Between Transaction and Transformation: The Role of School Principals as Education Leaders in Spain

Spain is, together with Portugal, the only OECD country where school principals are democratically elected from the teaching staff of each primary and secondary school by a School Council, where all members of the school community are represented. While this unique feature of the Spanish system entails many promises in terms of deep democracy and, equally important, the potential legitimacy of change promoted by school leaders, the reality seems to be somewhat less romantic. This paper explores the limitations and constraints faced by school principals in Spain to actually perform their role as school leaders in primary and secondary schools. Based on a major study that we carried out for the National Institute for Quality and Evaluation (INCE) in 2002, involving more than 20,000 questionnaires and 30 Focus Groups (with teachers, principals, school inspectors, administrators, education experts and parents), the paper deals with the impact of leadership on school improvement and change, especially as far as teaching and learning processes are concerned. Despite their democratic legitimacy, or perhaps precisely because of its unexpected effects, the elected principal in Spain faces constraints which de facto position himself or herself between a practice of permanent transaction with colleagues and the mounting pressure of transformation and accountability coming from outside the school. Results from this research suggest that such constraints are determining that the practice of school leadership in Spain is management and maintenance-oriented rather than change-oriented, thus casting doubts about the very model of school leadership.     

The Nature of Teacher Shortages in Secondary Schools

This paper draws on a study which was made possible by a Visiting Fellowship of St Cross College, Oxford and a Research Associateship of the Department of Educational Studies, University of Oxford, for the year 1980‐81. The study was based on 22 comprehensive schools and their ten local authorities over a wide area of the country. The views in this article are entirely the author's and are not necessarily those of HM Inspectorate or the DES.     

Creating Leaders Through the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program

Leadership is a skill that can be learned through professional development, mentoring, and leadership development programs. In Ontario, the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) helps educators develop their leadership skills through a Ministry of Education–funded project that addresses student learning needs in their classrooms. This article examines how the TLLP built the foundation for a teacher to lead beyond his classroom and continues to develop leadership skills in others across the province.     

Instructional Leadership in Compulsory Schools in Iceland and the Role of School Principals

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a study of instructional leadership in 20 Icelandic compulsory schools. More specifically, the perceptions of staff concerning supervision of instruction, and the views of principals regarding their role as supervisors of instructional development. Data was collected with questionnaires from staff and interviews with principals. The approach was based on a mixed-methods design. The findings indicate that supervision of instruction differs between the schools. Principals provide for little direct supervision of teachers, however, they provide considerable indirect supervision. The supervision of instruction suggests that collegial supervisory emphasis is considerable in most of the schools. The collegial model, however, emphasizes systematic collection of data on what happens in classrooms, an important element that is largely neglected in the Icelandic schools.     

基于反思的新疆中小学校长领导力提升研究

反思是提升新疆中小学校长领导力的重要途径。通过反思,新疆中小学校长对自己在领导实践中积累的经验进行必要的审视和验证,从而内化为富有个人意义的实践性知识。文章通过案例分析,描述了新疆中小学校长反思的基本过程,并进一步探讨了新疆中小学校长反思的实践途径和基本策略。     

Researching Principals: Context and Culture in the Study of Leadership in Schools

The role of the school principal has in recent years attracted the urgent attention of politicians, practitioners, parents and others in many parts of the world. This has resulted in the generation of some research and a very substantial literature. Why then should we need yet more studies of principalship? This paper examines two key reasons: because the role of the principal is important in determining levels of school effectiveness and pupil achievement; and because much of what we ‘know’ is of doubtful value insofar as it is out of date, based on limited research methodology and attention to contextual or cultural considerations. The paper advocates use of a three level biographic model for such research, and seeks to illustrate its merits drawing upon the work of the authors and other studies undertaken in East Asia.     

Schools as Learning Organisations - Effects on Teacher Leadership and Student Outcomes

This article examines the nature of organisational learning and the leadership practices and processes that foster organisational learning and, more importantly, the impact of these variables on teacher leadership. A path model is used to test these school variables as well as school characteristics such as availability of resources and community focus against the impact of SES and school size on students' views of teachers' work in the classroom and student outcomes such as attendance, and participation in and engagement with school. The importance of reconceptualising schools as learning organisations to promote successful school change is discussed.     

中小学校长领导力与教师满意度的关系研究

基于上海市某区3个教育集团、8所学校 286名教师的实证调研,探究并验证了校长领导力、组织支持感和教师满意度三者的关系模型。结果发现：校长领导力对教师满意度具有显著的正向影响;组织支持感中的工具性支持维度在校长领导力与教师满意度的关系中起到中介作用;情感性支持维度对教师满意度的中介影响效应最大。建议校长要立足教育集团发展,提高结构领导力;发挥教学领导力,促进教师专业发展;重视文化领导力,提高教师学校归属感;加强人际领导力,营造良好学校氛围,从多方面提高教师满意度。     

校长在学校改进中的领导力

在学校改进中,校长的领导力起着关键作用,其中,浇铸理念、创建愿景、凝练信任、分享权力是学校改进取得成功的重要领导力。这些领导力使校长能倾听自己的声音,给团队成员以动力,促进团队成员精诚合作,为团队成员提供发展的机会。学校改进是内生式的发展,大学研究者是校长及其学校团队的合作伙伴。学校始终处于变革之中,改进没有起点和终点,每一个针对学校问题的思考与行动都是学校改进的生长点。因此,校长的领导力提升是学校改进的重要内容。     

谈新课改下农村中小学校长的课程领导

国内外学者研究发现,校长的课程领导在极大程度上影响课程改革的效果。调查发现,农村中小学校长在课程领导作用、课程领导方向、课程领导策略、课程领导状态等方面存在诸多问题。要提高校长课程领导以促进课程改革发展,必须改变校长对自己的角色定位、改变校长课程领导的关注点、加强校长课程领导的力度、拓宽校长课程领导的视野、对校长课程领导进行重新定位。     

The Development of Teacher Leaders and Inservice Teacher Educators

This article discusses the development of teacher leaders and inservice teacher educators whose role it is to promote teacher learning about mathematics teaching in the process of changing school mathematics. The Manor Program for the development of teacher leaders and teacher educators is used as a vehicle for addressing this issue. The article focuses on aspects of curriculum design, discusses the theoretical rationale for the learning opportunities provided by the program, and considers several problematic aspects encountered.     

New Forms of Partnership Between Schools and Teacher Education Institutes in The Netherlands

Teacher educators are not satisfied with their relations with the schools. In Holland, student teachers go to schools for their teaching practice and obtain the topics of their research projects from their practical experiences. Cooperating teachers are trained to supervise the student teachers during their practice periods. In this paper three attempts to improve the relationship between schools and teacher education institutes are described, analysed and the advantages given for the different partners (student teachers, teacher education, schools). The conclusion is that for the professional development of prospective teachers well organised and complete partnerships between schools and teacher education institutes are crucial.     

Leadership Stereotypes and Styles of Female Singaporean Principals

This paper investigates how a sample of female Singaporean secondary school principals perceived their leadership styles and compares their responses to a similar study carried out recently of female English head teachers. The education systems of England and Singapore are quite different. The English environment allows schools significant autonomy in personnel management and the majority of head teachers and senior managers are male. In contrast, the Singaporean educational environment is quite centralized, including the management of career paths, and the proportion of female senior managers is much higher. Interviews were conducted with 11 female Singaporean principals to identify their styles of management, leadership perspectives, and attitudes. The discussion first focuses on whether or not the styles of the principals in relation to ‘masculine’ or feminine’ stereotypes of leadership were similar to those of the English head teachers. Further comparison is made of the leadership attributes of the two sets of principals, including styles of management, decision‐making, working environment, need for vision, and values.     

校长在学校管理创新中的引导作用

本文在梳理了前人关于教育管理理论、创新理论及校长学理论与实践成就的基础上,对基础教育面临的挑战、中学管理的弊端,以及作为校长应如何应对挑战、进行管理创新等问题进行了研究探讨;并对中学管理创新和校长引领作用的模式和方法进行了分析论证.最后形成了既有逻辑分析、实证分析,又有操作案例支持的理论与实践相结合的成果.     

Social Media Comment on Leaders in International Schools: The Causes of Negative Comments and the Implications for Leadership Practices

The diverse body of international schools continues to grow and develop. Yet, the realities of being a leader in such a school continue to be neglected by discussion and research. It is acknowledged that international schools are complex organizations to lead and manage, with numerous boundaries, transient stakeholders, and opposing priorities. They exist as very challenging arenas for leadership, ripe for conflict and tension. This article uses anonymized comments on the social media website internationalschoolreview.com (ISR.com) to explore how and why teachers might post negative comments on school leaders. The framework of the “toxic triangle” is used as an instrument for presenting the comments. The article then discusses the implications for leadership practices. In particular, the comments on ISR.com reveal how isolated international schools are, with seemingly few options for teachers to release the “pressure valve” if unhappy or unsatisfied by what they might deem to be unethical and immoral leadership behavior. Further, the comments show how loosely coupled and fragmented the schools are, and many of the teachers themselves exist in a precarious state of anxiety. Overall, the comments add substantial weight to the argument that international schools are complex and challenging leadership environments.     

影响学校改进、提升与发展的领导文化

学校领导是学校战略的部署者,也是学校文化的引领者.目前我国薄弱学校领导与管理存在两个极端表现:一是校长的颁导太少、管理太多,二是学校管理粗放、无序、随意.研究表明,领导文化是影响学校改进、提升与发展的学校文化之一.构建领导文化应体现以下四大特点:专业引领的基本范式,多元分权的民主思维,精细管理的实践模式,追究问责的评价机制.     

Leadership in Hard-to-Staff Schools: Novice Teachers as Mentors

In our study, we chronicle the development of two novice urban teachers who developed in to mentors in the third year of their teaching. The two novice teachers were hired to serve as mentors to new teachers in or near their school. Interviews with the teachers about their experiences identified three areas of discussion as a result of their mentoring role that included reflection on the impact to their own practice, identification of the need for time management skills, and realization of the reasons for mentoring. The results of the novice teachers serving as mentors were positive for the mentors and helped to set the stage to sustain the mentoring program.     

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Technology and Psychology

This article describes the design and implementation of the year 2 curriculum and student learning experiences in the Michigan State University Master of Arts in Educational Technology program. We discuss the ways that this second set of courses builds on the first year of the program that students encounter, and also describe the theoretical impetus and design-based implications for learning how to teach with technology in effective and creative ways. Students in this group usually come in with some prior knowledge of educational theory, as well as some experience of working with classroom technologies. We intentionally build upon this prior knowledge, to take it to the next level of a more sophisticated TPACK-oriented understanding of learning in technology-driven contexts. Our year 2 courses move classical educational psychology theories of learning, along with educational research issues, squarely into the modern context of educational technology and teacher leadership. Our curriculum design focuses centrally on making meaningful experiences for teachers around technology, and helping them develop the knowledge and skills to create such experiences for their students. Our goal is to develop teachers who see themselves as flexible designers of learning experiences through the creative re-purposing of existing technologies.     

Assessing the Instructional Leadership of Secondary School Principals in Thailand

While research in Western societies has found that principal leadership is usually a necessary condition for school improvement, there remains a dearth of research on how principals provide instructional leadership in developing countries. This study sought to address this need by adapting the PIMRS (Hallinger, 1984a), an instrument designed to assess principal instructional leadership. The PIMRS was translated and administered to 10 secondary school principals in northern Thailand. Findings from this initial study indicate that the PIMRS‐Thai Form appears to provide data on the instructional leadership of secondary school principals that meet or exceed common research standards of reliability and validity. Researchers and practitioners interested in assessing principal instructional leadership in Thai schools can proceed to use the PIMRS‐Thai Form with a reasonable degree of confidence that it will yield accurate information on job performance in this domain.

Consistent with past studies, the principals in this study tended to rate themselves higher in their self‐assessments than did their teachers (Hallinger & Murphy, 1985; O'Day, 1983). Current and past data suggest that greater credence be given to the teacher assessments. With this in mind, the results indicate that this sample of secondary school principals from northern Thailand exercised a low to moderate level of instructional leadership activity. Assessments of secondary school principals using the PIMRS in the United States (Haack, 1991), Malaysia (Saavedra, 1987), Canada (Jones, 1987) have all yielded significantly higher scores when compared with this Thai sample.