‘I wasn’t even able to speak’: understanding parent engagement and school leaders’ work in a culture of heightened consumerism

This study explored the determinants of female teachers’ progress to leadership in government-aided primary schools in Ntungamo District. Specifically, the study explored how personality characteristics, school factors and social factors determined female teachers’ progress to leadership in government-aided primary schools. This cross-sectional study used a sample of 210 respondents and data were collected using a questionnaire survey. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis that included frequencies, percentages and means, and inferential analyses that were correlation and regression. Descriptive results revealed that the level of female teachers’ progress to leadership was good, had strong personality characteristics and experienced favourable school and social factors. Regression results revealed that organisational factors and social were positive significant determinants of female teachers’ progress to leadership while personality characteristics were negative and insignificant determinants. Therefore, the conclusions reached were that personality characteristics were not the most probable factors that determined female progress to leadership in primary schools, school factors were essential for female teachers’ progress to leadership in primary schools, and social factors were imperative for female teachers’ progress to leadership in primary schools. It was thus recommended that bodies charged with promoting of female teachers such District Education Service Commissions and schools leadership should assess personality characteristics of women when promoting them to leadership, those charged with management of schools such as District Education Officers, Inspectors of Schools, Schools Management Committees and head teachers should ensure that school factors promote female teachers progress to leadership, and leadership of schools from national to local level and community members should ensure that social factors in place promote female teachers progress to leadership.

Effective Schools: A Review

Teaching is a critical consideration in investigations of primary school leadership and not just as an outcome variable. Factoring in instruction as an explanatory variable in scholarship on school leadership involves moving away from views of teaching as a monolithic or unitary practice. When it comes to leadership in primary schools, the subject matters. More sophisticated constructions of teaching are necessary that take into account the subject matter (e.g. mathematics or literacy) and the dimension of teaching (e.g. content and teaching strategies). This paper explores how the practice of leadership in primary schools is structured differently depending on the school subject.

This article discusses the symbiotic relationship between emotion and rationality in leadership in primary schools. It uses the literature of both emotion and leadership to ask whether school leadership has learnt some of the lessons from the recent interest in emotion and leadership. Drawing on recent research into the lives of primary school headteachers, it asks how far our knowledge of affective leadership has informed future research, and what it means for the practice of leadership in primary schools.

The paper focuses on the need to promote the professional well-being of primary school teachers. The study aims to analyse and compare the views of primary school teachers and school leaders on the professional well-being of primary school teachers. The study involved 72 (n = 72) primary school teachers and 20 (n = 20) school leaders. The study addressed two research questions: RQ1: What is the professional well-being of primary school teachers from the point of view of school leaders and teachers themselves? RQ2: Is there a difference between the views of the primary school teachers and the school leaders regarding professional well-being? For data collection, two structured questionnaires were planned and designed to gather information about the following study scales: (1) teaching duties, (2) cooperation with colleagues, (3) professional development, and (4) methodical work. The SPSS 22 was used for processing and analysing the quantitative data. The study revealed that school leaders’ views on the professional well-being of primary school teachers are generally more unfavourable than teachers’ views. Primary teachers and school leaders agree that teachers’ methodical work is well valued and feedback provided to primary school teachers is growth-oriented. The study found a statistically significant difference in the views of primary school teachers and school leaders on teaching duties and cooperation with colleagues. For these two scales, the primary school teachers are more optimistic than the school leaders. The study concluded that despite the statistically significant differences in the views on two out of the four scales, there was generally no statistically significant difference in the views of primary school teachers and school leaders on the professional well-being of primary school teachers. The study findings are essential in promoting the professional well-being of primary school teachers.

Understanding what different stakeholders mean by “parental engagement” is vital as school leaders and policy makers increasingly turn to parental engagement to improve pupils’ outcomes. Yet, to-date, there has been little examination of whether parents’, teachers’, and school leaders’ conceptions of parental engagement match those used in research and policy. This case study used online questionnaires to explore the conceptions of parental engagement held by 103 parents and 40 members of staff at one large English primary school. The results showed that only a quarter of school staff conceptualized parental engagement in relation to learning at home and that school leaders appeared to overestimate the impact of school-based activities. This is at odds with previous research suggesting that it is parental engagement with learning in the home – rather than parents’ involvement with school - that is associated with pupil attainment. This suggests that there might be a striking mismatch in the way that parental engagement is conceptualized by researchers advocating for its efficacy, and by school staff devising and implementing parental engagement initiatives. It is vital to raise awareness of this possibility amongst practitioners, researchers, and policy makers because any such mismatch could result in the misdirection of time and resources and the undermining of parental engagement’s potential as a powerful tool for raising attainment and closing achievement gaps.

Schooling has become increasingly complex in purpose and structure and therefore requires appropriate forms of leadership to address this challenge. One current leadership approach that is receiving national and global attention is distributive leadership. A qualitative approach was employed to investigate teachers’ experiences and perceptions of the practice of distributive leadership in public primary schools in Soweto. Soweto is a township in Johannesburg, South Africa, which comprises predominantly black African residents. The findings revealed that leadership in Soweto primary schools is rooted in classical leadership practices and that any potential for the practice of distributive leadership is hindered by autocratic styles of leadership, hierarchical structures, and non-participative decision-making. Keywords: Activity Theory, collective leadership, decision-making, distributive leadership, hierarchy, leadership styles, power, principals, school climate, teacher leadership

This study investigates the lived experiences of school leaders as they navigate the complex demands of parent engagement within the increasing accountability pressures of the neoliberal education landscape. Drawing on interviews with 12 primary school leaders across Queensland, Australia, the research explores the emotional and professional toll of managing parent expectations. Iterative data analysis applying Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics revealed three key themes: (1) the multifaceted leadership challenges of balancing expectations and resources; (2) significant impacts on leaders’ well-being, including emotional exhaustion and moral distress; and (3) the absence of formal training and systemic support for school leaders in managing parent interactions.Participants described profound emotional and moral injury from the relentless demands of parent engagement, with one school leader likening it to a ‘death by a thousand cuts’. Findings underscore the urgent need for targeted professional development, clear protocols, dedicated resources, and a cultural shift towards empathy and shared responsibility in parent-school relationships. This study contributes to the growing body of research on school leaders’ experiences with parent engagement in the context of neoliberal reform mandates. While existing research explores leadership practices under neoliberal conditions, this study uniquely addresses the relational and ethical complexities of parent engagement, highlighting its critical impact on school leaders’ sustainability and the transformative potential of school-family partnerships.

This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale to reveal teachers’ perceptions on distributed leadership in primary schools. For that reason, a survey with 31 items was administered to 157 teachers who were working for state primary schools in Adiyaman city centre. For validity studies, content analysis, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were carried out, and also item-total correlations were estimated. For reliability studies, Cronbach Alpha and test-retest correlation coefficients were estimated using the relevant software.Results showed that, Distributed Leadership Scale – DLS, has a single factor structure including 10 items. The CronbachAlpha and test-retest coefficients of the scale estimated as “.92” and “.82”, respectively. Considering the results obtained from the validity and realiability studies, it can be asserted that Distributed Leadership Scale can be used to measure teachers’ views on distributed leadership practices in primary schools.

This article looks at the relationship between school leadership theorising, practice and policy making in England. The article is organised into four sections. In section one a brief review of contemporary theorising is presented which focuses on transformational theories since these represent the favoured perspective on school leadership among academic writers. The next section presents an overview of recent and current Government policies for school leadership and improvement and the underlying assumptions of the policy makers are identified. In the third section recent research into the views of primary heads about headship and school improvement are examined, their role perspectives analysed and parallels between the role expectations of policy makers and practitioners highlighted. The fourth section draws together the previous three sections, observing that although primary headship is being transformed, it is not becoming transformational and argues that the practice of headship is being shaped more by policy makers than by theorists. The article concludes that the power of policy makers influence upon practitioners' educational leadership thinking needs greater acknowledgement and attention.

Successful school leadership is an issue currently being debated up and down Caribbean territories. Key issues in the ongoing debate include: students’ outcomes and participation in the regional Caribbean Secondary Examinations (CSEC); teacher recruitment and retention; teacher training and continuing professional development (upgrading); and parental involvement. These issues point to leadership at various levels, whether in its exercise or in its influence, and are examined within and across national and regional education systems. Particular attention is given to debates around improving outcomes for students, teacher development and the role of the principal in leading school improvement. A source of debate about practice of school leadership in the Caribbean surrounds the issue of gender. Where are men in teaching? Where are men in leadership positions and positions of responsibility? Unlike in some countries where, for example, men tend to hold more leadership positions than women, especially at the secondary phase of education, in the Caribbean this is not the case: there are more female teachers at every level and more female teachers occupy leadership positions at every level. Within this book, gendered leadership as practised and enacted in the Caribbean is examined from religious, social, historical and political positions, pointing to a clear political dichotomy. There is no unitary definition of what can count as school leadership in the Caribbean, despite clear similarities of practices and approaches. What this volume argues, however, is that within the Caribbean region there are many similarities of experience for the practice and exercise of school leadership which draw on a common framework of teacher training, a common language and a common socio-political history that existed well before the formation of CARICOM through British colonisation. This book does not dwell on the period of British colonisation but discusses the extent to which this period in Caribbean history has influenced the practice of school leadership today, most notably in areas such as curricular and teacher training models. Education in emergency situations, such teaching and learning in severe weather conditions such as hurricanes, is also spotlighted. As a whole, the themes in this edited volume proffer an evidence-based approach to contemporary issues in school leadership in the Caribbean and extend the current literature in the field.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on an exploratory study regarding the present situation of middle managers in schools; their professional development needs; and requirements of middle leaders for quality school management so that contents of existing professional development programmes could be improved to meet the needs of middle leaders of primary school education. Design/methodology/approach – Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, this paper reports on a study of the training needs of middle leaders in primary schools in which their present situation, their needs for professional development and requirements for quality school management and leadership are explored. The study adopted survey questionnaires as the main method of data collection. To supplement quantitative data with regard to the professional development needs, six middle managers were purposefully selected for semi-structured interviews. Findings – The findings suggest that there are insufficient training opportunities for middle leaders in primary schools and that there is a strong demand for including the notions of interpersonal skills, crisis management, resources management and understanding of education ordinances in the professional development curriculum for middle leaders. The study recommends that training programmes should exert focus on meeting the specific needs of middle leaders and the content and approach be multi-dimensional. Originality/value – In spite of the small scale of the survey study, the data collected from individual in-depth interviews can provide the investigators with supplementary information on their professional development needs which also serves the purpose of triangulation. The finding can also be a very constructive reference for course providers who wish to re-engineer and improve the quality of professional development programmes for middle leaders. This may help arouse their interests and enhance their learning motivation.

The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number S O 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8603-0002$01.00 Teachers have strong opinions about parent involvement. Some believe that they can be effective only if they obtain parental assistance on learning activities at home. Others believe that their professional status is in jeopardy if parents are involved in activities that are typically the teachers' responsibilities. The different philosophies and beliefs of teachers reflect the two main, opposing theories of school and family relations. One perspective emphasizes the inherent incompatibility, competition, and conflict between families and schools and supports the separation of the two institutions (Parsons, 1959; Waller, 1932; Weber, 1947). It assumes that school bureaucracies and family organizations are directed, respectively, by educators and parents, who can best fulfill their different goals, roles, and responsibilities independently. Thus, these distinct goals are achieved most efficiently and effectively when teachers maintain their professional, general standards and judgments about the children in their classrooms and when parents maintain their personal, particularistic standards and judgments about their children at home.

Spain is, together with Portugal, the only OECD country where school principals are democratically elected from the teaching staff of each primary and secondary school by a School Council, where all members of the school community are represented. While this unique feature of the Spanish system entails many promises in terms of deep democracy and, equally important, the potential legitimacy of change promoted by school leaders, the reality seems to be somewhat less romantic. This paper explores the limitations and constraints faced by school principals in Spain to actually perform their role as school leaders in primary and secondary schools. Based on a major study that we carried out for the National Institute for Quality and Evaluation (INCE) in 2002, involving more than 20,000 questionnaires and 30 Focus Groups (with teachers, principals, school inspectors, administrators, education experts and parents), the paper deals with the impact of leadership on school improvement and change, especially as far as teaching and learning processes are concerned. Despite their democratic legitimacy, or perhaps precisely because of its unexpected effects, the elected principal in Spain faces constraints which de facto position himself or herself between a practice of permanent transaction with colleagues and the mounting pressure of transformation and accountability coming from outside the school. Results from this research suggest that such constraints are determining that the practice of school leadership in Spain is management and maintenance-oriented rather than change-oriented, thus casting doubts about the very model of school leadership.

Teacher readiness for parental engagement is a vital competence in the context of increased emphasis on engaging parents in K–12 schools. The rise in the standards movement in education led to the inclusion of parental engagement in teacher standards. Here, critical policy analysis of teacher standards shows how teachers’ and school leaders’ readiness for parental engagement is addressed in Canadian policy documents. Teacher readiness is conceptualized as the ability to establish relationships, support communication, and build partnerships with parents and families. Current policy provisions support teachers’ capacity for parental engagement by introducing the asset-based approach to engagement and acknowledging the diversity among parents. Nevertheless, teacher standards fail to distinguish between parental involvement in schooling and parental engagement in education/learning and remain silent on the role of social inequality in parental engagement. Implications for new teacher standards include centering parental engagement on parents and families and tackling inequality in parental engagement.