Special Issue: Principal Recruitment Introduction by the Guest Editor: A Matter of Principals

Abstract

Rarely does an organisation have only one leader to whom its members turn for inspiration and direction. Indeed one of the criteria that distinguishes a truly capable organisation is the distribution and density of its leadership cadre. A school is a good example, for here there is usually to be found a variety of colleagues taking initiatives and fostering interesting developments both in classrooms and in other areas of school operations. For this reason, it is common to hear reference to teacher leaders, curriculum leaders, the leadership of the senior management team and, of course, the leadership of the principal and fellow members of the principal class. Despite this range and diversity of sources of school leadership, in recent times some school reformers have gone to extraordinary lengths in singling out principals as the drivers and champions of school-level change. In the case of reforming employer agencies, this emphasis is understandable, perhaps, given that principals are the systems' most senior line managers in schools. Other sections of the reform movement (e.g. commentators, researchers and policy entrepreneurs) have been equally if not even more enthusiastic about top-down, transformational, principal-driven change in their promotion of a governance model the centrepiece of which is self-managed schooling. For this reason, principals increasingly find themselves in the spotlight within their communities, not only in the marketing and promotion of their schools, but also as the objects of media scrutiny, particularly when they may be either blamed for their poor performance or are required to explain why students have not performed up to expectations. Principals occupy a very hot seat. Due partly to the focused or concentrated view of school leadership just referred to, but also because a principal incumbent is now responsible for almost every aspect of school operations in self-managed systems, the school principalship has become an extremely tough and demanding role requiting people with, among other things, multi-skills, boundless energy, stamina, an infinite capacity for goodwill and a preparedness to work long, long hours. If this description is broadly correct, then two important questions arise: Who would want this job and why would they want it? As a number of the authors of the articles in this special issue make clear, these or very similar questions are now being asked by those cohorts of teachers who, in the normal course of events, would be expected to replenish the ranks of principals thinned by premature departure, retirement or resignation. The seven articles have been arranged in what I hope will be a useful sequence for readers. In the first article, Pat Thompson, Jill Blackmore, Judyth Sachs and Karen Tregenza suggest that an appropriate starting point in getting to grips with the idea of principal shortages is media constructions and representations. These authors provide a perceptive analysis of media imagery of principals, especially in the United States of America (USA). They assert that a negative media picture of the principalship is detectable and that, although this may be designed to engineer a policy reform, it is also likely to exacerbate an already difficult situation by deterring would-be principal candidates. This may be a case of any publicity is bad publicity and their sample of media imagery bodes ill in regard to creative re-thinking concerning the principalship. Diana Pounder, Patrick Galvin and Paul Shepherd complement this perspective very neatly for they query the status of the alleged principal crisis in the USA. They ask a series of penetrating questions concerning the available evidence and position the notion of 'crisis' within a wider debate between liberals and conservatives over school reform. …