scholarly journals Principals as Managers and Leaders: A Qualitative Study of the Perspectives of Selected Elementary School Principals

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean S. T. Cascadden
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary School Principals ◽  
Educational Administration ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Visionary Leadership ◽  
Leadership And Management ◽  
Democratic Leadership ◽  
Being There ◽  
School Principalship

The primary purpose of this study was to explore how selected elementary school principals described and defined their work in terms of leadership and management. There were three subareas of investigation under this primary purpose: a) exploring the principals’ conceptions about the constructs of leadership and management; b) exploring the principals’ beliefs about the role of their personal philosophies, goals, or values in relation to their practice; and c) using content analysis to explore the language that principals used to describe themselves, their work, and their schools. Thetheoretical perspective adopted for this study was that organizations are constructed, human, social entities, and the focus of this study was to describe the role of the elementary school principalfrom the perspective and voice of the participants. The data collection was accomplished using semistructured interviews of eight selected elementary school principals. Results consist of the principals’ stories (hermeneutic) and analyses (dialectic), generating common themes and patterns. Four major issues were identified and discussed: a) role conflicts, b) “being there,” c) evolving from managers to leaders, and d) balancing culture and distributed decision making. These themes were alsodiscussed in relation to the existing literature on leadership, management, and the elementary school principalship. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study for educational administration focusing on a) the contrast of visionary leadership and democratic leadership, b) the role of theory in administrator preparation, and c) implications for practice—a personal postscript.

scholarly journals Fostering a Culture of Innovation: A Case Study of Elementary School Principals in Costa Rica

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel M. Gonzales ◽  
Richard Storti
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Elementary School Principals ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Teachers And Students

To help promote a culture of innovation, the Ministry of Education andthe Ministry of Science, Technology, and Telecommunication of Costa Rica estab-lished a national executive decree requiring all public schools in the country partic-ipate in the National Program of Science and Technology Fairs (NPSTF). This casestudy examines the role of five elementary school principals in Costa Rica in implementing and preparing their schools for the NPSTF initiative. Principals played threesignificant roles: the motivator of teachers and students; acquirer of NPSTF resources;and the organizer of NPSTF committees and coalitions to help train and finance theinitiative. It is recommended the Ministry of Education establish a budget solely ded-icated to support infrastructure and professional development for NPSTF while aligning goals with all stakeholders.

scholarly journals Eleição de Diretores de Escolas Públicas: Avanços e Limites da Prática

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (186) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Paro
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary School Principals ◽  
School Administration ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Public Elementary School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Selection Of

Com base em pesquisa de campo que estudou a introdução do sistema de eleição de diretores de escolas públicas básicas, em vários sistemas de ensino no Brasil, o artigo examina alguns limites da experiência eletiva nas escolas e discute aspectos relacionados ao impacto das eleições sobre o papel do diretor e sobre a prática democrática na gestão da escola pública. Abstract Supported by a research that focused the use of elections in the selection of public elementary school principals in several Brazilian educational systems, the article inquires some setbacks of this experience and also discusses aspects related to the impact of elections on the role of principals and on the practice of democracy in the school administration. Résumé Il s'agit d'abord d'une recherche qui a étudié l'introduction du système d'élection de directeurs d 'écolespubliques élémentaires dans des systèmes les plus divers d'enseignement au Brésil. Basé dans cette recherche, l'article examine quelques limitations de l 'experience élective dans les écoles et discute des aspects relationés à l 'impact des élections sur le rôle du directeur et sur la pratique démocratique dans la gestion de l 'école publique. Resumen Basado en investigación que estudió la introducían del sistema de elección de directores de escuelas públicas básicas en varios sistemas de enseñanza en Brasil, el artigo examina algunos limites de la experiencia electiva en las escuelas y discute aspectos relacionados al impacto de las elecciones sobre el rol del director y sobre la práctica democrática en la gestión de la escuela pública.

A systematic review of educational leadership and management research in Turkey

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 731-747 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Şükrü Bellibaş ◽  
Sedat Gümüş
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Educational Administration ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Recent Effort ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Leadership And Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
School Principalship

Purpose While the current knowledge in the field of educational leadership and management (EDLM) has been primarily based on research produced in English-speaking Western societies, there have been significant efforts by other societies to contribute to the knowledge production, especially during the past decade. The purpose of this paper is to identify the contribution of Turkey to the international EDLM literature by investigating the topical focus, conceptual frameworks and research designs of papers published by EDLM scholars from Turkey. Design/methodology/approach Descriptive content analysis method was employed to examine 315 empirical, review, conceptual and commentary papers published by Turkish scholars in core educational administration and Web of Science journals. The time period of the review left open-ended. However, in practical terms, it begins in the year 1994 when the first article from Turkey was published in any of the selected sources and ends at the end of 2018. Information relevant to the research was extracted from each article and was coded to facilitate quantitative analysis. Using Excel software, descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages were provided for each research question. Findings Results show that Turkish EDLM scholars mostly rely on survey based quantitative research approach, employing advanced statistical techniques in the analysis of the data. However, mixed method and qualitative studies are relatively less common. Organizational behavior, school leadership and emotions stand out as most frequently used topics, while Turkish scholars are not interested in analyzing the educational outcomes such as student achievement and school improvement. Consistent with the findings related to topical foci, a large number of those who were interested in correlational studies examined the relationship between leadership roles and organizational behaviors. Research limitations/implications The data set only included journal articles and excluded conference proceedings, books and theses/dissertations. Nevertheless, the authors believe this review adds significantly to previous reviews of local EDLM journals conducted by Turkish scholars. The authors concluded that the Turkish scholars should direct their future research to exploring and better understanding the practices of Turkish principals in schools by: diversifying their research topics; incorporating more qualitative and mixed-method designs; and taking into account specific features of the culture and educational system in Turkey. Practical implications Based on the current higher education context, reducing scholars’ teaching load, diversifying research funding opportunities, and modifying access to tenure tracks seem necessary interventions to support EDLM research with strong ties to practice and to the sociocultural context. In addition, policy changes aiming professionalization of administrative positions and establishing some forms of formal training for school principalship are needed. Such changes can help transfer the knowledge produced by the Turkish EDLM researchers to the practice and provide solutions to problems related to school administration. Originality/value This paper will add to recent effort to identify how a developing nation outside Western perspective approaches the field, and contributes to the global knowledge base.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document