Abstract
Increasing job duties and responsibilities associated with the changing role of school principals have prompted even greater accountability. As a result, principals are faced with competing demands and expectations in various forms of accountability from multiple stakeholders. This study examines principals’ perception of accountability in the context of work intensification with a particular focus on the question of “accountable to whom and why.” A total of 1434 practicing principals responded to an online survey that sought to determine the groups and individuals to whom principals feel accountable, and why principals feel accountable to those particular individuals or groups. The survey achieved a response rate of 52.68%. The research results show balancing competing accountabilities concerning students has become a daunting task for school principals. The competing if not conflicting expectations from (federal and state/provincial) educational authorities, teachers, parents, students, and various interest groups often pose significant challenges to principals’ work and add to the complexity of principals’ role. The unrealistic expectations imposed on principals make it imperative to critically examine the changing role of school principals and identify essential and legislatively mandated duties and responsibilities of principalship to better reflect and address their intensified work realities.
Highlights
As part of the new public management reforms in the 1980s, accountability has been a focal point in the education sphere for decades (McDonnell, 2013; Shipps & White, 2009; Walker & Ko, 2011)
Our findings show principals were expected to provide an account of their practices, actions, and decisions to a wide range of stakeholders, which suggests a rise of accountability in its scope and sources
When the authors further investigated why principals felt most accountable to themselves, they concluded that the principal participants in their US study were responding to an internal accountability as opposed to an external accountability, which was comprised of four components: “Personal responsibility, an obligation to the children in the school, the use of one’s conscience as a moral compass and a personal connection to the school” (p. 391)
Summary
As part of the new public management reforms in the 1980s, accountability has been a focal point in the education sphere for decades (McDonnell, 2013; Shipps & White, 2009; Walker & Ko, 2011). Principals are often facing unprecedented levels of accountability that do not end around the school premises but extend far beyond (Ball, 2016; Barr & Saltmarsh, 2014; Goodman, 2019; Grinshtain & Gibton, 2018; Norris, 2017). Such agency is used for purposes that are meaningful to principals (Norris, 2017; Olaso & Baja, 2019)
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