Senior School Leaders Research Articles

Challenges to the sustainability of Irish post-primary school leadership: the role of distributed leadership

PurposeThere is currently a shortage of applications for the role of principal. There are a range of factors contributing to this, one of which may be the considerable levels of stress and burnout reported by principals and deputy principals. Distributed leadership may offer some solutions to this challenge. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of distributed leadership from a role sustainability perspective of school principals and deputy principals.Design/methodology/approachThis paper follows a qualitative interpretivist approach based upon 15 semi-structured interviews with principals and deputy principals working in Irish post-primary schools. Data were analysed via thematic analysis.FindingsResults indicate challenges to the sustainability of the role of senior school leaders comprising administrative overload, policy proliferation and challenges due to the complexity and breadth of the role of these school leaders. It was reported that engagement with distributed leadership could aid the sustainability of participants in their roles and the importance of focusing on well-being practices was also highlighted.Practical implicationsRecommendations include the need to reconsider policy proliferation and the need to reconceptualise school leadership. Further consideration regarding how distributed leadership can aid the sustainability of the role of senior school leaders, without adversely contributing to the already busy role of schoolteachers is also recommended.Originality/valueThe findings of this study are valuable as they reflect previous findings relating to the current challenges to sustainable school leadership as well as highlight distributed leadership as a potential aid to mitigate against these challenges.

The well-being and work-related stress of senior school leaders in Wales and Northern Ireland during COVID-19 "educational leadership crisis": A cross-sectional descriptive study.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused far-reaching societal changes, including significant educational impacts affecting over 1.6 billion pupils and 100 million education practitioners globally. Senior school leaders were at the forefront and were exposed to particularly high demands during a period of "crisis leadership". This occupation were already reporting high work-related stress and large numbers leaving the profession preceding COVID-19. This cross-sectional descriptive study through the international COVID-Health Literacy network aimed to examine the well-being and work-related stress of senior school leaders (n = 323) in Wales (n = 172) and Northern Ireland (n = 151) during COVID-19 (2021-2022). Findings suggest that senior school leaders reported high workloads (54.22±11.30 hours/week), low well-being (65.2% n = 202, mean WHO-5 40.85±21.57), depressive symptoms (WHO-5 34.8% n = 108) and high work-related stress (PSS-10: 29.91±4.92). High exhaustion (BAT: high/very high 89.0% n = 285) and specific psychosomatic complaints (experiencing muscle pain 48.2% n = 151) were also reported, and females had statistically higher outcomes in these areas. School leaders were engaging in self-endangering working behaviours; 74.7% (n = 239) gave up leisure activities in favour of work and 63.4% (n = 202) sacrificed sufficient sleep, which was statistically higher for females. These findings are concerning given that the UK is currently experiencing a "crisis" in educational leadership against a backdrop of pandemic-related pressures. Senior leaders' high attrition rates further exacerbate this, proving costly to educational systems and placing additional financial and other pressures on educational settings and policy response. This has implications for senior leaders and pupil-level outcomes including health, well-being and educational attainment, requiring urgent tailored and targeted support from the education and health sectors. This is particularly pertinent for Wales and Northern Ireland as devolved nations in the UK, who are both implementing or contemplating major education system level reforms, including new statutory national curricula, requiring significant leadership, engagement and ownership from the education profession.

The mental health and well-being of senior school leaders in Wales and Northern Ireland

Abstract Background Research has demonstrated the impact of COVID-19 school closures on pupils’ health, well-being, learning and development and the challenges faced by teaching and support staff. There was, however, no evidence on the effects on school leaders. The COVID-19 Leadership Survey explored this by surveying senior school leaders (headteachers and other teachers with senior leadership duties e.g. deputy head teachers) in Wales and Northern Ireland to understand the impact of COVID-19 school closures and restrictions on their mental and emotional well-being. It also was undertaken against a backdrop of a potential crisis in recruiting and retaining senior school leaders in the UK. Methods The COVID-19 School Leadership Survey (translated into English) was emailed to all primary and secondary schools in Wales (June-November 2021) and all primary, post-primary and alternative education provision for 5-16 year olds in Northern Ireland (March-May 2022). The response rate was Wales N = 172 and Northern Ireland N = 151. It should be noted the survey in Northern Ireland was undertaken after the last COVID-19 related legal restrictions were removed. Results Nearly three-quarters (74%) of senior school leaders in Northern Ireland and over half (54%) of senior school leaders in Wales were categorised as having possible depression based on their results on the WHO-5 scale. Leaders reported that challenges faced managing their workloads as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on their mental health and wellbeing. Despite these challenges, the majority of senior school leaders still perceived their role and work situation as meaningful. Conclusions A more strategic approach to supporting the well-being of senior school leaders is essential in both Wales and Northern Ireland. Further research into what mental health supports are needed, as well as a greater focus on the extent and quality of leadership development provision that will specifically support leaders well-being.

The School Community’s Role in Educating for Responsibility for Inclusion

This study explores responsibility for inclusion, a notion rooted in the belief and practices of various religions. It draws on the thoughts of Emmanuel Levinas, Hannah Arendt and Paolo Freire, all of whom were greatly influenced by their religious tradition. Ten qualitative interviews were performed with senior school leaders. Data were interpreted through thematic analysis, and the results show that inclusion starts from the self who welcomes the other. Inclusion of students with severe disabilities, especially with severe autism, remains problematic at schools in Malta, and headteachers seem to struggle to implement inclusive values and attitudes. Successful methods for better inclusion include collaboration of all school community members, the involvement of students in decision making, participation of all students in school events without any discrimination, the Peer Preparation Programme and the buddy system.

The role of platforms in diffracting education professionalities

This paper examines the effect of data management platforms on professional educators. The ways in which platforms re-shape new professional patterns of school leaders and education bureaucrats is presented through the data management platform, OneSchool. OneSchool is used across 1,258 public schools in Queensland, Australia. Empirical data were gathered from interviews with senior bureaucrats, policy officers, and school leaders from Queensland’s public schooling system. Thematic analysis identified shifts in educational practitioners’ professional roles as they performed their tasks through OneSchool. Analysis of traditional school roles and tasks on the one hand and demands of online security and information privacy legislations on the other were brought together in an access assemblage. Access was provided by the authorized allocation of ‘roles’ embedded into the platform’s technical code. A dual perspective of the development and use of the OneSchool platform is used to show how educational behaviors, skills and qualities are mutually constitutive of platformized professionalities. To make sense of these platformized professionalities, a diffraction lens is employed, derived from Barad’s (2007) considerations within new feminist materialism and physics. Recalling Foucault’s (1983) adage that everything is dangerous rather than bad, this paper provides insight into the positive and negative ways platforms disrupt and re-shape educational practitioners and their professionalities.

Identifying the barriers to alternative approaches for behaviour management in schools

Each year, many children are excluded from school in England. Often, exclusion from school is the result of an escalating cycle of challenging behaviour and punitive responses. Despite this, there is still limited use of alternative approaches for behaviour management in schools, with a continued focus on systems of rewards and sanctions. The main aim of this study is to explore senior leaders’ perceptions of the barriers to implementing alternative approaches for behaviour management in schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 senior school leaders and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Key barriers identified included: time and resources; the perceptions of others; and risk aversion. These barriers contribute to the continued use of punitive responses to challenging behaviour in schools. This suggests that there is a need for support to enable schools to overcome these barriers and widen the options available as alternatives to exclusion from school.

Use of Interdisciplinary Approach in Performance-based Assessment in the New Normal

<p style="text-align: justify;">This descriptive research study aimed to assess the management of the existing policies, guidelines, and procedures on the implementation of the interdisciplinary approach in performance-based assessment (IAPA) before and during Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a basis for proposing improvements for its implementation in the “new normal”. 30 senior high school science teachers and school leaders from 5 private and 5 public schools in Metro Manila, Philippines, participated in this study. The participants assessed the management of existing policies, guidelines, and procedures on the IAPA’s implementation using a survey questionnaire and identified its strengths and weaknesses using an interview guide. The researchers developed the instruments used for data collection but subjected to experts’ validation and reliability test. Results reveal that the management of IAPA was effective and that it benefits students and teachers in many ways. However, it has also weaknesses, which are associated with the role of school leaders in the implementation of the policies, guidelines, and/or procedures, especially during the new normal education setting. The study provides suggestions for improving IAPA implementation in the new normal covering both the face-to-face and online learning modalities</p>

A content analysis of school leaders’ conversations about ‘off rolling’ on Twitter and its relevance to teacher education

ABSTRACT This article seeks to illustrate the usefulness to teacher educators of small-scale qualitative social media content analysis by reporting a study of online microblogs (tweets) posted by senior school leaders’ relating to ‘off rolling’ (practices that bypass legal permanent exclusion procedures in English mainstream schools). The outlined method enables analysis of social media content in the absence of costly opinion mining software and its associated affordances and limitations are discussed. The article also outlines the implications of the study’s findings for teacher education. In this instance, it served to illustrate a disparity between different types of professional discourse which future teachers should be prepared to navigate in their teacher training. Given the illegality of ‘off rolling’ and an increasingly incontestable socio-political discourse around inclusive education, it was hypothesised that Twitter affords school leaders a forum for the articulation of views that rest uneasily with this discourse, current legislation and statutory guidance around off rolling. A tendency to discount ‘off rolling’ as a rare occurrence was found despite growing anecdotal evidence that it is viewed as a legitimate, if illegal, practice within some school cultures. This finding is relevant to teacher educators and future teachers who aspire to an inclusive education system.

Researching ‘off rolling’ as a sensitive topic: ‘Hard’ evidence and experiential accounts

ABSTRACT This paper will explore the ways in which behaviour features in the accounts of ‘off rolling’ processes in schools in England volunteered by participants – senior school leaders, SENCos and parents, in an ongoing multi-stranded research project. In addition to analysing these accounts, this paper draws on contextual features and concepts such as parrhesia and authenticity in a probing of methodological considerations. The status of such accounts as data will also be considered given the high stakes accountability environment in which school principals strive to fulfil their legal remit in the field of inclusion. The trustworthiness of findings in qualitative research is more usually the focus of attention; however, our studies to date imply that some professionals carefully manage the image of their school and visibility of exclusionary practices to the detriment of students with mental health and behavioural issues. The methodological implications of conducting research in politicised and highly sensitive areas will be discussed.

Senior leaders’ theories of action for managing subject departments as a school improvement strategy

The current study examines senior school leaders’ theories of action driving their decision-making around how they manage departments and distribute leadership to department heads. Based on a thematic analysis of transcripts of interviews with the principal, head of the curriculum unit, and two department heads from nine high schools, four approaches for managing departments were identified: (a) quasi self-managing units; (b) hierarchical managerial control; (c) participatory management; and (d) transitioning from hierarchical control to incipient participatory management. All approaches, to varying degrees, involved hierarchical managerial control and, to a greater or lesser extent, department heads participated in decision-making. At the centre of the distinct patterns for the distribution of leadership associated with each management model was a concern for aligning teachers’ improvement priorities. These approaches are examined through a distributed leadership lens in terms of their potential affordances and constraints for strengthening the contributions of departments to school improvement processes. The main conclusion is that variations in how senior leaders manage departments for the distribution of leadership need to be understood in the context of a school's history and culture.

‘Off‐rolling’ and Foucault’s art of visibility/invisibility: An exploratory study of senior leaders’ views of ‘strategic’ school exclusion in southwest England

This article reports an unprecedented exploratory small‐scale investigation of the views of senior school leaders in southwest England relating to ‘off‐rolling’ (illegal exclusionary practices). ‘Off‐rolling’ is conceptualised as a policy technology, however, the conceptual framework used in data analysis derives from Foucault’s treatment of power and pleasure, and the constitution in discourse of novel ‘permanent realities’. Relations of force that senior school leaders routinely navigate in neoliberal education cultures characterised by ‘performativity’ are highlighted. The latter describes pressures to evidence efficiency and continual improvement, including high‐stakes performance monitoring and, in England, a national school inspection regime. The response rate to this online and predominantly qualitative survey was poor, which was attributed to the illegality of ‘off‐rolling’ and the risk that academic research in this area could be perceived to reproduce the power–knowledge relations associated with a national school inspection regime and familiar neoliberal political or professional discourses around training of education professionals (where both are framed as addressing deficits to achieve improvements). Nevertheless, findings from a key question inviting comment on scenarios drawn from the authors’ teaching experience are presented here, as they highlight the issues arising in research of sensitive topics. Reliance on brief vignettes to explore levels of understanding was, arguably, a limitation of the study, risking participants interpreting this device as unwelcome external scrutiny. It is argued that Ofsted’s definition of ‘off‐rolling’ as gaming (manipulation of academic performance data) effectively discourages recognition of exclusionary practices that are not irrefutably related to academic performance as such.

How do teachers respond to assessment reform? Exploring decision-making processes

ABSTRACT Background: As a consequence of government-led assessment reforms, teachers are often tasked with implementing changes in assessment practice. What influences teachers’ responses to such reform? Our study considers this question in the context of the recent post-16 educational reform to the national qualifications system in England, which resulted in a shift from modular to linear assessment for high-stakes academic qualifications (A levels) taken by many students at the end of secondary education. Purpose: This small-scale study aimed to investigate, in depth, the decision-making processes of senior teachers and school leaders in response to the post-16 educational reform. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 senior teachers and school leaders at a point in time after the reform. Data were analysed thematically, with the notions of utilitarianism and bounded rationality providing a conceptual basis for the analysis and interpretation of data. Findings: The analysis of interview data allowed for the exploration of factors that reportedly influenced decisions, providing insight into possible explanations for similarities and divergences in approach. Findings indicated that the reform was enacted differently in different schools; senior teachers and school leaders made decisions to benefit their stakeholders but were constrained by various limiting factors, including their perceptions of reformed qualifications, school culture, time, information and resources. Conclusion: Our study contributes to the understanding of how local contexts shape senior teachers’ and school leaders’ responses to assessment reform. The study highlights themes of international relevance that are applicable to theorising and reflecting on teachers’ responses to external, top-down educational changes.

Policy Implementation Performance of Primary School Leaders in Malaysia: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

The aim of this study is to develop a scale for assessing the policy implementation performance of public primary school leaders in Malaysia. The “Implementation Leadership Scale (ILS)” by Aarons, Ehrhart and Farahnak (2014) and part of the “Teacher’s Competency Scale” by Ghafar (2015) were adapted and customised to suit the context of the study in measuring school leaders' policy implementation performance. The respondents were 228 senior primary school leaders who included headmasters and senior teacher assistants in three categories: academic, student affairs, and co-curriculum. Clustered random sampling was used to select the respondents. Results of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed six underlying components of policy implementation performance with 38 indicators, the first four of which are proactive, knowledgeable, supportive, and perseverance implementation leadership. The last two components are ability to perform and standard of performance. Evidently, the six components explained 65.1% of the total variance. The reliability of the policy implementation performance construct was 0.95, while that of other constructs ranges from 0.79 to 0.89. In addition to contributing further insight to the current literature on policy implementation performance, the results also provide a reliable source of information to researchers and professional practitioners of educational policies for future research in policy implementation performance. Keywords: Educational policy, policy implementation, policy implementation performance, implementation leadership, scale development

The capability approach and school food education and culture in England: ‘gingerbread men ain’t gonna get me very far’

ABSTRACT This study examines the role of school food education and school food culture in England and their potential to support pupils’ capabilities to adopt health protecting and promoting behaviours. Drawing on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, and Susan Michie’s COM-B model, the research was conducted for the Food Education Learning Landscape project. Methods included national surveys of food teachers (N = 1503), senior school leaders and class teachers (N = 684), parents and carers (N = 573) and a mixed methods study of pupils in primary and secondary schools (N = 240). Findings indicate that adequate curriculum time, teaching facilities, budget, class size, subject status and teacher training are key factors for successful curriculum implementation. Monitoring and evaluation of school food provision and development of wider health supporting school food practices were found to be critical in supporting pupils’ health capabilities. The research insights can inform future policies and practices to support children’s potential to lead healthy, flourishing lives.

Review: Delivering mental health support within schools and colleges - a thematic synthesis of barriers and facilitators to implementation of indicated psychological interventions for adolescents.

Increasing the role of schools and colleges in the provision of mental health services for young people has the potential to improve early intervention and access to treatment. We aimed to understand what factors influence the successful implementation of indicated psychological interventions within schools and colleges to help guide increased provision of mental health support within education settings. Systematic search for studies that have reported barriers or facilitators to the implementation of indicated interventions for adolescent emotional disorders delivered within schools and further education/sixth form colleges (CRD42018102830). Databases searched were EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, British Nursing Index, ASSIA, ERIC and British Education Index. A thematic synthesis of factors reported to impact implementation was conducted. Two thousand five hundred and sixty-nine records and 177 full texts were screened. Fifty studies were identified for inclusion, all of which were of school-based interventions. Eleven analytic themes were developed encompassing intervention characteristics, organisational capacity, training and technical assistance, provider characteristics and community-level factors. Findings indicate the need to select appropriate interventions, consider logistical challenges of the school context and provide training and supervision to enable staff to deliver interventions with fidelity. However, structural and environmental support is required for these facilitators to have the greatest impact on successful implementation. Implementing indicated school-based mental health interventions is challenging. Those involved in planning school-based mental health initiatives must be alert to the impact of factors on multiple interacting levels. There is a lack of research on implementing mental health support within further education and sixth form colleges. Increased utilisation of schools and colleges as a setting for early intervention has been proposed as a means of improving access to mental health treatment, but successful implementation of mental health interventions within educational settings is challenging. Based on a synthesis of current evidence, we recommend that young people and education professionals should be involved in the selection of school-based interventions to ensure they are acceptable and practical to deliver within the logistical constraints of the school environment. Those delivering interventions within schools, as well as staff involved in identifying young people who might benefit from these interventions, must receive high-quality ongoing training and support. Senior school leaders play an important role in championing mental health interventions and developing a school culture that prioritises mental well-being. Health and education policy should be designed to promote a cross-sector focus on the emotional health of young people. There is a lack of evidence on the implementation of indicated psychological interventions within sixth form and further education colleges.

Effect of Leadership Styles of Secondary School Heads on School Improvement

This research.is designed to assess the effects of the leadership style of the secondary school principals on the school improvement. It was basically descriptive research in nature and for the collection of data survey method was used. Twenty senior school leaders from the AJ&k Mirpur department and 60 senior teachers from the public sector were selected as subjects. Samples were selected using simple random sampling techniques. Two questionnaires were prepared, one for the principal and the other for the senior teachers. Mean, standard deviation, and linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that the leadership style of the school heads greatly contributed to the progress of the school. It is recommended that the principal must understand the level of learning in his department and the ability to share leadership style with the faculty and staff in order to get the most out of the academic process

Painful invisibilities: Roll management or ‘off‐rolling’ and professional identity

‘Off‐rolling’ is widely defined as the illegal removal of students from a school roll, unlike permanent exclusion, which involves sanctioned formal procedures. It is a practice that brings very different logics, political agendas, governmental imperatives and the associated matter of school leader professional identity into sharp relief. Deviant professional identities have already been discursively constituted, despite the current lack of research into the motivation of senior school leaders who engage in ‘off‐rolling’. This article draws on Foucault to explore tensions between a political standards and an inclusion agenda, and to consider how the professional identities of senior school leaders are shaped such that ‘off‐rolling’ becomes possible. It is suggested that chronic underfunding of the inclusion agenda has combined with what England's Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) now describes as an over‐emphasis on academic performance to create unsustainable pressures on many senior school leaders. The descriptor ‘contextual roll management’ may therefore be more appropriate. The moral outrage which accompanies public and political discourse around ‘off‐rolling’ is theorised with reference to Apple, Ball and Popkewitz. Such moral indignation distracts attention from the wider socio‐political and economic context within which schools are now required to deliver academic progress and inclusion. We conclude the article by outlining key empirical questions that have yet to be addressed.

Towards a Virtuosity of School Leadership: clinical support and supervision as professional learning

ABSTRACT This paper introduces an innovative clinical support and supervision project that has its origins in the concern for how senior school leaders are increasingly being expected to manage the escalating demand to care for pupils, families and often the wider community. In response to these pressures we offer a three-stage professional learning model of supervision which encompasses collaboration, reflection and dialogue, while facilitating the development of professional skills within a non-judgemental space for personal and professional reflexivity. Alongside providing the service, the authors undertook two phases of qualitative research over a five-year period. Our findings indicate that support and supervision has been wholly beneficial identifying a positive impact across three broad themes: Professional learning, health and well-being, and wider school culture. The process facilitates headteachers making professionally situated decisions grounded in an understanding of educational purpose. We call for a virtuosity of school leadership – a practice of educational leadership where decision-making is informed by good educational judgements and not by standardisation and punitive accountability measures. Distinctively, clinical support and supervision promotes a virtuosity of school leadership while also meeting the moral obligation to care for school leaders and in doing so those in their care.

The Role Perceptions of Newly Appointed Senior School Leaders in the Western Cape, South Africa and Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates: A Comparative Case Study

The role of the senior school leader, in school leadership teams, has been intensely deliberated over the years. Professional learning and leadership approaches and experiences for newly appointed senior school leaders have been extensively linked to the role perceptions of new school leaders. The importance of appropriate recommendations for policy and practice highlight the need for complex developmental support ingenuities to support their perceived development needs. Extensive teaching experience may be the only requirement for being appointed as a senior school leader, as also suggested by the Western Cape Education system (WCED). A developing system such as the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) system, highly qualified individuals make up for a lack of experience. Both these perceptions support the notion that no further professional development is required for newly appointed school leaders, the problem addressed in this paper. This article report and compare the main findings of the perceived roles and responsibilities of newly appointed senior school leaders in the Western Cape, South Africa, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The perceived roles and responsibilities of newly appointed school leaders, suggest a unique and specialist development approach to support effective leadership. The outcomes of this study further suggest a need for contextualised, individualised training and support in their individualised roles and responsibilities. The paper, therefore, employs a mixed-method approach to gather data to understand the perceived roles and responsibilities of newly appointed senior school leaders in the Western Cape, South Africa and Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Experiences of behaviour management in school: A case study of one senior school leader at a secondary school

Managing behaviour in schools is a key consideration for senior school leaders. It is a topic that often draws attention in the media and is a major cause of stress for teaching staff. The case study reported in this article forms the pilot study for a larger piece of PhD research which includes interviews with senior school leaders from around the UK and internationally. The aim of the larger study is to explore alternative approaches to behaviour management in schools, other than the predominant system of rewards and sanctions. This case study examines the views of one senior school leader at a secondary school and explores his perceptions and experiences of behaviour management. An interview was conducted with the senior school leader which was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three superordinate themes were identified from the interview data: aspirations, relationships and the importance of a structured behaviour management system.