assets, not heroic beings. Leadership is not centrally vested and must be distributed more broadly. (Contains 36 references.) (MLH)