This study investigates the role that principals play in leading and managing teaching and learning through the alternative approach of ‘distributed leadership’ in order to promote quality education. As a qualitative case study of two ‘township’ Gauteng primary schools, data was collected by means of questionnaires and interview schedules. Perceptions of principals, heads of departments (HODs) and teachers on ‘distributed leadership’ were examined, as well as how the concept was applied in the day-to-day running of the school. It was found that the principals interviewed, despite their extensive teaching and managing experience, were not fully aware of the implications of principalship within the new dispensation, vaguely referring to their roles as leaders and managers without specifying how and what they were leading and managing in their respective schools. Recommendations are that distributed leadership strategies could be found in both schools to optimise the leadership and management of teaching and learning, and that time should be allowed for HODs and principals to implement instructional leadership and management.

This scrapbook of biographical sketches serves as an exhibition of portraits in the elementary school principalship through experiencing a gallery of leadership interviews. Perspectives have been framed in compositions that represent the practical realist, the idealist, and at times even a surrealistic perspective of the elementary principal. Critical incidents were shared from individual participants representing catalysts for momentous change; themes of personal realizations, barriers to effectiveness, and challenges in the career of an administrator also contributed as dominant elements of the final work. A qualitative research method employing interviews explored the variation of colorful experiences that 23 elementary administrators encountered over the tenure of their careers. Each interview file was imported into the NUD*IST program. These files were then systematically coded and analyzed. The thick and rich descriptions provided opportunities for professionals to identify with the comments from practitioners and therefore established the applicability of the study. During a time when the entire nation is engaged in adjusting to the impact of a single catastrophic event, it is appropriate to stop and address the little explored regions of the routines that daily exert constraints on time, and shape consciously or unconsciously how principals are affected as a result of their career choice of administration. This study might be of interest to institutions that prepare instructional leaders for elementary school principalship. It could also assist superintendents and supervisors in public education by making them aware of what they might contribute to the success of their students by establishing an ideal relationship with their principals combining latitude, trust, and support. Finally, it could serve to validate or confront practitioners as they resolve issues of their own practice though vicariously experiencing the events and situations shared by their colleagues and peers.

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Employment figures and population demographics indicate that Baby Boomers (1946-1964) hold a small and shrinking share of school principalships. The oldest Baby Boomer principals began to retire during the middle of the 1990s, and their void created an opportunity for younger Baby Boomers and members of Generation X (1965-1981) to replace them. The youngest Baby Boomer principals are beginning to retire, and Millennial Generation (1982-2000) administrators are stepping up to fill the ranks. Millennial Generation educators have been in the field long enough to develop the requisite classroom teaching experience, graduate school master's level education, and training needed to obtain administrative positions. Principals develop their leadership skills through the assistant principal experience, and because Millennials are a relatively new addition to the ranks of assistant principals, little is known about their perceptions' of the challenges and rewards of the principalship. Generational differences between Generation Xers and Baby Boomers have been investigated by other researchers, but this study was unique because it directly compared Generation X and Millennial Generation assistant principals. The study explored Generation X and Millennial Generation assistant principals' perceptions of the challenges and rewards of the principalship. This qualitative study involved 12 assistant principal participants, and the analysis of the coded interview transcript data produced major coded themes with valuable implications regarding the participants' motivations, career ambitions, professional development needs, and their perceptions' of the principalship. This study indicated that Generation X and Millennial Generation assistant principals have distinct similarities and differences, and school division superintendents who understand the generational differences may make more informed leadership and personnel decisions about their future principals. The findings and implications were intended to assist superintendents and personnel/human resource directors in their efforts to recruit, select, support, and ultimately promote Generation X and Millennial Generation assistant principals to the principalship. The findings of this study suggested opportunities for researchers to continue the investigation of the topic. / Ed. D.

The attractiveness of the principalship is a variable that may help explain why candidates do and do not pursue principal positions. This study sought to determine if a discrepancy exists between what potential principal candidates desire and what they believe to be true about the attributes of the job of principal, and if that discrepancy can predict the attractiveness of the principalship to prospective candidates. A researcher-developed instrument was administered to teachers who are currently enrolled in four principal preparation programs in Virginia. Survey items were related to the domains that explain the attractiveness of the principalship. An overall attractiveness score was measured using a Thurstone Scale of Equal Appearing Intervals. A demographic section was included to collect background information. Overall, respondents rated the principalship as somewhat attractive. The regression found that there were five predictors of the attractiveness of the principalship. School location and number of years in education, both demographic factors, were the most significant predictors. Discrepancies in what candidates desired and believed to be provided regarding recognition of achievement, the ability to form relationships, and opportunities for professional growth followed as significant predictors of job attractiveness. / Ed. D.

The core purpose of school leadership is to provide leadership and management in all areas of the school to enable the creation and support of conditions under which high quality teaching and learning can take place and which can promote the highest possible standards of learner achievement. This study aimed to examine the roles of the school principals in monitoring teaching and learning in inner-city and township secondary schools in the Gauteng province. The study used a case study research design in which one inner-city and township secondary schools were purposely selected as cases for the study. The school principals, deputy school principals, heads of departments and educators were observed over a period of fourteen days in each school after which were interviewed. Both the observation and interview protocols were piloted. All interviews were tape recorded and confidentiality was assured. Interviews were transcribed and analysed through content analysis (Strauss1987).Emerging themes were used to create a comparative data set across the stakeholders’ content analysis. The analyses were then triangulated as a means of establishing the trustworthiness of the accounts. Observations and questions focussed upon the roles of the school principal in monitoring teaching and learning with reference to the school curriculum, the tools school principals use in monitoring teaching and learning and how school principals monitor teaching and learning in such schooling contexts. They indicate that the role of school principals as instructional leaders in monitoring teaching and learning is supervision which involves leadership roles in educator professional development, curriculum supervision, collegiality, care and response. They not only indicate the complex contextual roles of school principals in monitoring teaching and learning in the challenging circumstances in the inner-city and township secondary schools, but the mechanisms school principals use to monitor teaching and learning in such contexts. School principals minimally participate in the monitoring of teaching and learning and rely on feedback from classroom observations and learner data collected by the deputy school principals’, heads of departments/ subject heads and class educators to monitor learner performances in the schools.

The purpose of this research study was to understand better and reconstruct the concept of values-led principalship. In recent times, in response to constant change and uncertainty, there has been a consistent call for a new form of principalship: values-led principalship. Principals are now being urged to allow values to shape their principalship behaviour. In short, values-led behaviour is said to afford the principal the means of providing appropriate school leadership in unpredictable, and even ambiguous, times. However, the assertion that values can play a positive role in a principal’s performance needs to be substantiated. Despite their innate appeal, the nature and function of values in human endeavours remains somewhat unclear. This research study seeks to redress this lack of understanding by investigating how knowing personal values might help the principal to be led by these values and, thereby, be able to act more effectively as an educational leader. To this end, this research study is situated within the research paradigm of pragmatic constructivism and informed by the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism. The orchestrating perspective was case study with the boundaries of the case defined in terms of the system of secondary schools operating under the auspices of the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane. This case study included an open-ended questionnaire, two closed questionnaires, and a series of three semi-structured interviews with five principals. This research study began with a comprehensive review of literature from psychology, ethics and values theory to establish the relationship between values and behaviour. This review highlighted five important insights in respect to personal values. First, personal values are formed during the general experiences of life. Second, these personal values influence behaviour. Third, personal values are subjective inner-world phenomena that are more likely to be tacit and subliminal influences upon one’s behaviour. Fourth, having knowledge of one’s own personal values is not a natural or a common occurrence and the gaining of this particular form of self-knowledge is difficult and requires effort and appropriate processes. Finally, the appropriate process for gaining self-knowledge of one’s personal values is through self-reflection and introspection. Based on these insights, the researcher identified four research questions: How knowledgeable are the principals of their own personal values? How have the personal values of the principals been formed? Can a principal gain increased self-knowledge of his or her personal values and the relationship of these personal values to his or her educational leadership behaviour? Does an increased level of self-knowledge of personal values bring about values-led principalship? In general, the findings of this research study suggest that values-led principalship is a simplistic conceptualisation that does not reflect the complex relationships between the inner Self and behaviour. The concept of values-led principalship assumes self-knowledge of personal values and the deliberate application of this knowledge to influence personal behaviour. By not considering the formation of personal values and the inner antecedents of personal values within the Self, any self-knowledge of one’s personal values remains notional. Notional self-knowledge maintains the tacit, subliminal influence of personal values on behaviour. Thus, personal values are directing or driving behaviour resulting in values driven rather than values-led principalship. From an instrumental perspective, this finding raises a number of issues in respect to the professional development of principals. As a consequence, the following propositions are advanced: The professional development of principals should prepare them to incorporate regular self-reflective and introspective practices; The professional development of principals should challenge them to develop a rich knowledge of their inner Self; The professional development of principals should assist them to appreciate how their whole life experience is woven into their leadership behaviour; and Contemporary principals require formal professional mentoring programmes to assist them to more truly clarify and understand the antecedents of their leadership behaviours.

ABSTRACT PREPARATION OF THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL FOR THE ROLE OF THE PRINCIPAL: AN EXAMINATION OF REAL TASKS AS COMPARED TO THE PERCEIVED IDEAL TASKS by April Chastang Madden Principals most commonly ascend from the pool of those who are assistant principals, but it is unclear whether assistant principals are prepared to assume such a pivotal leadership role. This study seeks to compare the extent of on the job training provided to the assistant principals by examining ideal as compared to actual task performance in six competency areas associated with the job of principal. The research questions were as follows: 1. What are the perceived ideal professional tasks assistant principals should perform prior to becoming a principal? 2. Which tasks are performed by assistant principals? 3. Do these performed tasks prepare assistant principals for principalships? Utilizing Survey Monkey, a survey was e-mailed to principals with 1-3 years of experience in the State of Georgia. Descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlations, and t-tests were used for data analysis. As for research question 1, this study revealed that the tasks that ranked the highest among the study participants regarding perceived ideal tasks that assistant principals should perform prior to becoming principal were the competencies falling under the categories of Instructional Leader, Leadership in Staff Personnel, and Management of Schools. For question 2, Pearson Correlation showed that there were no significant correlations for ideal and actual tasks, except in the area of Instructional Leader. Regarding research question 3, The Pearson Correlation along with t-tests of subscales showed that there are significant differences between the ideal and actual tasks performed by assistant principal. The Pearson Correlation highlighted that the only significant correlation between ideal and actual competency tasks was found in the area of Instructional Leader. In conclusion, this study indicated that assistant principals are not adequately prepared to transition to the role of principal.

In an era in which school principals' jobs are much more complex and demanding than they were a few decades ago, the increasing challenges of the position have affected principal recruitment and selection efforts by school districts nationwide. Moreover, the rapidly increasing rate of principal retirements has exacerbated the problem of a shortage of qualified candidates for principal positions. As a result, it is important to explore current principals' perspectives on how best to attract and retain qualified prospective applicants during the hiring process. In this case study, 16 principals and associate principals from both public and independent schools in three states described their experiences, their reasons for applying for a principalship, their perspectives on the application process. They also gave advice and recommendations for both administrators of hiring processes and for future applicants. One-on-one qualitative interviews with a pre-established interview protocol were conducted as the sole data collection method. Three primary research questions were investigated: How do school principals perceive the existing principal recruitment processes? How do school principals perceive the processes used by the school districts to select them? To what extent do job descriptions, as currently written, systematically cover the realities of the duties of incumbent principals? From analysis of the interviews, the researcher chose to focus on four main topics that emerged from principals' perspectives on the hiring process: (a) the decision to pursue a principalship and searching for openings, (b) going through the process, (c) personal reactions to the process, and (d) recommendations. These topics were compared and contrasted with relevant research reported in the literature to generate the following four major results of the present study. First, standardized and structured interviews not only helped decision making but also won applicants' trust. Second, hiring processes were generally similar to what previous research suggested. Third, deficiencies in hiring processes that were first identified a number of years ago continue to persist. Finally, whether applicant pools are shrinking appeared to be an open question. These findings contribute to the very limited research that has thus far examined principal hiring practices from the perspectives of school principals, and have allowed suggestions to be made for possible areas of improvement in principal hiring processes.

This study investigates and compares the skills, knowledge, and activities engaged in as a principal and an assistant principal and their relationship to the preparation of an aspiring middle school principal. Since little information exists, it is possible that no similar investigations have been previously completed. This study also compares the perceptions of principals with the expectations of school districts as to the required skills, knowledge, and activities of principals and assistant principals as delineated in their job descriptions. This study includes a survey of 104 middle school principals who were systematically selected from 1,228 active, public, non-charter, junior high/intermediate/middle schools in California. Surveys were mailed during the last week in October, 2006 and were postmarked for return between October 31 and December 20, 2006. A field test among ten selected principals was completed to establish the validity of the instrument, improve questions, format, and/or rating scales. Positivistic Educational Administration Theory provides the conceptual framework that informs this quantitative study. The study is cross-sectional, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire. Responses were gathered and averaged by category. Since the survey includes Likert scales, factor analysis was used as the statistical procedure to validate the questionnaire. The data provided by this study should be of interest to aspiring administrators, middle school principals and assistant principals, school district administrators, higher education professors of educational administration and other administrator preparation programs.