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The Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education provides non-partisan education research and information to policy-makers, education partners and the public. Our purpose is to encourage higher performance throughout Canada's public education system.
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Principal Portraits
Helen Raham, Spring 2003
A brief glimpse of the state of the principalship in three systems is provided here.
Victoria, Australia
Under the reforms of 1993, Victoria's Schools of the Future became expected to engage in annual goal-setting and planning processes, develop their own programs to meet student needs, and be accountable for the achievement of their students through state assessment programs, satisfaction surveys, and annual school reports. The integrating mechanism for this was the school charter, outlining school priorities over a three-year period.
The devolution of up to 90% of system resources to the school level greatly expanded the principal's role. The principal has full authority for staffing and budget decisions and is responsible for the consultative development of the school's charter and a goal-oriented culture. The approach requires increased attention to the effective implementation of new pedagogy, professional development, school organization and climate, and community links.
The Victoria Principals Association reports a mean workload of 59 hours per week and a decline in job satisfaction rates since 1993. Despite this, principals evidence overwhelming preference for their new role in self-managed schools, with 73% indicating they prefer being a principal since the reforms. Positive impacts were associated with staffing, resourcing, increased accountability, and improved school direction. Lack of government support, rate of change, remuneration levels, and decreased school control of curriculum were negatively perceived. The school charter is one of the highest sources of satisfaction.
The typical principal is male, between the ages of 50 and 54. There is a growing exodus of senior leadership due to the aging profile, and consistent evidence of difficulty attracting a rich pool of candidates for the job. Listed among the contributing factors are negative perceptions of the workload, lack of role clarity, lack of incentives and commensurate rewards, and perceptions that the role is increasing managerial.
Government initiatives to nurture quality leadership have included large-scale training efforts to supplement established programs. A five-day residential program enrolled more than 1,000 principals in strategic leadership and management training, self-development, performance management and quality assurance, and team-building. The Hay/McBer Leadership Development Program (LDP), adapted from corporate training, was aimed at experienced principals. Other leadership programs have focused on early literacy, the middle years, and various whole school designs.
A Performance Management System based on specific competencies was introduced in 1995. Novice administrators are inducted into a professional development program, followed by accreditation conducted by an accreditation centre. Principals are appointed on 5-year performance-based contracts, and the completion of self-assessment against agreed outcomes, peer review, and a supervisory report can result in a 15% pay bonus.
United Kingdom
Since 1988, the British government has introduced a national curriculum, national testing, a new school inspection system, teacher appraisal, per-pupil funding, open enrollment, league tables, and school governing bodies. Other new initiatives include a national literacy and numeracy program, special measures for failing schools, and incentive pay for teachers. These comprehensive reforms have significantly changed the role of the headteacher.
Headteachers generally enjoy greater autonomy and authority than their North American counterparts. Newer dimensions of their practice include competitive tendering for maintenance services; the hiring, firing, promotion and dismissal of staff; the selection and recruitment, of pupils; bidding for resources from external funding agencies; the installation and operation of data systems to measure and report on performance; and contracting training and consultancy to support staff development (Caldwell, 2002). Employed by, advising, and reporting to the school's governing body, heads must give unrelenting attention to the quality of teaching and learning in their school, regardless of challenging contexts.
The expectations of the contemporary principal are reflected in the new National Standards for Headteachers (2000). A National Professional Qualification for Headship program is linked to these standards of practice, and all headship appointments after September 2004 will require certification under this three-stage process. A National College for School Leadership established in 2001 was given full responsibility for headship training, launching a set of programs to support all stages of the head's career. A Framework for Inspection introduced by the government inspection agency (OFSTED) in 2000 was designed to ensure effective evaluation of school leadership and management and provide support for governing bodies in evaluating and working with their heads.
As in other jurisdictions, the sustainability of school leadership is an urgent issue. The majority of headteachers (65%) are in the 46-55 age bracket, with 40% considering retirement. The chief de-motivators reported are the bureaucracy and excessive paper work, and the 'constant change' in the system. (Earley, 2002).
New Zealand
In 1989 the government introduced sweeping educational reforms. Local and regional education boards were abolished, and each school's elected Board of Trustees was empowered to make the operational, professional, and financial decisions to meet the needs of their students within the guidelines of the national curriculum and standards.
The NZ principal was 'at the centre of the web' as schools assumed the burden of self-management. As professional leader, the principal has executive, instructional, and reporting functions. The Principals' Implementation Task Force (1990) delineated 7 aspects of the role: management, administrative leadership, educational leadership, staffing appointments, teacher appraisal, staff development and adherence to the school's Charter.
While the increased autonomy was attractive to many principals who welcomed the authority, for example, to hire teachers suited to the needs of the school, the expanded responsibilities exacted a price. Among Wylie's findings (1997) as reported by principals were:
* Educational leadership is the most important part of the principal's role. It now involves less direct teaching or work with teachers, and more planning, facilitation, motivation and resource provision. It also includes guidance for the board of trustees.
* Administrative work has increased substantially, competing with educational leadership for priority, and taking more of a principal's time. Many schools are not adequately funded to allow the principal to delegate this work.
* Management of enrolment numbers, reputation, and buildings and grounds is more central to principals' work and concerns now than before decentralization.
* Since 1989, workloads have increased by an average of 10 hours a week to 59 hours a week. The continued intensive workload is taking its toll on principals' energy, and may be making the position less attractive to teachers.
* Principals are able to give less time now to their own professional development. There is increasing interest in some external support system for principals.
Wylie discerned "a growing tendency for principals to act as school managers" and concludes that self-governance works, in part, because of high workloads taken on by principals. While affording principals new sources of satisfaction, the administrative and reporting work that accompany decentralization are significant drawbacks. A survey commissioned by the elementary teachers' union (Ward, 1999), found only 9% of assistant principals apparently want the job.The most recent national survey (Wylie, 2000) reveals improving principal morale.
The principal's job description and responsibilities are jointly developed in a contract between the board and principal. Each school is required to have policies and procedures for annual performance appraisals of the principal based on the Professional Standards for Principal Competencies (1995) and linked to the school's strategic plan and review cycle. Until recently, teaching credentials were the only requirement for principals, and no comprehensive training program existed. As of April 2002, the University of Auckland Principal Centre has a contract to deliver training to all new principals.
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