What we know about successful principals in Mexico

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celina Torres-Arcadia ◽  
Sergio Nava-Lara ◽  
César Rodríguez-Uribe ◽  
Leonardo David Glasserman-Morales
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Educational Materials ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emotional Skills ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School ◽  
Conference Papers ◽  
School Organisation

PurposeThe paper aims to present what is known from the school principals who participated in the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) in Mexico. The paper reviews 14 publications (5 articles, 5 conference papers and 4 books) on successful school principals in Mexico that were published between 2009 and 2021 as part of the ISSPP. The papers were analysed using a conceptual framework consisting of perceived qualities of the principal, school organisation, suitability of teachers and principals, educational materials and methods and educational infrastructure.Design/methodology/approachA scoping study review methodology was used to explore publications and conference proceedings on ISSPP research on Mexican principals and schools in order to answer the question: What do we know about successful school principals in the Mexican context? Conference papers, journal articles, book chapters and books formed the knowledge base for the review.FindingsAs a result of the analysis across the five analysis categories it was found that the principals emphasised improving the educational quality of their schools and understood this as the basic criterion to judge their leadership success. Principals were central to school success and a nested model was produced to show how the successful school is built from the core of the principal, as a socio-emotional skills role model, to a culture of continuous improvement. The model included principal socio-emotional skills, school organisation, continuous improvement of teaching and principal practices and having appropriate educational materials, methods and infrastructure.Originality/valueThe ISSPP has produced a large amount of research. The paper is the first review of the substantial contribution from ISSPP research in Mexico. The model produced from the review adds to the several models produced in the ISSPP.

Heroic leadership in Australia, Sweden, and the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 785-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrie Drysdale ◽  
Jeffrey Bennett ◽  
Elizabeth T. Murakami ◽  
Olof Johansson ◽  
David Gurr
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Success ◽  
School Principals ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
School Communities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw from data collected as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and present cases of democratic and heroic leadership from three countries, discussing to what extent successful school principals in each of their research sites (Melbourne, Australia; Umeå, Sweden; Arizona and Texas in the USA) carry old and new perspectives of heroism in their leadership. In particular the paper explores two questions: first, how do school principals describe aspects of heroic and post-heroic leadership in their practices? and second, how do these heroic and post-heroic leadership practices meet contemporary demands such as accountability standards and build inclusive and collaborative school communities in challenging contexts? Design/methodology/approach – Multiple-perspective case studies involving semi-structured individual and group interviews with principals, teachers, students, parents and school board members were used to understand the contribution of principals and other leadership to school success. Findings – The definitions of heroic and post-heroic leadership are inadequate in defining successful principal leadership. The Australian, Swedish and American principals showed characteristics of both heroic and post-heroic leadership. They showed heroic qualities such as: inspiring and motivating others; challenging the status quo; showing integrity in conflicting situations; putting duty before self; taking risks to champion a better way; showing courage to stand up to those in authority; advocating for students in struggling neighbourhoods under the scrutiny of both district and public expectations; and, showing uncommon commitment. Yet our principals showed post-heroic leadership such as involving others in decision making and recognising that school success depended on collective effort, and being sensitive to community needs through a deep respect for the local culture. Originality/value – The research shows that we may need to redefine and recast our images of who school principals are today, and what they do to generate academic success for students. Both heroic and post-heroic images of leadership are needed to explain successful school leadership.

A dual and discontinuous professional identity: school principals in Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 806-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximiliano Jose Ritacco ◽  
Antonio Bolivar
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Successful Leadership ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose an emerging approach in research on school leadership, within the framework of the “International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP)”, where one of the three key research strands is “Principals’ identities”. Design/methodology/approach The paper responds, from a biographical-narrative approach, to knowledge about the impact of the Spanish model of school management on the professional identity of school principals. It analyses the biographical interviews of 15 school principals, through a process of structuring and categorizing the data collected, applying content analysis. Findings The dimensions of the principals’ identities emerge in different categories: personal identity, professional identity (internal perspective), professional identity (external perspective), social identity, professionalization and dual identity. Research limitations/implications The authors studied identities in a project entitled “Successful school principals”, understanding that successful leadership practices largely depend on headteachers’ identities. That is, when the identities are weak and unstable, with a poor identification with the managerial tasks and functions, and not recognised by the teaching staff, the school will probably be unsuccessful. On the contrary, when there are headteachers with a strong professional identity, the authors want to show that there is a positive impact on improvement of results. In the future, in the development of the research project, the authors aim to verify the relationship between headteachers’ identities and educational improvement. Practical implications The knowledge gained in our study would enable us to reimagine lines in order to increase the professionalization and identities of headteachers, redesigning work contexts in ways which can strengthen fragile and unstable identities. Finally, the implications of the study in relation to future research can be summarised by the following ideas. Social implications Understanding the world of the lives (lebenswelt) of Spanish headteachers means adopting a hermeneutic approach, observing the self-interpretation comments expressed by the subjects, where the temporal and biographical dimensions occupy a key role. The authors understand professional identity as a socially constructed and personally created experience with its own meanings, feelings and intentions. Therefore, it is logical to use, for data collection, individual interviews which explore the school context and the impact which it has on those subjects who are part of the professional environment. In addition, the authors have the intention of following up the study of identities. Originality/value It formulates, first, the theoretical framework for the professional identity from a narrative approach, linked – at the same time – to the practice of leadership, as an interactive relationship with the other members of the school. Successful leadership practices depend to a large degree on strong principals’ identities. Finally, the results are discussed, and future lines are proposed to articulate and strengthen the identity of school principals in Spain.

Successful school principals in primary and secondary education: a comprehensive review of a ten-year research project in Cyprus

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros Pashiardis ◽  
Antonios Kafa
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Education ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Primary And Secondary Education ◽  
The Cross ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore successful school principalship in Cyprus based on a ten-year research project, and in particular, by analysing leadership knowledge based on concrete actions of successful school principals derived from multiple case studies from the primary and secondary education sectors in Cyprus.Design/methodology/approachThe initial type of evidence was original qualitative empirical research undertaken through the examination of 11 case studies of successful primary and secondary school principals across Cyprus. Following, for the purposes of this paper a cross-case reanalysis was performed in order to extract successful actions from the participating school principals.FindingsBased on the emerging actions from the cross-case analysis, findings indicate that successful school principals, both in primary and secondary education, develop external relations, as well as networking with all relevant actors; create a collaborative and shared ownership feeling among their members and within their school organization; and finally promote a clear vision, based on a specific number of values.Originality/valueThis overall effort led us to the articulation of certain successful actions, which could be related and compared to the results in other successful school principalship contexts. Furthermore, it could contribute to the cross-country comparative knowledge body on successful school principalship, with different educational policies and different social contexts.

Successful leadership in a rural, high-poverty school: the case of County Line Middle School

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans W. Klar ◽  
Curtis A. Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Leadership Strategies ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School

Purpose – In this paper, the authors present a case study of successful school leadership at County Line Middle School. The purpose of the paper is to identify how particular leadership practices and beliefs were adapted to increase student achievement in this rural, high-poverty school in the southeastern USA. Design/methodology/approach – After purposefully selecting this school, the authors adapted interview protocols, questionnaires, and analysis frameworks from the International Successful School Principalship Project to develop a multi-perspective case study of principal leadership practices at the school. Findings – The findings illustrate the practices which led to students at this school, previously the lowest-performing in the district, achieving significantly higher on state standardized tests, getting along “like a family,” and regularly participating in service learning activities and charity events. A particularly interesting finding was how the principal confronted the school's negative self-image and adapted common leadership practices to implement a school-wide reform that suited its unique context. Research limitations/implications – While the findings of the study explicate the specific ways the principal adapted leadership strategies to enhance student learning, this study also highlights the need to understand how principals become familiar with their community's needs, cultures, norms, and values, and exercise leadership in accordance with them. Practical implications – The case offers an example of the need for context-responsive leadership in schools. In particular, it illustrates how this principal enacted leadership strategies that successfully negotiated what Woods (2006) referred to as the changing politics of the rural. To realize this success, the principal utilized his understanding of this low income, rural community to guide his leadership practices. Critically, part of this understanding included the ways the community was connected to and isolated from dominant sub-urban and urban societies, and how to build enthusiasm and capacity through appeals to local values. Originality/value – While it is widely acknowledged that school leaders need to consider their school and community contexts when making leadership decisions, less research has focussed on understanding how this can be achieved. This case provides rich examples of how this was accomplished in a rural, high-poverty middle school.

Successful school leadership for social justice in Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Moral Santaella
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Leadership Identity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Leadership For Social Justice ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School ◽  
Successful Principals

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to present the results obtained from the investigations that have been carried out within the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) project in the Spanish for social justice.Design/methodology/approachTwelve case studies have been carried out within the three lines of research proposed by ISSPP: successful principals, underperforming principals and principal leadership identity. All but one school were in challenging contexts. The methodological approach followed is based on multiple perspective case studies using a mixture of qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups and observations).FindingsResults show that successful principals not only believe in social justice through simple empathy with the concept of social justice, but also use strategies that combine transformational and instructional leadership processes and manage to reverse the bad situation of their disadvantaged schools, seeking excellence from equity. The leadership identity of successful principals is characterized to look to the future with hope, adopting a realistic utopian attitude to interpret their surrounding reality.Originality/valueFrom the case studies carried out, valuable information is obtained, which helps to understand the possibilities of implementing the ISSPP successful school leadership model in heterogeneous and disadvantaged context for equity and social justice.

Personality and resilience characteristics of preschool principals: an iterative study

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Angeliki Lazaridou
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Big Five ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Big Five Inventory ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
Professional Development Needs ◽  
Successful School

PurposeThis article reports findings from an investigation of the personality traits and resilience of a sample of preschool principals in Greece. It parallels an earlier investigation of primary school principals and compares the findings. As before, the investigation was designed to search for relationships between respondents’ personality characteristics and resilience strengths, and also for differences associated with sex, age, and years of service in the principalship. Once again, the “Big-Five Inventory” and the “Leadership Resilience Profile” were used. These outcomes, together with the demographics of the sample, suggested that Greek preschool principals may have unique dispositions, and therefore, may have unique professional-development needs and leadership preferences.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey was used to gather the data from a sample of 100 pre school teachers. The “Big Five Inventory” and the “Leadership Resilience Profile” were the instruments used.FindingsIt was found that the sample’s personality characteristics and resilience strengths differed somewhat from norms reported in the literature. Furthermore, the findings concerning relationships between resilience and personality did not align clearly with other researchers’ findings.Originality/valueResilience and personality characteristics as determinants of successful school leadership.

Social justice leadership, instructional leadership, and the goals of schooling

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95
Author(s):  
Haim Shaked
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Teaching Quality ◽  
Social Justice Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Research ◽  
School Principalship

Purpose School principals should see themselves as social justice leaders, who have the ability to allow all students to succeed, regardless of their characteristics and backgrounds. At the same time, school principals are also called upon to demonstrate instructional leadership, which emphasizes the teaching and learning aspects of school principalship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between these two roles of today’s school principals. Design/methodology/approach To investigate the relations between social justice leadership and instructional leadership, this paper adds the question of the goal of schooling to the mix. After identifying possible goals of schooling, the paper conceptualizes social justice leadership and instructional leadership, respectively, while also examining their relations with schools’ major goals. Possible commonalities and contradictions between social justice leadership and instructional leadership are discussed. Findings The prevalent expectation that school leaders should give top priority to ongoing improvement of teaching quality and academic outcomes may be seen as reducing school leaders’ involvement in some aspects of social justice leadership, such as nurturing students’ active citizenship. Research limitations/implications This paper opens new research avenues. Based on the findings of this paper, the connection between principals’ perceptions regarding the goals of schooling and their leadership behaviors should be explored. Practical implications It seems advisable to discuss the interplay between social justice leadership and instructional leadership with prospective and current principals, as well as with other school stakeholders. Originality/value Insofar as the relations between social justice leadership and instructional leadership have not been explored so far, this paper narrows a gap in the available knowledge.

scholarly journals An open systems model of successful school leadership

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gurr ◽  
Lawrie Drysdale ◽  
Helen Goode
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Model ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School ◽  
Complex Phenomena

PurposeThrough description and consideration of 12 models developed as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), a new model of successful school leadership is developed.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is necessarily descriptive in nature. For the first time, 12 ISSPP models are described together, and these descriptions are then used inductively to create a new successful school leadership model.FindingsThe open systems approach adopted depicts schools as a continuous cycle of input-transformation-output with feedback loops that inform each stage of the cycle. The inputs are the variables that lead to transformation. The transformation stage is the actions or processes that individuals, groups and organisations engage in because of the inputs, and these lead to a range of student and school outcomes. Feedback loops connect the stages, and the whole model is open to the influence of five contextual forces: economic, political, socio-cultural, technological and system, institutional and educational.Originality/valueModels are an important way to make sense of complex phenomena. A new model of successful school leadership, with an open systems approach, provides a different frame to consider the findings of the ISSPP and potentially allows the ISSPP research to inform practice and connect with other school leadership views in new ways.

Leadership for school success: lessons from effective principals

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 798-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Encarnacion Garza, Jr ◽  
Lawrie Drysdale ◽  
David Gurr ◽  
Stephen Jacobson ◽  
Betty Merchant
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Success ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Building Community ◽  
School Principalship ◽  
Successful School

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine four case studies from the International Successful School Principalship Project to explore and highlight how the role of the principal is critically important to sustaining school success. Implications for improving the preparation of aspiring and practicing school leaders are discussed. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using multiple sources, including documents and interviews with a variety of people including the principal, other school leaders, teachers, school council/board members, parents and students. Each case study was analyzed to understand how the principal and other leadership contributed to school success. Findings – There were several core dimensions of the principals’ leadership that led to sustained school success. Principals clearly articulated views on education and helped their schools set appropriate directions. They were all concerned with the professional development of teachers to build capacity and teacher leadership. All principals were instructional leaders who influenced teaching and learning and were committed to making a difference. They exhibited other qualities such as resilience and their motivation to sustain their efforts over time. Another important dimension was building community. These principals reached out to their communities. They clearly understood that they could not succeed in isolation. Originality/value – The notion of sustainability in education remains ambiguous and this paper provides some empirical evidence of how successful school principals maintain school success over an extended period. Importantly, it considers how aspirant and practicing principals can be developed and supported in their efforts to lead and sustain successful schools.

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