Primary Headteachers Research Articles

Book Reviews : Appraising Primary Headteachers: Challenge, Confidence and Clarity, by Eric Hewton and Neville West. Buckingham, United Kingdom & Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press, 1992,157 pp

Book Reviews : Appraising Primary Headteachers: Challenge, Confidence and Clarity, by Eric Hewton and Neville West. Buckingham, United Kingdom & Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press, 1992,157 pp

Primary headteachers: their job satisfaction and future career aspirations

Summary This paper presents some of the findings of a survey of 287 primary headteachers in one local education authority (LEA) concerning their satisfaction with their jobs and their future career aspirations. Heads were found to derive most of their job satisfaction from interpersonal relationships, especially with the children and from their autonomy. Dissatisfaction resulted mainly from the amount of paperwork, from the feeling of work overload and from the low status which they felt was accorded to their job. Many more heads expect to be still in the same post in five years time than wish to be, revealing a problem of maintaining job satisfaction in times of career stagnation.

Primary Headteachers’ Careers: a survey of primary school heads with particular reference to women's career trajectories

This paper presents some of the findings of a survey of the career trajectories of 287 primary headteachers in one local education authority (LEA). Women were found to be particularly underrepresented in the larger primary schools and this phenomenon is considered in relation to level of qualifications; geographical mobility; age on first appointment to headship; and whether or not a career break was taken. The career aspirations and expectations of both men and women heads are also examined. It is argued that there is a need for recent survey data to complement the existing ethnographic data on teachers' careers.

Rules, Sanctions and Rewards in Primary Schools

Summary Twenty‐four primary schools were randomly selected from all those listed in a local education authority in the West Midlands of England. Heads or deputy headteachers of 21 of these schools were interviewed using a structured interview schedule very similar to the one used for a recent survey of secondary schools. Data were obtained about the general rule structures of the schools and the system of sanctions and rewards used to maintain them. The findings were then compared with those from the secondary survey. Primary schools were less likely than secondary schools to have written rule structures but most were in the process of producing them in response to new pressures. It was more common for all the teachers in the primary school to be considered responsible for seeing that rules were kept. Generally, primary school headteachers identified fewer sanctions being used to uphold their rules than in secondary schools. The number of rewards used in both types of school was about equal. Comment is ma...

What do Primary Headteachers Really do?

Summary This study is based on fieldwork carried out by Derek Lever in Staffordshire primary schools and is an account of perceptions of the primary head's role from the point of view of teachers, parents, governors, LEA officers and headteachers themselves. Representative groups were invited to prioritise 18 role descriptors in terms of the ideal, and estimate the length of time (per week) a headteacher should engage in the identified tasks. The headteachers were also asked to estimate the length of time they actually spent on them. Twenty‐five headteachers were invited to keep a daily diary for 1 week in order to provide evidence of the match and mismatch between the perceptions of the groups involved and what the headteachers actually did.

The Role of the Science Co‐ordinator in Primary Schools. A Survey of Headteachers' Views

Abstract The paper reports results of a survey of the views of primary school Headteachers on the duties, activities and responsibilities of science co‐ordinators. The views of 222 Headteachers in two neighbouring local education authorities were obtained on four aspects of co‐ordinators' work: curriculum development, resources, assisting other teachers, and responsibilities for teaching decisions. Results show that Headteachers believe that co‐ordinators should not influence the teaching activities of their colleagues. They also believe that other skills are more important to the co‐ordinator than science knowledge.

How Primary School Teachers View the National Curriculum 1 Year On

Abstract The views and attitudes towards the National Curriculum of a representative sample of primary school headteachers and infant class teachers of 5 to 6 year‐olds were explored by means of a 14‐item Likert scale approximately 1 year after its introduction into schools at Key Stage One. There was a wide spread of attitude scale scores amongst the teachers with no significant difference between the mean scores of the headteachers and class teachers. The teachers showed a very mixed pattern of responses to the individual items of the scale, expressing mainly favourable views on some and mainly unfavourable views on others, particularly regarding the likely effects on the primary curriculum of the introduction of the formal assessments of attainment targets. The teachers’ views and attitudes were compared with those which they had expressed approximately 1 year previously, prior to the introduction of the National Curriculum into primary schools. A strong shift in the unfavourable direction was found be...

Headteacher Appraisal: case studies task observation

Abstract This report is based on work with three primary school headteachers on task appraisal. The process is described and the issues for task appraisal for headteachers are discussed.

Primary Headship and the Issue of Performance Review: a comparison of headteachers' self‐appraisals and appraisals of them by their teaching staff

Abstract This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on how best the appraisal of headteachers can be effected. It presents an analysis of the findings of a study which compared self‐appraisals of their managerial peformance by a sample of primary headteachers (n=36), with appraisals of these headteachers by their teaching staff. Respondents completed the 100‐item Management Performance Profile (MPP) Questionnaire and the resulting profiles of the headteachers'performance in 10 managerial categories, were compared. In addition, data were generated on headteachers' perceptions of their personal and professional identity, using a semi‐structured interview schedule. The findings are that there is a high level of concordance between perceptions by headteachers and teachers of the managerial priorities of the primary headteacher. However, two groups of schools are identified, in which there are significant differences between evaluations of the headteachers' managerial performance. Interview data is us...

The child and the primary curriculum — from policy to practice

This is the text of a lecture given at the Cambridgeshire Primary Headteachers Conference, 20‐21 September 1990, at the University of East Anglia.

Primary Headteachers and ERA Two Years on: the pace of change and its impact upon schools

Primary Headteachers and ERA Two Years on: the pace of change and its impact upon schools

The Changing Role of the Head in the Primary School in England

Abstract In the academic year 1987–1988 24 primary school Headteachers were interviewed about the appraisal of their managerial performance. In the course of the interviews the Heads discussed their perceptions of their jobs and what they perceived as the changing nature of their roles. They felt under considerable pressure to focus on the administrative and managerial aspects of headship and to reduce the time they spent in teaching. There was evidence that they found the non‐teaching tasks were increasing markedly in recent years in primary schools. They did not, however, appear to consider delegation of these tasks to other staff to be an appropriate strategy. This paper then goes on to consider issues surrounding delegation and collegial structures and makes recommendations about levels of consultation in primary schools.

University Preparation of School Principals

Abstract In the academic year 1987–1988 24 primary school Headteachers were interviewed about the appraisal of their managerial performance. In the course of the interviews the Heads discussed their perceptions of their jobs and what they perceived as the changing nature of their roles. They felt under considerable pressure to focus on the administrative and managerial aspects of headship and to reduce the time they spent in teaching. There was evidence that they found the non‐teaching tasks were increasing markedly in recent years in primary schools. They did not, however, appear to consider delegation of these tasks to other staff to be an appropriate strategy. This paper then goes on to consider issues surrounding delegation and collegial structures and makes recommendations about levels of consultation in primary schools.

Managing the Drama: The Headteacher's Work in an Urban Primary School

Previous studies of the work of primary school headteachers tend to adopt a fairly superficial approach to categorizing tasks and contacts. As part of an ethnographic study of teachers' work in an inner city primary school, I ‘shadowed’ the headteacher for three one-week blocks plus four interviews and numerous informal talks. Life at this school was intense and often dramatic. I develop an approach which suggests the headteacher's work contains ‘routines’, ‘events’ and ‘stories’ and give examples of each. Some ‘stories’ develop into ‘sagas’ or ‘social dramas’ and two instances are described. I examine how this headteacher not only copes with, but enjoys, what appears to be an increasingly stressful job.

Headteachers’ Perceptions of the Potential Role of Governors in their Appraisal

ABSTRACT This paper reports part of a research project on the appraisal of the managerial performance of primary school headteachers. One aspect of the interviews conducted with the headteachers concerned their perceptions of their potential appraisers. This paper concentrates on their perceptions of their governors in this respect. The headteachers were, in general, very wary of the involvement of governors in their appraisal. Indeed, heads appeared ambivalent to the idea of close involvement in school affairs by governors. The legislation of recent years which had culminated in the Education Reform Act was seen as potentially threatening in this context.

Married women and career: career history accounts of primary headteachers

This paper considers how the detail of individual life history and career biography can contribute to sociological understanding about women and career. Using career history material from married women primary and infant headteachers, the paper considers what were, for the women themselves, the structural conditions and the characteristics of the teaching labour market. This is followed by an examination of the variations in the attitudes and experiences of individual women to their work and to promotion in their careers. The paper argues that the study of career biography enables us to make the theoretical link between the structural conditions in particular labour markets and the meanings of career to individual women.

Managing Childcare and Work Responsibilities: The Strategies of Married Women Primary and Infant Headteachers

The article analyses the strategies that had been developed by women teachers to enable them to meet their family obligations to care for young children and, at the same time, develop their teaching careers. Using career history data from a sample of twenty-five women headteachers, from a midlands county in England, the article considers the expectations these women had set themselves with regard to certain childcare tasks and how they had managed the resources they had, in order to meet these expectations. The interview data revealed that relationships, particularly between other women teachers, were an important resource in enabling these women to fulfil their childcare expectations while pursuing their teaching careers.

Returning to Teaching: the career breaks and returns of married women primary headteachers

Abstract The term ‘broken career’ is used to describe the most common work pattern for married women teachers. The break in teaching service involves leaving teaching for a period, usually in order to have and to care for young children, and then returning to teaching when family responsibilities seem to permit. The article considers what were the significant features in the timing, the length and the type of the breaks in teaching service of a sample of married women who were primary and infant headteachers. The manner of the returns, is examined, in particular how the returns came about, and this indicates the importance of personal contacts and informal networks in bringing women back into primary teaching. Finally the article considers the inadequacy of the term ‘broken’ or ‘interrupted’ career to describe or explain the experiences of these women.

What is Spiritual Development? Primary Headteachers' Views

Recent legislation has made it a legal requirement for schools' contribution to their pupils' spiritual development to be inspected as part of the school inspection process. However, some confusion exists about the meaning of the term ‘spiritual development’. The first part of this article reviews some of the meanings ascribed to the term by educationalists and theologians while the second part examines headteachers' perceptions of the meaning of the term within the context of primary schools.

Headteacher stress

This paper emerged following recent research into the causes and effects of occupational pressures on primary headteachers in West Berkshire. The heads concerned were grouped according to a measure of the Type A/Type B personality dichotomy and their reported vulnerability to particular pressures related to this variable. Some conclusions are noted as are reported effective coping devices. The paper concludes with a brief examination of the implications of the research findings for local authorities.