An open systems model of successful school leadership

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.

Unconscious Bias Towards African American Women in the Education Workforce

The number of African American women who become school principals is low per national and local statistics. An unconscious bias towards African American women may have contributed to these low statistics. The process of applying for a school principal's position has not been consistent for over a century. It seems that for job openings in which the dominant culture is not African American, the likelihood of being the school principal is doubtful. Unveiling and examining these biases may lead to determining how to include more African American women in educational administration. This chapter will describe 10 African American women who encountered unconscious bias as they sought and procured public-school principalship.

School leadership writ small: Meetings and school principal practice

This paper systematically reviews literature on meetings of the principal or principal meetings from 1970 to 2021. Even though meetings comprise the largest percentage of principal time, they have been overlooked as a topic of research. The purpose of this review is to study notations of meetings in academic literature and develop analytical insights on school leadership practice. The systematic literature search used keyword search, snowballing, and personal network references to yield 62 academic publications. The results of the review indicate that educational literature provides limited and often summative notations of principal meetings. Importantly, the limited notations are still able to illuminate and nuance three dimensions of school principalship – bridging, bending, and balancing. Further, three possible conceptualizations of principal meetings as waste of time, familiar events, and intervention tools provide analytical insights into meetings as a microcosm of school principal practice. Implications for theory, practice, and further research are provided.

Values, Culture and Context

This chapter presents our conception of culture for school development, including broader cultural aims and humanistic values of education for an increasingly multicultural society reflected in the micro-organizational culture of schools and the sub-culture of the leadership team. Specifically, drawing on the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) research, related studies, and education theory, we defined culture as the values, beliefs and norms of behavior embedded within the individual, the leadership team, the organization, and the larger community. The balance of the chapter presents application of theory and practice in the Arizona project (AZiLDR) as well as lessons learned. The chapter illustrates the critical importance of culture to readiness for school development. Often, during the project, teams were at different stages of readiness, resulting in the need to spend time building and solidifying the culture. In schools with less readiness, we found the diffusion process to progress much more slowly. We saw these schools existing in the Zone of Uncertainty much longer. We describe our process to develop school culture through leadership teams, using the AZiLDR delivery system of institutes, regional meetings and on-site coaching. Example case studies and activities are provided.

A New Approach to School Development

In this chapter, we further explore and contextualize school development amidst the tensions between contemporary policies and the educational needs of students. We conceptualize school development as a process that mediates among tensions that result in a Zone of Uncertainty. We then describe our application of school development in the Arizona Initiative for Leadership Development and Research (AZiLDR). Content was initially drawn from findings from the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) exploring leadership in high-needs, culturally diverse schools and related leadership studies. Our approach differs from other school development models in at least four ways. First, the approach is grounded in education theory as explicated by John Dewey and others. Closely related, our approach attempts to balance evidence-based values with humanistic values. Third, our approach is grounded in our empirical research and related studies of leadership in culturally diverse schools and communities. Fourth, our approach is process oriented and contextually sensitive for schools as they are situated in the larger community and serving culturally diverse populations. Finally, we develop leadership through a collaborative approach in that we work with school teams as a unit.

What we know about successful principals in Mexico

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.

Successful school leadership for social justice in Spain

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.

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

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.

ELEMENTS IN SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP: THE CHANGING ROLE OF PEDAGOGY AND THE GROWING RECOGNITION OF EMOTIONAL LITERACY

This paper examines the changing role of pedagogy and the growing recognition of emotional literacy as an element in school principalship, as perceived by school principals. A model of the “principal’s toolkit” based on three “pillars” of leadership, management, and pedagogy was used, but with the addition of a fourth pillar, emotional literacy. Here we report on a survey of 63 principals and educational executives that was designed to examine principals’ views regarding which tools are required for school principalship, the way they prioritize those tools, and the weight accorded to each. The survey, which took place from September 2009 to July 2010, was conducted through a questionnaire and interviews. Quantitative processing of the questionnaire results was performed, as was content analysis of the open questions and the interviews. The findings clearly define and rate the components of the essential toolkit for principalship as perceived by the principals. Leadership and emotional literacy were rated highest and pedagogy and management lower, which is at odds with the prevailing attempt by the Israeli Ministry of Education to establish pedagogical leadership as the central element in principalship. This paper will explore and explain the phenomenon of change in principalship elements that entails the changing role of pedagogy and the increasing importance of emotional literacy as an element in school principalship.