6 ABSTRACT The diploma thesis examines the leadership of the principals from three primary schools. The thesis is an inspirational attempt to transfer the concept of the business sphere to a specific segment of management education. Jim Collins's five-year study, Good to Great (Collins 2001), unveiled crucial factors in transforming a business from "good to great". This study is the inspiration for adapting the 5th Level Leader Concept to the environment of three selected schools, focusing on their principals who managed to get their "schools" out of mediocrity. The theoretical part is divided into three basic chapters, which are dedicated to leadership, school management specifics, and to Collins's study with the focus on the 5th level leader concept. The summary of the findings from the reference literature in the theoretical part is the basis for the practical part, which examines the principals of three schools in six attributes according to Collins's study. The aim of this thesis is to assess whether the personalities of the selected principals correspond to the 5th level leader concept, which are specific, characteristic, inborn characteristics and abilities that are independent of practice, education, training, and specific knowledge. Level 5 leaders are exceptional leaders who are endowed with...

In some schools in Gauteng the School Governing Bodies operate in such a way that some principals dominate them and impose rules upon teachers and pretend as if the directives are instructions from the SGBs whereas they are not. According to Heystek (in De Groof, Heystek, Malherbe and Squelch, 1997:152), in many cases, the true focus of power and authority remains where it has always been. This simply means that sometimes conflict will arise between the school principal and the School Governing Body (SGB) because some school principals will try by all means to cling to power even if the South African Schools Act tries to decentralise the power of school governance. The thesis focuses on aspects of the relationship between the school principals and the School Governing Bodies (SGBs), their duties and responsibilities, and the effects of their relationship on the learners, teachers and parents. A proper demarcation of duties and responsibilities of the School Governing Bodies and those of school principals will help them to govern and manage the schools harmoniously and effectively. The irony is that principals must empower and train their SGBs who are supposed to be their partners but who sometimes become their competitors and the contradiction is how can one empower his/her competitor. / Thesis (PhD (Education Management and Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

In the post apartheid state, education is viewed as an important tool for rapid socio-economic development. The economic, ecological, technological and political conditions that characterized the South African crisis were assumed to be a result of inadequate education partly due to Bantu education. Accordingly the new democratic government with the view of revamping the education system in compliance with the provisions as stipulated in the Constitution and other subordinate laws endeavoured to decentralize power and authority to School Governing Bodies (governance) and administrative management of schools to principals. It must be appreciated therefore that some among those who were appointed to positions of school principals lacked the craft-literacy and craft-competency skills to devise effective and efficient administrative management processes needed to produce functional schools in a constitutional democracy. The research therefore seeks to determine the levels of craft-competency and craft-literacy of public school principals in administering case law in schools as required by the Constitution of South Africa, 1996, the Employment of Educators Act, 76 of 1998 and The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), 3 of 2000 to mention but a few legislative instruments. In principals’ exercise of power and authority during the process of administering their schools, the administrative actions must be lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair in line with the relevant empowering provisions in their disposal. The qualitative case study used was meant to interpretively test the impact of the admissions policy as amended by The Education Laws Amendment Act, 50 of 2002 in public schools. It appears that only craft-competent and craft-literate principals are better positioned to adopt correct administrative actions that ensure that the rights of learners are not infringed upon and that their interests are taken care of at all times. It also seems that , generally speaking, principals lack craft-competency and craft-literacy skills and that they receive inadequate support. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The role of a Catholic school principal is complex and includes promoting Catholic faith and spirituality throughout the school community. The additional job requirements of spiritual leadership are intentional formation for prospective and novice principals and efforts to sustain spirituality for experienced principals. This qualitative study explored the perceptions held by experienced lay elementary principals of their role as spiritual leader as well as how prepared they felt to serve in this role. Additionally, the study explored suggestions for sustaining principals in their role as spiritual leader. Participants were six lay Catholic elementary principals working in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Data were collected in the form of written reflections, interviews, and a focus group. There were three rounds of written reflections and interviews. A focus group was conducted after the three rounds of data collection. Initial analysis was conducted by identifying emerging themes for each research question. The Four Pillars of Jesuit Leadership Framework was used to discuss the findings. Findings indicated the need for formation and training programs for lay Catholic elementary school principals specifically focused on their role as spiritual leader. Additionally, principals need more supports and opportunities to renew themselves to continue serving as spiritual leaders. These findings support the need for the archdiocese to take responsibility for training and forming lay principals as this responsibility is beyond the scope of the Department of Catholic Schools.

This essay examines high school principals experienced autonomy and control during the COVID19-pandemic 2020 – 2021. During the pandemic, the Swedish government chose a different path than other countries regarding for example public restrictions and the possibility for preschools and elementary schools to remain open. High schools, on the other hand, were forced to have distance learning during parts of the COVID19-pandemic. The high school principals’ experienced autonomy and control are examined trough a theory about domains in which autonomy can be experienced. These domains are educational domain, social domain, developmental domain and administrative domain. Six high school principals were interviewed using a semi-structured interview method and the material from these interviews was coded based on the four domains’ keywords. The results from this survey show that before the pandemic the principals felt that they had high autonomy in all domains. At the same time, their perceived control was high, something they largely viewed as positive. However, during the COVID19-pandemic all but one of the principals found that their autonomy had diminished. Also, control decreased in all domains except the administrative one. In the administrative domain the control increased, both in terms of implementation and number of controllers. Parts of this control were perceived as positive but not all. The conclusion of this essay is, that when a society experiences a major crisis such as the COVID19-pandemic, the control and supervision of principals’ work increase and their experienced autonomy decreases.

The Façade of Instructional Leadership: The Patterns and Priorities of High School Principals in Guiding and Driving Effective Classroom Instructional Practices Abstract By Jerad Hyden University of the Pacific 2023 Classroom walkthroughs are the consistent and systematic observation of instruction in the classroom, and despite research indicating classroom walkthroughs drive student achievement and promote learning, high school principals fail to implement effective classroom walkthroughs on a consistent basis, resulting in teachers not receiving enough guidance and support to improve instruction for student learners. The purpose of this study was to assist and empower high school principals as instructional leaders through the creation of a systematic classroom walkthrough process focused on providing instructional support to influence student learning outcomes in the classroom positively. The following questions provided the framework for the research: What values, opinions, or beliefs prevent high school principals from implementing effective classroom walkthroughs on a consistent basis? What is the structure of an effective classroom walkthrough that can be implemented successfully by high school principals? The study centered on action research, and I conducted data collection with an identified high school principal using a codesigned classroom walkthrough process. I also conducted a detailed qualitative interview to establish a basis of understanding for the values, opinions, and perspectives of the high school principal participant tasked with supporting student achievement on a school campus. Through the codesigned action research framework McNiff (2017) outlined, the high school principal participant and the instructional leadership team followed a 12-step process to determine objectives, consider resources and timelines, articulate criteria, and conduct three weekly iterative rounds of classroom walkthroughs to collect data. The high school principal and the instructional leadership team monitored, analyzed, and interpreted the collected classroom walkthrough data to propose modifications and identify an action plan consisting of three major priorities to inform future action. The focus of the qualitative action research design was to support the revival of the instructional leader within public education by offering a well-developed theory for use of a redefined classroom walkthrough process to improve student achievement.

Submitted by JOÃO FERREIRA FILHO null (joaoffilho@ig.com.br) on 2017-03-21T04:16:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FERREIRA FILHO, João. Dissertação Final de Mestrado.pdf: 2508552 bytes, checksum: 03e82ce6beead0b7bc59ac6cd37163b0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-03-23T18:16:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ferreirafilho_j_me_prud.pdf: 2508552 bytes, checksum: 03e82ce6beead0b7bc59ac6cd37163b0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-23T18:16:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ferreirafilho_j_me_prud.pdf: 2508552 bytes, checksum: 03e82ce6beead0b7bc59ac6cd37163b0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-04 / Outra / Este trabalho de pesquisa está vinculado ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, da Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP – campus de Presidente Prudente, e inserido na linha de pesquisa 4: Políticas Públicas, Organização Escolar e Formação de Professores. Nele busco pensar a constituição de uma escola pública estadual que tem como princípio a gestão democrática. Embora já prevista em lei e reconhecida como necessária e urgente, a gestão democrática nas escolas públicas, se constitui em grande desafio porque implica em mudanças de hábitos e costumes arraigados há décadas na administração escolar e, substituí-los requer a quebra de paradigmas sociais, políticos, pessoais e, em alguns casos, legais. Para fazer esta reflexão levanto como questões centrais: Como, em minha história de vida se constitui a formação do Diretor de Escola pública estadual que sou hoje? Como me constitui como diretor democrático preocupado com a qualidade do ensino? A partir destas questões defini que o objetivo geral desta pesquisa seria o de compreender como eu, em minhas vivências histórico-culturais, fui me constituindo o Diretor de Escola pública que sou, preocupado com a gestão democrática e com a qualidade do ensino. O caminho metodológico que usei foi o da autobiografia, assim, eu, João, Diretor de Escola – autor/ator – olhei para minha história de vida construída no chão da escola e analisei se estas vivências e práticas me constituíram no diretor que sou, com tendências democráticas. A narrativa que nasce da minha prática de mais de dezoito anos como Diretor de Escola, está estruturada seguindo quatro grandes momentos de minha vida: eu, enquanto aluno que observo a escola; eu, enquanto professor que trabalho e, de certa forma faço a escola, eu, como diretor que, busquei usar de práticas democráticas, e fui me constituindo Diretor de Escola e, finalmente, eu, diretor e a comunidade escolar, onde leio e procuro organizar minha prática à luz dos comentários e avaliações elaboradas pela comunidade escolar. Entrelaçada às minhas experiências escolares está a história da nossa sociedade, a história da educação e parte da produção teoria acadêmica realizada ao longo do tempo que discute temas como Administração Escolar e Direção Escolar. Concluo mostrando que o Diretor de Escola que hoje sou se fez ao longo de minhas experiências vividas e que hoje, exercida entre as fidelidades e as infidelidades normativas busca pautar-se na gestão democrática com vista à melhoria da qualidade do ensino. / This research is linked to the Post-graduate in Education of the Faculty of Science and Technology University Estadual Paulista – Unesp – Campus of Presidente Prudente, and inserted in the search line 4: Public Policy, School Organization and Teachers Formation. In this training seek, the constitution of a public state school has a principle that is the democratic management. Although provided by law and recognized as necessary and urgent, the democratic management in schools constitutes a great challenge because it involves changing habits end ingrained habits for decades in school administration and replacing them requires heaking social paradigms, political, personal and, in some cases, legal. To make this reflection, Traise central questions: How the story oh my life contributed to the formation of the state public school principal who I am today? How I myself formed as a democratic director wovied about the quality of teaching? From these questions define the objective of this reserch that was to understand how I, in my cultural historical experiences, I was myself constituting the public school principal I’m concerned about the democratic management and the quality of teaching. The way of methodology that I used was the autobiography, so, I, John, director of school – author/actor – looked at my life story built on the school ground and analyzed whether these experiences and practices constituted the director who I am, with democratic trend. The narrative which was born of my practice over eighteen years as a principal of school, is structured following four great moments of my life. I, as a student I observe the school; I, as a director that sought to use democratic practices, end was forming me the school principal, and finally; I, principal and school community where I read and I try to organize my practice in the light of comments and evaluations developed by the school community. Interlace at my school experiences is the story of our society, the history of education and of the academic theory production performed over time discussing topics such as School Administration and Management School. I finish showing that the school principal that I am today is done throughout my experiences and today exercised between allegiances and normative search infidelities that were based on democratic management to improve the quality of teaching.

The thesis deals with the topic of managerial competences in pre-primary education. This topic has been chosen on the basis of ever-changing and evolving demands on the management of kindergartens and the need for high-quality and very comprehensive competencies of kindergarten headmasters. The aim of this thesis is to compare managerial competencies and on the basis of these acquired information to design the most appropriate model of competencies of directors of these contributory organizations. The theoretical part analyzes individual competencies in the field of economic, personal and legal management of the school. The practical part is focused on the comparison of individual areas of management in terms of their complexity and assessment of managerial competences with respect to the time burden. The work is based on professional literature, valid legal norms and results of the research conducted. KEYWORDS Management, manager, personnel management, organization, competence, pre-primary education, school principal.

Beginner principals in South Africa and internationally are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the demands set to them. Inadequate preparation and support are the causes that many beginner principals cannot meet the challenges. The beginner school principal has to cope with the diversity in schools, socio-economic differences, language and discipline problems as well as departmental issues. Too many learners in a class, over-aged learners still at school and a lack of resources are part of the challenges of the beginner school principal. This study focused on the type of support beginner principals require, their opinions regarding mentorship as supportive tool, and their views on the characteristics and qualities of an effective mentorship programme. As a result of the interviews, beginner school principals admit that an academic qualification is not enough to support them. Furthermore they also claim that the support from the Department of Basic Education is inadequate. An experienced or even a retired principal as mentor will address the demands and challenges in an on-going nature and will be more suited to support them. Therefore the main question will be: How will effective mentorship support beginner school principals? A qualitative research approach within an interpretivistic paradigm was followed during the investigation. By applying purposive sampling, ten principals from different cultural and racial background were identified as participants. Data was collected from principals by means of individual interviews and two observations per principal. The discourse analysis that followed indicated that beginner principals find areas such as management skills, legal issues, human relations, communication and departmental instructions, the most difficult areas to manage. What emerged and came to the fore was a need for a mentor to support them in specific areas. A mentorship programme, that focuses on these areas, with clear guidelines containing theoretical and practical components, was developed as a result of the research. / Thesis (MEd (Education Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Beginner principals in South Africa and internationally are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the demands set to them. Inadequate preparation and support are the causes that many beginner principals cannot meet the challenges. The beginner school principal has to cope with the diversity in schools, socio-economic differences, language and discipline problems as well as departmental issues. Too many learners in a class, over-aged learners still at school and a lack of resources are part of the challenges of the beginner school principal. This study focused on the type of support beginner principals require, their opinions regarding mentorship as supportive tool, and their views on the characteristics and qualities of an effective mentorship programme. As a result of the interviews, beginner school principals admit that an academic qualification is not enough to support them. Furthermore they also claim that the support from the Department of Basic Education is inadequate. An experienced or even a retired principal as mentor will address the demands and challenges in an on-going nature and will be more suited to support them. Therefore the main question will be: How will effective mentorship support beginner school principals? A qualitative research approach within an interpretivistic paradigm was followed during the investigation. By applying purposive sampling, ten principals from different cultural and racial background were identified as participants. Data was collected from principals by means of individual interviews and two observations per principal. The discourse analysis that followed indicated that beginner principals find areas such as management skills, legal issues, human relations, communication and departmental instructions, the most difficult areas to manage. What emerged and came to the fore was a need for a mentor to support them in specific areas. A mentorship programme, that focuses on these areas, with clear guidelines containing theoretical and practical components, was developed as a result of the research. / Thesis (MEd (Education Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.