Professional Development Of School Principals Research Articles

Portfolio Assessment as a Tool for Promoting Professional Development of School Principals: A South African Perspective

Poor matriculation results in South African urban schools have resulted in the implementation of professional development programs for principals who wish to improve their qualifications and practice. This article studies principals’ perceptions of the efficacy of using portfolios to assess their professional growth. Using a poststructural lens to theorize portfolio use, interview data were examined to discern what themes consistently evolved when principals were engaged in self-evaluating their own professional practice through a methodological framework of portfolio development. The findings revealed insights into the efficacy of the use of professional portfolios in the professional development of principals.

The professional development of school principals

Many schooling systems do not fulfil their mandates because of poor management and leadership. Similarly, the rigidity that one finds in schools does not only stunt schools' capacity to develop, but also leads to schools that are dysfunctional and unproductive. As a result, in countries where there is universal transformation, efficacious management and leadership are elevated to the highest rostrum. In this paper I aim at investigating the necessity for professional development of school principals.

The professional development of school principals: insights from evaluating a programme in Hong Kong

Preparation for school leadership has become a major global educational issue since the late 1990s. In Hong Kong, the establishment and implementation of school‐based management in the 1990s have made significant demands on principals. In 1999, a leadership development and training programme for serving and aspiring principals was initiated by the Government of the Special Administrative Region, after visits to and study of similar programmes in England, Scotland, Australia (State of Victoria) and Singapore. In 2002, further suggestions were made to draw up a framework for principals' training in Hong Kong. With an adapted evaluation framework, and based on the evaluation findings of a principals' training programme developed by a tertiary institution in 1998, this paper attempts to give answers to: (1) why do serving principals attend principals' training programmes? (2) what sort of training programme do principals regard as useful? (3) are the findings consistent with the proposals of the Government? (4) do training programmes bring about changes in attitudes and behaviours of principals? The paper concludes with recommendations for (1) and (2).

The Secondary School Principalship in Australia and New Zealand: An Investigation of Changing Roles

It has been well-documented in the literature that the roles and workloads of principals in many western countries have intensified in recent years, due to a range of pressures emanating from a changing turbulent policy environment. This study investigated the roles and workloads of secondary school principals from Queensland, Australia, and New Zealand. These were explored to determine if there was any discrepancy between how principals view their current practice and how they would desire their current practice to be. The study data drew on a specially developed questionnaire in addition to a small number of targeted interviews and focus groups. The findings indicated that for principals in Australia and New Zealand (i) pressure in the role and hours worked per week had increased compared with previous years; (ii) role overload, role ambiguity and role conflict now characterised the job to some extent; and (iii) principals devoted most of their time to management/administration and staffing issues, yet their ideal week was described as one where they would dedicate time to strategic leadership, curriculum leadership and parent/community issues. They were highly satisfied with their role, overall. The paper also provides a discussion of the skills and competencies required of the principalship and issues for the ongoing professional development of school principals in both countries.