scholarly journals Conservative Perceptions for a Changing Reality. A Critical Look at the Professional Development of School Principals in Israel

2016 ◽  
pp. 517-533
Author(s):  
Mali Nets
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Development Program ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Future Thought ◽  
Mental Aspect

As a part of the worldwide trend, in Israel the issues of accountability in management, the school improvement, and the learners’ achievements are topics on the public agenda. In the attempt to address these challenges, Israel implemented a reform in the professional development of the principals, which was applied to the system with the establishment of the School Leadership Institute, Avnei Rosha (2007). The theoretical model of the professional development is based on the career stages approach,1 which originated in the research studies on the career circles of teachers2 and principals. These models examined characteristics of different stages in the professional life track of the teacher3 as well as the mental aspect of the principals’ perception of management throughout the career.4 The Israeli model adopted these theories as the basis for the professional development of principals and formed a comprehensive program of learning from the stage of the entry into the role to the stage of the retirement.5 The article will propose a critical look at the professional development program of the school principals from the third year in the role and onwards, on the background of the new challenges with which the Israeli educational system copes. The article will focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of the question of the professional development of principals, will review the influences of recent reforms on the professional development of principals from the third y ear i n t he position, will p resent t he i mmanent g aps of t he I sraeli p rogram a pplied to t hese principals, and will suggest issues for future thought.

Assisting struggling teachers effectively

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliezer Yariv ◽  
Efrat Kass
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Classroom Management ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Organizational Changes ◽  
Successful Intervention ◽  
Intensive Use ◽  
Willingness To Intervene ◽  
Human Support

In this research, we examine strategies school principals have used to assist struggling teachers. In an open-ended questionnaire designed for this study, we asked 219 school principals to describe a successful intervention they held. The results show that principals prefer supportive assistance to organizational changes (such as moving the teacher to another class). They rarely used confrontational approaches. A content analysis of the strategies that enabled successful intervention identified four conditions: (a) principals’ willingness to intervene; (b) intensive use of measures and resources; (c) the teacher’s willingness to make changes; and (d) the need for flexibility in managing the intervention. The findings indicate the need to train principals to assist struggling teachers more effectively and to encourage them to become more assertive. This requires a professional development program for teachers and principals, guidance in classroom management, as well as organizational, financial, and human support.

scholarly journals The Power Sources and Influences of Secondary School Principals in Eastern Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 115-133
Author(s):  
Birhanu Sintayehu
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Eastern Ethiopia ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
Secondary School Leadership ◽  
Descriptive Survey

This study aimed to critically examine the power sources and influences of school principals in secondary schools of Eastern Ethiopia. A descriptive survey research design was employed to carry out the study. The participants of the study were 145 teachers, 78 principals, and 41 supervisors who were selected by using stratified and random sampling techniques. The researcher adopted descriptive and inferential statistics to make sound interpretations of data. The results revealed that school principals were mostly used expert, legitimate, and reward sources of power. Likewise, school principals have predominantly exercised a positional basis of power rather than personal power. There was a significant statistical difference in power sources of school principals regarding positions, gender, and service years. The findings also showed that school principals dominantly practiced proactive influencing tactics. Moreover, findings indicated that subordinates carried out school principals' compliance to obtain a prize or avoid punishment by applied reactive influence tactics. The study further discovered that subordinates were inclined to resist school principals' influence. This study suggests secondary principals should rethink how power is managed and deployed to make sound influence over subordinates to assure quality education. Hence, the results of the study may serve as a springboard to improve secondary school leadership and equip novice teachers to bring them a principalship position. Plus, this study may provide a clear picture for policymakers, scholars, and government officials to support and retain principals for long-term school improvement, and it may also a theoretical benefit for future research on the area of study.

Refusing Relevance: School Administrator Resistance to Offering Professional Development Addressing LGBTQ Issues in Schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabethe C. Payne ◽  
Melissa J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Development Program ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
School Administrator ◽  
School Contexts ◽  
Bisexual And Transgender ◽  
Field Notes

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide insight to the multiple ways that school leaders resist, avoid, or block LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, queer, and questioning) professional development for their staff and, thus, resist the conversations around school responsibility to these students and families. Research Method: The data presented in this article include interviews and field notes drawn from evaluation studies of the Reduction of Stigma in Schools© professional development program and are related to a single emergent theme. Findings: School leaders who resisted LGBTQ professional development claimed such training was not relevant to their school contexts, the training would attract community backlash, the school board would not approve the training, or school personnel would not be interested in learning about LGBTQ students. Implications: The authors conclude that increasing LGBTQ content in educational leadership training is a necessary step for convincing school leadership that LGBTQ-competence is necessary for creating a positive school climate for all.

scholarly journals Towards a leadership programme for primary school principals as instructional leaders

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Parvathy Naidoo ◽  
Nadine Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Learner Outcomes ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
Poor Learner

This study set out to explore primary school principals’ instructional leadership. The study addressed a key issue in the school improvement literature, pertaining to the curriculum leadership of principals. The literature is not entirely clear about which leadership characteristic is more likely to produce the most favourable outcomes in terms of improved learner outcomes, in other words, how the curriculum has been implemented and how leadership in this regard has been effected. The article argues that robust training and development in instructional leadership practices become necessary to support school leaders in this regard. In South Africa, based on numerous reports of poor learner outcomes in schools, we question whether principals possess the necessary skills required to lead and manage curriculum in schools. In this article, the views of five principals, who have completed the Advanced Certificate in Education: School Leadership and Management (ACESLM) programme, are examined. Findings indicate that not all principals who participated in the study are fully conversant with their roles and responsibilities as instructional leaders. They mainly interpret their functions to be purely managerial and to be leaders and administrators of schools. Thus, whilst some understanding of instructional leadership was apparent in some of the principals’ responses, it is the authors’ views that ACESLM, as a leadership development programme, needs to be redesigned to include greater focus on instructional leadership.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Teachers’ Professional Development Program at Elementary Level

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Ul Haq ◽  
Shamim Haider Tirmazi ◽  
Asia Zulfqar
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Elementary Teachers ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Professional Development Program ◽  
Elementary Level ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public And Private Sector

ABSTRACTThis study explores the effectiveness of professional development program of public and private sector at the elementary level. A survey was conducted by involving elementary teachers from the public and private sector, who were involved in teacher training program. A questionnaire` was developed targeting the four key factors of the training programs: suitability of the resources, quality of the content and management, competency of the trainers, and usefulness of the training program. Simple random sampling technique was applied to collect the data from the trainee elementary teachers of the public and the private sector. 750 trainee teachers from the public sector and 600 elementary teachers from the private sector were selected from the five districts of the Punjab province. The data was analyzed on the basis of four factors in the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and t-test were calculated to analyze the data. The findings discovered a significant difference in the opinion of trainees in both public and private sector in view of the “usefulness for trainees” (p-value= 0.041).The rest of the three factors were insignificant which means trainees from both public and private sector having the same opinion about the training program. The possible reasons for these insignificant findings and implications were discussed.

scholarly journals Potential of Positive Leadership for School Improvement

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 165-180
Author(s):  
Karen Seashore Louis ◽  
Joseph F. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Organizational Theory ◽  
Narrative Research ◽  
Leadership Preparation ◽  
Positive Leadership ◽  
Teachers And Students

In this paper, we undertake four formative assignments: (1) We introduce the idea of positive school leadership (PSL) based largely on theory and research conducted outside the educational sector and introduce four orientations that anchor PSL; (2) we develop ideas about how asset-grounded concepts of leadership can be incorporated into schooling; (3) we examine how concepts underlying PSL may affect schools, classrooms, teachers, and students; and (4) using narrative research and grounded theory we introduce an overview of empirical evidence linking PSL and valued outcomes. We conclude by discussing the significance of PSL for organizational theory and leadership preparation and professional development.

scholarly journals A review of state policies on principal professional development

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Keith Davis ◽  
Deborah Rogers ◽  
Martin Harrigan
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Performance ◽  
State Level ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Principal Professional Development ◽  
Multiple Indicators

Although principal professional development (PPD) has been proven to improve school performance at various levels, professional development (PD) for teachers receives more time, resources, and attention at both district and state level. When PPD is provided it often does not meet research-based recommendations. The literature was reviewed and five criteria areas with multiple indicators for effective PPD outlined; these were subsequently revised and validated by experts in the field. The PPD certification policies of each U.S. state that made this information publicly accessible was examined through Department of Education websites, with clarification by phone when necessary. This study revealed that only one state met all indicators, and that most states did not have comprehensive, research-based PPD policies. Given the significant effect school leadership has on student achievement and school improvement, further research on PPD implementation should be prioritized.

scholarly journals Engineering Futures: Updating a Successful Professional Development Program to Address New Challenges

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy Luchini-Colbry ◽  
Christopher McComb ◽  
Julie Rojewski ◽  
Astri Briliyanti ◽  
Dirk Colbry
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Professional Development Program ◽  
New Challenges

Principals’ views on continuing professional development programmes: Evidence from Malaysia

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322198895
Author(s):  
Lokman Mohd Tahir ◽  
Mohammed Berhandden Musah ◽  
Mohd Fadzli Ali ◽  
Abdul Halim Abdullah ◽  
Mohd Hilmi Hamzah
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Effective School ◽  
Knowledge And Skills

This study reports on the professional development and school leadership programmes requested by principals in Malaysian schools. A total of 557 principals provided feedback on their preferred school leadership and professional development programmes which they believed as essential to be effective school leaders. Based on their feedback, mentoring was named the most needed leadership development programme as it allowed access to the guidance, knowledge and skills of senior principals. As for school leadership courses mentioned by school principals, financial management was considered as most useful. The study concludes by recommending suggestions to improve principals’ professional development programmes in Malaysia.

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