Effectively Dealing with Bullying in Elite Schools: Principals' Perceptions and Practices

The purpose of this study was to explore principals' perceptions and practices to deal with students who show disruptive and aggressive behavior in schools by using qualitative research methods. The conceptual framework of the study was based on six different approaches to effectively deal with bullying in educational institutions. A basic qualitative research design was used, and twelve elite school principals were selected through the purposive sampling technique. The framework analysis of the interview data revealed that principals' understanding of what could be done to address bullying was not limited. They were well acquainted with the alternatives or options to deal with a problematic situation, and they creatively mixed different approaches according to their own perceptions and the nature of the problem. However, most of the participants dealt with students while strengthening their confidence and making them independent through counselling techniques.

Principals’ perceptions of school autonomy and educational leadership

This paper examines principals’ perceptions of school autonomy and leadership as part of a 3-year research project looking at the implications of school autonomy on social justice across four states of Australia (Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland). Drawing on interviews with principals and representatives from principal stakeholder organisations in these four state jurisdictions, the paper identifies a number of key issues for school principals and the implications for understandings and practices of educational leadership. These include varied understandings of autonomy, practices of leadership and implications for health, workload and well-being. The paper argues that while principals have mixed perceptions of school autonomy policies, there has been a narrowing of leadership experiences by principals in the form of managerialism and compliance. Furthermore, principals continue to experience high levels of workload, and some principals, depending on career stage and experience level, feel better able to work within and sometimes against these policies in their schools and communities. These practices are sometimes felt to be despite the system and not due to school autonomy policies themselves. The implication of these findings is that principals are inequitably able to respond to and implement school autonomy policies, an issue often glossed over in educational leadership research.

In the face of sociopolitical and cultural challenges: Educational leaders’ strategic thinking skills

This article discusses the implications of sociopolitical and cultural challenges and complexity on educational leaders’ use of strategic thinking skills in divided societies, using the case of Israel, a deeply divided society with a hegemonic Jewish ethno-national state and Bedouins – a subculture of the minority Arabs. In the suggested model, we propose that, due to sociopolitical and cultural challenges, Bedouin school principals use ‘systems thinking’ skills as a holistic approach to coping with their complex environment. Jewish principals use the additional strategic skills of reflection and reframing. We provide the results of a preliminary empirical study, with 103 Bedouin and 67 Jewish principals, supporting our propositions. This article and its propositions open avenues for research into principals’ perceptions in deeply divided contexts and contribute to cognitive characteristics of leadership by explaining the implications of specific contexts for strategic thinking.

Identifying School Principal Candidates’ Perception on Teacher’s Appointment as School Principal

In order to establish a successful school, prospective school principals' perceptions are crucial. Perception has an effect on school quality because it impacts reaction and decision-making. The aim of this study was to understand prospective school principals' perceptions of the Ministry of Education and Culture Regulation Number 6 of 2018 concerning the Appointment of Teachers as School Principals, which was conducted using a quantitative approach through a survey of 77 prospective school principals from Central and East Java Provinces. The findings revealed that: the age of the prospective school principal does not have a significant effect on policy perceptions; the length of work as a prospective school principal teacher has no significant effect on policy perceptions; there is a significant difference between the principal candidates for primary school, junior high school and senior high school/vocational high school in perceiving policies; there is no significant difference between male and female principal candidates in their perception of the policy; there is no significant difference between prospective school principals based on tank (from III b to IV b) in perceiving policies; there is a significant difference between prospective school principals with bachelor's and master's degrees in perceiving policies; there is no significant difference between prospective school principals who have not and have read Ministry of Education and Culture Regulation No. 6 of 2018 in perceiving the policy; and that there is no significant difference between prospective school principals who have not and have specifically reviewed Ministry of Education and Culture Regulation No. 6 of 2018 in perceiving the policy.