Measuring the perception of the primary school deputy principal′s responsibilities

Abstract

The deputy principalship remains one of the least understood roles in the schools of contemporary education systems. Research which contributes to theory building about the deputy principalship has been hampered by the lack of survey instruments with known psychometric properties. Reports an exploratory study which uses latent trait theory to construct a variable which describes and conceptualizes practitioner perspectives of the deputy principalship in the self‐managing school. The logic of constructing the variable is explained in terms of the requirements of the measurement model employed. A sample of 403 deputy principals, 179 principals and 138 teachers in government primary schools in Western Australia provided data for analysing the actual and ideal perceptions of these practitioners in terms of the variable as conceptualized. In this way, the variable provided the knowledge base for describing the “professional horizon” of school practitioners with respect to the traditional and emergent facets of the deputy principalship. Considers the outcomes of the analysis for further research about mapping the responsibilities of the deputy principal in a changing environment.

School-Based Management with or without Instructional Leadership: Experience from Sweden

“…Scholars report on focus on the administrative workload (Harvey & Sheridan, 1995;Cranston, 2002Cranston, , 2003Fitzgerald et al, 2006) and firefighting (Smith 2006) and the heads in this study see activities in these two areas as their most important tasks. At a more detailed level, they perceive contacts with parents and discipline issues as important in line with Smith (2006).…”

“…According to Phillips et al (2007), the role of the school principal in England has changed radically, and the workload and long working hours have led to both stress and an imbalance between working life and private life. In particular, it is the administrative workload that has increased most significantly (Harvey & Sheridan, 1995;Wylie, 1999;Harold et al, 2001;Cranston, 2000, Cranston et. al, 2003Fitzgerald et al, 2006).…”

Assistant & Deputy Heads

“…By comparison, the research evidence concerning the leadership of other established school leaders, such as assistant or deputy heads, is relatively sparse. Indeed, one of the most striking aspects of the few literature reviews of assistant or deputy headship is the paucity of research studies on this important group of school leaders (Harvey and Sheridan 1995;Ribbins 1997).…”

Ικανότητες Απόδοσης Των Ηγετών Εκπαίδευσης Στην Πρωτοβάθμια Εκπαίδευση Στην Ελλάδα Και Συσχέτισή Τους Με Χαρακτηρολογικές Παραμέτρους

“…Ενώ όλα τα σχολεία, εκτός από τα μικρά, στα περισσότερα εκπαιδευτικά συστήματα έχουν έναν ή περισσότερους υποδιευθυντές, ο τρόπος με τον οποίο οι υποδιευθυντές συνεισφέρουν στη σχολική αποτελεσματικότητα είναι ελάχιστα κατανοητός (Harvey & Sheridan, 1995). Ωστόσο, όλο και περισσότερο στα προγράμματα συνεργατικής αξιολόγησης σχολικού επιπέδου αναλύουν την εργασία των υποδιευθυντών και τη συμβολή τους στη σχολική αποτελεσματικότητα (Ogilvie, 1977).…”

“…Αυτός ο ρόλος έχει εξελιχθεί για να παρέχει υποστήριξη αρχικά στο διευθυντή και στη συνέχεια στους δασκάλους και στους μαθητές. Έχει γίνει ελάχιστα κατανοητό το πώς αυτός ο διάχυτος ρόλος συμβάλλει στη σχολική αποτελεσματικότητα (Harvey & Sheridan, 1995).…”