Aspiring to break away from the same old Spanish educational leadership model

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to seek insights into the demands and challenges faced by school principals in Spain, especially in their dealings with local education authorities. Design/methodology/approach In all, 100 principals from public infant, primary and secondary schools in Alicante (Spain) participated in the study, which was carried out from a qualitative research perspective using deductive content analysis. Findings Most participants noted the need to improve channels of communication with, and support from, the local education authority. They also stressed the desirability of increasing their autonomy, reducing bureaucratic tasks and improving working conditions, which is in line with the international framework. Their narratives make it clear that they remain tied to a management leadership model but actually aspire to an instructive leadership. Research limitations/implications An absence of triangulation and the use of a single data collection technique are the limitations of this paper. Practical implications These participants are practising professionals who are proposing ways to improve aspects of their working lives based on actual experience. Acknowledging their voices could inspire the design of policies aimed at improving the principal’s role in Spain. Originality/value Knowledge is contributed to the area of study into proposals for improving the role of the principal, but with new and contextualised insights.

A scoping review of problems and challenges faced by school leaders (2003–2019)

“…While everybody recognizes the importance of education in the knowledge society, principals all over the world feel that they are not supported by the educational authorities and by the educational system and policies (e.g. Abaya, 2016; Bayar, 2016; Martínez-Ruiz and Hernández-Amorós, 2018). There is an over-reliance on principals as change experts, and principals are made accountable for a lot of different policies and mandates (Demir, 2016; Drago-Severson and Marlin Ostrowski, 2018), making the situation still more difficult.…”

Percepciones de directivos escolares en centros de contextos desfavorecidos sobre el liderazgo y la organización escolar

“…Centrarse en la gestión administrativa o de conflictos es habitual, pues la creciente complejidad y burocracia de los centros educativos impide a los directivos dedicar el tiempo necesario al profesorado, la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. Se trata de un problema repetidamente señalado en España (Bolívar, 2018;Gairín y Castro, 2010;Gómez-Hurtado et al, 2018;Martínez Ruiz y Hernández-Amorós, 2018;Murillo y Barrio, 1999;Waite y Nelson, 2005) y todavía pendiente. Puede decirse lo mismo de otros países como Portugal (Coelho Rodrigues y Ávila de Lima, 2021), Inglaterra (Clarke and O' Donoghue, 2016), Turquía (Demir, 2016), o Sudáfrica (Bush y Glover 2016), por poner algunos ejemplos.…”

Giving voice to problems faced by school leaders in Portugal

“…Problems related to educational authorities and countries policies are noticeable in the literature, mostly concerning lack of autonomy, political pressure to achieve standards, high accountability, weak support from authorities and constant modification of curriculums and educational policies (e.g. Serrano and Martín-Cuadrado 2016;Martínez-Ruiz and Hernández-Amorós 2018).…”