Principal socialization in Jewish day schools

Abstract

New principals in Jewish day school are frequently unprepared for the stress of the job and this contributes to attrition in the principalship and diminishes the positive effect that leadership has on school culture and student achievement. For this reason, developing and supporting principals of Jewish day schools is important work and very little research exists into the socialization of these principals or into identifying the necessary skills for this population to be most effective. This narrative study explores the socialization of ten Jewish day school principals in the first three years of their first position and their acquisition of skills that contribute to successful leadership. New principals in Jewish day schools describe the same type of overwhelmed and unprepared feelings and sense of tension between being effective and self-care as principals in other school contexts. They also experienced stress factors unique to Jewish day schools that exacerbated feelings of being always on and needing to balance home and life especially in terms of their own religious observance. Principals discussed their previous experience as teachers and lower-level administrators and its impact on their preparedness for the principalship. Professional trajectory is very impactful in terms of principals feeling prepared when it comes to instructional leadership skills and less so when it comes to organizational management and interpersonal skills. Principals in Jewish day schools inhabit a specific position as the top educational leaders while still reporting to a head of school. In addition to the skills needed for managing others that are found in the literature: instructional leadership, organizational management and interpersonal skill, principals in Jewish day schools also reported needing skills relating to the unique position of principals in this context, needing to manage up in relation to their head of school. A critical area of skills that emerged from the study, in addition to these important skills for managing others, was skills for managing themselves. These skills were necessary for dealing with both their internal judgment of themselves as well as external judgment others had towards them. Principals sought support structures within and outside of the school and these structures made a significant difference in these initial years. These support networks should be cultivated especially professional cohorts and individual mentoring.