Principals' views on challenges of their school governance roles

Abstract

This article explores principals' views regarding governance challenges they experience at schools. We conducted focus group interviews with primary and secondary school principals, purposely and conveniently selected from township schools in two Gauteng Province's districts. We found that principals were challenged mostly by having to balance their roles as ex officio school governing body members and their roles as bona fide members of school governing bodies (SGBs). Other challenges found were confirmatory of other school governors' views as reported in numerous studies, related to among others, the specialist nature of governance functions, poor training of school governors, difficulties associated with governor recruitment and unwillingness of parents to serve as governors. There is therefore a need for a re-clarification of the principals' roles, in terms of both their ex officio and bona fide SGB membership with regard to governance in the context of the functioning of the schools. This should include a review of the governing body structure, the re-allocation of specialist functions, customized and needs-based training of school governors and aspects relating to the general functioning of SGBs.     

Perceptions of the principal’s role in democratic school governance in South Africa

This article explores governors’ perceptions of the role played by school principals in the democratic governance of secondary schools in South Africa. The South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 has mandated that all public schools in South Africa must have democratically elected school governing bodies, comprised of the principal (in his or her official capacity), educators, non‐teaching staff, parents and learners, but the latter is applicable only in secondary schools. This reform is intended to foster tolerance, rational discussion and collective decision‐making. In the light of this reform an empirical study investigated the role of the principal in the school governing body (SGB), particularly in promoting parent and learner participation in SGBs. The findings highlighted the important functions that principals fulfil with regard to the functioning of the SGB. Principals are viewed by governors as playing a positive role in SGBs. Governors referred to principals as ‘the finger on the pulse of what is happening at school’; they are resource persons for other members of the SGBs and ‘the engines’ of the schools. Governors viewed the principal as in charge of the professional management of the school, ensuring that all duties are carried out adequately, setting the tone in SGB meetings, and responsible for interpreting education policies and ensuring that they are well implemented. Furthermore, principals have the responsibility of ensuring the maximum participation of both parent and learner governors in SGBs meetings. Principals can also contribute greatly to school governance issues, since they are usually at an advantage in terms of their familiarity with official regulations, provincial directives and knowledge of educational reform measures. The findings highlighted persistent power struggles in rural schools that may arise when principals overplay their roles as this creates tension among SGB members. However, principals enabled implementation of democratic values such as tolerance, rational discussion and collective decision‐making in schools through their leadership roles.     

Principals’ perceptions and experiences of the role parents play in school governing bodies in rural areas

This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of rural school principals in South Africa of the role that parents in the school governing bodies (SGBs) play in improving school management and governance. The study reports on a literature review as well as on the empirical investigation, which was based on a qualitative research paradigm. Semi-structured interviews with the principals of three different rural schools were employed to collect data. The literature findings revealed that including parents as part of the SGB is seen as an essential component for the successful functioning of the school. The empirical study also emphasised the importance of including parents. However, the principals were concerned about the fact that many members of the SGB are illiterate and uncertain of the role they play in school governance. The principals emphasised the need for training of the members of SGBs as regards their working knowledge of school governance activities.     

More Heads are Better than One: School-Based Decision-Making in Varied School Environments

In this multi-case qualitative study the degree to which school-based decision-making (SBDM) is understood and conceptualised by the members of school governing bodies (SGBs) - educators, chairpersons of SGBs, principals, and learner representative councils-as well the extent to which decisions were shared among the various groups represented on the SGBs were examined. Multiple sources, such as meeting observations and interviews were used to collect data. Data revealed that decision-making processes in townships and rural schools seemed to be dominated by educators (educator-dominated SGB) and principals (principal-dominated SGB) respectively, while the urban school appeared to have achieved true shared decision-making (balanced decision-making). I therefore suggest that it is not sufficient to accept that promulgation at face value; and expect that implementation of policies in schools would suddenly convert these schools into true institutions practising and cherishing shared decision-making in their daily operations. Collective active efforts and ongoing training are still needed for the more effective functioning of SGBs. Although the research has tended to validate the findings of other studies, it has also made some contribution to the knowledge about the integration of the adapted governance models to analyse the extent to which decisions were shared among the members of SGBs in the selected three case studies. Its use in this study is, therefore, a methodological contribution to the study of SBDM.     

Data feedback for school improvement: The role of researchers and school leaders

The aim of this study is to better understand the role of researchers and school leaders in supporting school improvement through data feedback in the context of more responsive forms of accountability in the Netherlands. A process evaluation was conducted concerning the first three years of a collaborative project of a multi-management group of 18 primary schools and a group of researchers. The results show that implementing a system of data feedback starting from a shared vision on the need to learn from data, fostered processes in the school of learning from data for school improvement. The results also show a growing inquiry habit of mind amongst school principals, whereas the researchers learned how to take their role in the collaboration by providing conditions that enhance school improvement from data feedback. The results indicate that the collaborative process can be characterised by several learning functions and thus contribute to a better understanding of how the conditions for data feedback and school improvement can be enhanced.     

Collaboration for Inclusion: Practitioner Perspectives

Collaboration as a cornerstone of effective school inclusion is an idea that has high theoretical currency among many scholars in the areas of special education and educational leadership. The challenge for educational practitioners is to find ways to implement high-quality special education programs collaboratively amid the public call for school efficiency and accountability. Accordingly, the primary purpose of the qualitative research project reported in this article was to examine inherent challenges in the implementation of school inclusion programs in ten public schools in North Louisiana over a three-year period. Data collection methods included participatory observation, semi-structured interviews with nine teachers and three principals in four schools, two focus groups, and a document search. The findings revealed the critical and challenging role of the principal for establishing collaborative cultures for successful school inclusion. Additionally, special education teachers and general education teachers experienced intrapersonal and interpersonal value conflicts in the pursuit of educational equity amidst a climate of school accountability.     

The dynamics and intricacy of budgeting in secondary schools in Lesotho: Case studies of three high schools

Abstract

This paper reports on the qualitative study that used in-depth interviews and document reviews on financial management practices in their schools. The participants were school principals of the case study schools. The findings of the study highlighted problems regarding the implementation of the policy – despite the Manual for Principals of Secondary Schools on financial planning and organisation, there are still problems regarding the collection and recording of school fees, budgeting, as well as a lack of administrative support. Findings further suggest that during the process of budgeting, power relations surface where principals play a dominant role in decision making regarding both departmental budgets and the school's main budget. Findings also suggest that lack of policies on the use of fees affects issues of budgeting in these schools. Moreover, most school principals are not provided with sufficient capacity building on financial matters, which cripples them in performing the budgetary tasks. The implications of the study are that there should be adequate capacity building of the principals in regards to budgeting and systems should be put in place regarding policies on how the school fees are to be used.     

News and Communications

ABSTRACT

The author examined how local charter school educators respond to the accountability measures being imposed on them. Encouraged by early indications of increased test scores, state and federal policymakers continue to support accountability as an effective means to improve schools. Surprisingly, there has been little research on local educators’ experiences with and responses to such reforms. This lack of research is striking because teachers, principals, and superintendents are directly responsible for the implementation of accountability mandates, including administering tests, teaching to the state standards, and implementing state-approved curriculum packages. In an effort to understand teachers’ and administrators’ experiences with public school accountability, the author explores how educators in 4 charter schools in Michigan understand recent accountability mandates with respect to school reform.     

Collaborative Leadership and Sustained Learner Academic Performance in Secondary Schools: A Blaming Game?

Abstract

This article reports on a study that investigated how collaborative leadership can influence sustained learner academic performance in secondary schools. The key problem resounds about secondary schools that are unable either to sustain or improve learner academic performance when intervention strategies rolled out from the district offices are concluded. The literature pursued in the study covered collaborative leadership from both schools and district education offices and their impact on learner academic performance. Participants were circuit managers, subject advisors, principals and teachers. They completed open- ended questionnaires that sought to explain the relationship between collaborative leadership and sustained learner academic performance. Major findings indicated that participants (at the various levels of leadership) attribute low learner academic performance to all other involved parties except themselves. Thus, collaborative leadership within the school and between schools and district education offices is not enabling sustained learner academic performance.     

How do school leaders respond to the growing intrusiveness of accountability policies? Evidence from Italy

ABSTRACT

The role of school principals is an evolving one, calling them to become agents of change, focusing on educational leadership as they take the schools forward. All this is happening in a context that is becoming more challenging and stressful as school leaders try to juggle the state-mandated accountability devices. In relation to the Italian context, this paper analyses the growing penetration of accountability systems in school management and the implications for leadership practices. The results of a research project conducted with school leaders show that accountability systems can provide an opportunity for school improvement if school leaders defuse their potential bureaucracy, consistently integrating them into their practices of leadership, respecting the organisational idea of the school as professional learning community. An authentic educational leadership is a fundamental condition for governing the risks and contradictions that accountability systems bring with them in the complex reality of schools.     

Turning the tide: creating Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to improve teaching practice and learning in South African public schools

Abstract

Poor learner performance in South African schools raises concerns related to lack of commitment and accountability from school leaders and teachers with no common vision to promote a culture of high learner performance. This paper provides a literature overview of research available on the impact of professional learning communities (PLC) on effective teaching and practices to promote higher levels of learning amongst students; the nature of PLCs; their essential characteristics, developmental stages and challenges; and an assessment of the benefits of PLC in schools and the challenges of PLC from other researchers’ observations. PLCs are necessary to encourage collaborative teamwork on essential outcomes and intervention activities in learning. Finally, I conclude by exploring how South African schools can benefit from the practices of professional learning communities which endeavour to improve teaching practices and poor learner achievement.     

‘If the students don’t come,or if they don’t finish,we don’t get the money.’ Principals,immigration, and the organisational logic of school choice in Sweden

ABSTRACT

School choice is associated with increased educational inequality and across-school segregation. This article documents the organisational practices and logics affecting school segregation and inequality. Through an institutional ethnographic study of principals’ responses to school choice within the context of immigration in Malmö, Sweden, I find that principals work to align their schools with generalised conceptions of a ‘good’ school – a ‘Swedish’ school without many immigrants. Principals pursue the image or reality of ‘Swedishness’ through choices about the presentation of the school, approaches to managing enrolment, selection of programmes of study, and even decisions about where schools are located. Through their administrative work, principals write presumed preferences for Swedishness into the structure of the school system. The results suggest that, when addressing the link between school choice and equality, group preferences of school choosers cannot be considered independently of the organisation of schooling accomplished by principals and other organisational actors.     

Assistance and Accountability in Externally Managed Schools: The Case of Edison Schools,Inc.

Edison Schools, Inc., is the largest and most visible among a growing number of Education Management Organizations that have entered into contracts to manage public schools, including both conventional and charter schools. Edison's approach to managing schools is comprehensive, and it distinguishes itself from most other school improvement strategies by simultaneously addressing both the resources and assistance provided to schools and the accountability systems under which school staff operate. In this article we explore the ways in which the assistance and resources provided by Edison (including diverse professional development opportunities, materials, technology, and other tools), as well as accountability mechanisms (such as monitoring and rewards), have translated into principal and teacher actions, and the factors that facilitated or constrained educators' efforts to implement the Edison design and improve teaching and learning. Drawing on data gathered from extensive interviews, observations, and document reviews collected during a four-year comprehensive study of Edison schools, we demonstrate how Edison intends to promote not only educators' capacity but also their motivation and opportunity to deliver high-quality instruction. We examine variation that occurs across schools as teachers and principals respond to these system-level efforts. In addition, we identify several important predictors of variation in implementation, including the strength of instructional leadership provided by the principal and the presence or absence of district-imposed constraints such as union contract rules.     

Managing senior management team boundaries and school improvement: an investigation of the school leader role

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 characteristics of functional heterogeneity and goal interdependence to SMT effectiveness and school outcomes of teachers’ absenteeism, school violence and academic emphasis. The results of the structural equation model from a sample of 92 schools indicate that internal activities fully mediate the relationship between principal extraversion and conscientiousness, SMT functional heterogeneity, intra-and inter-team goal interdependence to SMT effectiveness. The external activities were found to fully mediate the relationship between principal extraversion, SMT functional heterogeneity, intra-and inter-team goal interdependence to school outcomes. By concluding that both internal and external activities remain fundamental to overall effectiveness, this study may provide principals with boundary management techniques and practices. The findings may encourage principals to establish priorities and allocate their time, resources and attention effectively both inward and outward the SMT boundary so as to improve SMT and school outcomes.     

Setting expectations for good education: how Dutch school inspections drive improvement

With decentralisation becoming increasingly widespread across Europe, evaluation and accountability are becoming key issues in ensuring quality provision for all (Altrichter & Maag Merki, 2010; Eurydice, 2004). In Europe, the dominant arrangement for educational accountability is school inspections. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyse the ways in which school inspections in The Netherlands impact on the work of schools. The results of 2 years of survey data of principals and teachers in primary and secondary schools show that inspection primarily drives change indirectly, through encouraging certain developmental processes, rather than through more direct and coercive methods, such as schools reacting to inspection feedback. Specifically, results indicate that school inspections which set clear expectations on what constitutes “good education” for schools and their stakeholders are strong determinants of improvement actions; principals and schools feel pressure to respond to these prompts and improve their education.     

The District Superintendent and School Improvement: A Western Australian Perspective

ABSTRACT

The contribution district superintendents can make to school effectiveness and improvement is a neglected area of research in Australia. Research in the US suggests four ways in which superintendents impact on school improvement: the evaluation of principals and auditing of schools; the matching of school and district goals; the provision of informal support for principals; and the appointment and positioning of principals. Within an Australian setting of devolution to school‐based management, evaluation assumes major importance at school level and at district superintendent level in the pursuit of school effectiveness and improvement. An evaluation of the performance of two superintendents in Western Australia took place in 1990. It focused on superintendent performance within one key accountability area, the provision of principals’ professional development. The evaluation procedures and results are described and analysed, and implications are drawn for improving district superintendent evaluation as a means of enhancing school effectiveness and improvement.     

Stifling transformation through the manipulation of enrolment: A case study of two public high schools in Gauteng Province

Abstract

This article reports on an investigation into how admission policies in general and the ‘zoning’ policy in particular are applied by the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) of two particular former Model C secondary schools in a town in the Gauteng Province, Republic of South Africa. It also examines the admission criteria currently in use against the background of allegations that the application of these criteria is a veiled attempt to exclude black learners from schools in order to retain a white learner majority. It also considers what can be termed the ‘channelling’ of learners. Interviews were conducted with a sample of disgruntled parents, a chairperson of the school governing body (SGB) of one of the schools and the principals of two unrelated schools, which were mentioned during the interviews with the disgruntled parents.     

Job Mobility and Premature Departure of Principals in Primary and Secondary Education in the Netherlands

As a result of complex school reforms the role of the principal has undergone significant changes, internationally. Consequently, a considerable number of principals leave their positions, both voluntarily and involuntarily. This article presents the findings of a study into job mobility, concentrating on involuntary or premature departure amongst principals in primary and secondary education in the Netherlands. All primary and secondary schools with job mobility over a period of three years were traced: 920 schools reported job mobility for 1009 principals. The authors then examined which part of this job mobility consisted of premature departure. For this purpose, three characteristics of job mobility were investigated: involuntariness, labour disputes and official reasons reported for job mobility. The data were also analysed for male and female principals separately.     

The performative shift: middle leadership ‘in the line of fire’

ABSTRACT

State school inspection in Norway is currently changing with targeted schools becoming subject to more complex methods of inquiry. Not only school principals but middle leaders are exposed to this shifting system, for the latter are in the frontline of their schools’ everyday practices. The article examines how state school inspection is used as means of controlling legal compliance, as well as evaluating the formative assessment routines and practices of schools, middle leaders, and individual teachers. Drawing on the concepts of accountability and performativity, field observations of inspectors interrogating department heads in primary education are analysed. The empirical study demonstrates how use of standardised rubrics steer the inspection process in schools, aiming more towards completing on task, rather than supporting middle leaders in their struggle to comply with legal standards. During such interrogation, the department heads comply with the system, and are at the same time open towards the inspectors’ questioning concerning the school’s lack of fully implemented routines.     

Professional learning community process in the United States: conceptualization of the process and district support for schools

Abstract

As the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process becomes embedded within schools, the level of district support has a direct impact on whether schools have the ability to re-culture and sustain highly effective collaborative practices. The purpose of this article is to share a professional learning community conceptual framework from the US, and to highlight recent findings relating to district level support for the PLC process in schools. The professional learning community conceptual model is organized around five dimensions: shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collaborative learning and application, shared personal practice, and supportive conditions. The overarching question guiding this qualitative research study is: How do school district personnel (central office staff) support schools in the professional learning community process? Findings reveal the importance of transformative and proactive district involvement, and the use of transparency, trust, accountability, and autonomy in school re-culturing. It was also found that developing leadership capacity, embedding professional development, and focusing the culture on student success were critically important. As districts provide support for the PLC dimensions and themes, school leaders will have a foundation of curricular strategies, collaborative skills, and necessary resources to serve teachers and students through continuous school improvement.