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.

(In)effective leadership? Exploring the interplay of challenges, goals and measures in the context of school improvement

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Böse ◽  
Stefan Brauckmann-Sajkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
School Effectiveness ◽  
School Quality ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Context ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government

PurposeThis study aims to explore the extent to which schools principals serving disadvantaged communities in Germany are able to set appropriate goals and choose suitable measures for improving their schools according to the specific challenges they face. The authors determine whether principals are able to identify their schools' challenges or whether they merely follow “universal recipes” of the school effectiveness research paradigm regardless of their particular school context. This effectiveness-driven accountability approach requires an in-depth evaluation of the school and its stakeholders and might lead to a new attitude toward failure that sees it as an essential part of developing effective school improvement plans.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted descriptive and correlative analyses as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using longitudinal data of 164 school principals. Through cross-sectional analyses, the authors investigated the connection among challenges, goals and measures and how they correlated with (self-reported) improvements.FindingsFrom a leadership perspective, priorities for school improvement should be aligned with the school-specific challenges they identify and the goals they set to address them.Research limitations/implicationsThe extent to which legislation concerning individual school quality development programs can translate into feasible and effective actions is unclear. Caution should be taken when interpreting the findings of this study, as they reflect school principals' self-selected evaluation measures and therefore might be biased.Practical implicationsIn future research, emphasis should be placed on school management processes, in particular, the development of strategic decision-making, structuring of target perspectives and derivation of steps in school improvement and instructional development. The authors recommend the government offer school principals appropriate and adequate training and support services to prevent them from overburdening their staff.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to a deeper understanding of processes concerning strategic leadership, as opposed to operative management, of schools by revealing context-sensitive considerations.

Green School Leadership

2019 ◽  
pp. 328-341
Author(s):  
Cornelia Ndahambelela Shimwooshili Shaimemanya ◽  
Sadrag Panduleni Shihomeka
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Management ◽  
Environmental Knowledge ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Sustainable Living ◽  
School Project ◽  
Green School

The purpose of the chapter was to examine the leadership practices of school principals whose agenda is to green the schools in an effort to achieve sustainability in Namibia and build environmental knowledge of the Namibian secondary school learners. The study was qualitative and used a purposive sampling of eight teachers and environmental clubs at three selected schools in the Khomas education region. The results revealed that these teachers hold a non-remunerative position of coordinating for the Environmental Club as an extra-mural responsibility and they were doing it because of their natural love for the environment and interest in educating the young and future generations about sustainability/sustainable living. The chapter recommends that the school management should provide maximum support to the practicing and responsible green school project coordinators at various schools to motivate and guide them when necessary.

Broken bridges: a social network perspective on urban high school leadership

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 562-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Hwa Liou ◽  
Alan J. Daly
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Social Network ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
High School Principals ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Urban High School ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovative Climate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Secondary School Leadership

Purpose Secondary school leadership provides multiple challenges in terms of the diversity of tasks, multiple demands on time, balancing communities and attending to instructional programming. An emerging scholarship suggests the importance of a distributed instructional leadership approach to high school leadership. However, what has been less thoroughly explored is how secondary school leadership is distributed leaders across a school district. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the social structure and positions urban high school principals occupy in the district system. Design/methodology/approach This study was conducted in one urban fringe public school district in southern California serving diverse students populations. The data were collected at three time points starting in Fall 2012 and ending in Fall 2014 from a district-wide leadership team including all central office and site leaders. All leaders were asked to assess their social relations and perception of innovative climate. The data were analyzed through a series of social network indices to examine the structure and positions of high school principals. Findings Results indicate that over time high school principals have decreasing access to social capital and are typically occupying peripheral positions in the social network. The high school principals’ perception of innovative climate across the district decreases over time. Originality/value This longitudinal study, one of the first to examine high school principals from a network perspective, sheds new light on the social infrastructure of urban high school principals and what this might mean for efforts at improvement.

scholarly journals Secondary school leadership preparation and development

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Cliffe ◽  
Kay Fuller ◽  
Pontso Moorosi
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Succession Planning ◽  
Leadership Preparation ◽  
Leadership Teams ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Leadership Management ◽  
Secondary School Leadership

In England, school leadership preparation has shifted from the National College and local authorities to teaching schools, their alliances and multi-academy trusts. Against this changing educational landscape, we investigate opportunities presented to men and women in secondary school leadership teams (SLTs). Drawing on interview data from a British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society funded investigation, we report on leadership preparation and development opportunities, aspiration to headship, headteachers’ support of ‘in house’, regional and national preparation programmes, coaching and mentoring involvement as well as access to formal and informal networks. Our analysis of SLTs as sites of potential for headship demonstrated some variability in women’s and men’s reported experiences. Accredited courses, higher degrees and workplace-based preparation provided access to leadership preparation and development opportunities; access was not transferrable from school to school. We identified a fragmented system and suggest policy and cultural changes to allow SLTs to offer inclusive and sustainable opportunities for succession planning.

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.

Principals' intentions and anticipated challenges in implementing nutrition education

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fozia Ahmed Baloch ◽  
Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed Ismail ◽  
Nazir Ahmed Jogezai
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Secondary School Principals ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Mixed Method Design

PurposeThis study aimed to know principals' intentions of implementing nutrition education (NE) and explore the challenges they may anticipate while implementing NE in their respective schools.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a sequential mixed-method design using a questionnaire and interviews to collect data. The quantitative data were collected from 378 secondary school principals, while 16 school principals were interviewed.FindingsThe study found principals with positive intentions towards implementing NE. The results also highlighted challenges related to capacity building, resources (both human and physical), policies and plans, roles, and responsibilities of the implementers (teachers and principals), support from higher authorities, community participation and teachers' unions. This study concludes that principals' intentions remain central to the implementation of NE in schools. However, it is necessary to overcome those challenges before its implementation.Research limitations/implicationsThe study sought to ascertain principals' intentions rather than their actual behaviour of NE implementation and hence remains limited in this area, which future research may consider. Furthermore, the research is limited to the principals' opinions on the anticipated challenges associated with NE implementation. The study did not solicit the opinions of other stakeholders, such as education managers, policymakers, teachers and communities.Originality/valueThe article is significant in terms of NE being implemented in schools to improve students' physical and academic wellbeing. The critical role of principals has been investigated by determining their intentions and the anticipated challenges associated with implementing NE. The authors declare the originality of the data.

Investigating principals’ data use in school: The impact of evidence-oriented attitudes and epistemological beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 925-942
Author(s):  
Ramona Buske ◽  
Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Epistemological Beliefs ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
School Leadership Practices ◽  
The Impact

In this study, we examine the relationships between principals’ evidence-oriented attitudes and their data use in school leadership practices. Based on theoretical assumptions and existing empirical research, we develop hypotheses on the correlation of evidence-oriented attitudes, epistemological beliefs and principals’ data use. We test these hypotheses based on data collected from a sample of N = 297 principals at 153 schools of different types using structural equation modelling. The findings show that the examined attitudes and epistemological beliefs have a slight, yet significant influence on principals’ data use. In particular, principals’ skepticism towards knowledge or academia influences data use. We conclude by addressing the limitations of our study and the challenges they pose for future research as well as implications for evidence-based school improvement.

scholarly journals Impact of Leadership Traits on School Improvement of Secondary School Principals in Azad Jammu and Kashmir

sjesr ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-282
Author(s):  
Maria Noureen ◽  
Dr. Nazir Haider Shah ◽  
Dr. Ziarab Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Secondary School Principals ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Leadership Traits ◽  
Major Purpose ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Descriptive Research

The major purpose of the research was to examine the effects of leadership traits of secondary school principals on school improvement. A descriptive research method was used to conduct the study. All 2270 secondary school teachers and 317 principals of division Mirpur were the population of the study. A universal sampling technique was used for the selection of samples. A questionnaire was developed which was focused on the objectives of the study. The instrument was based on the effects of leadership traits on school improvement. The instrument was validated from two experts of the field and the reliability of the questionnaire was measured through Cronbach's alpha. The reliability of the instrument was found .823 which was excellent for using the tool. The researcher used mean and linear regression tests for the analysis of data. It was found that the leadership traits of secondary school principals had a positive effect on school improvement. Therefore, it is recommended that school principals are proposed to practice different leadership traits in their school management to enhance school improvement.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document