Session Information
26 SES 14 A, Principal Preparation Pathway for Preformance
Paper Session
Contribution
This is our second paper that addresses the research question: How does postgraduate study shape participants’ attitudes and perceptions of practice as leaders? The first paper which was presented at ECER in 2012 drew on initial data and this paper follows a cohort over three years of their postgraduate study, and compares their emerging understanding of leadership with subsequent cohorts in the same course of study.
Principal preparation is worthy of research here, as internationally. Principals in Western Australia typically begin their career in small schools in regional, rural and remote locations, experiencing professional and geographic isolation coupled with high local public visibility and their on-the-job theoretical and practical learning (Belmonte, 2007) is characterised by variety, novelty and serendipity (Wildy, Clarke & Slater, 2007). In Australia approximately one quarter of all schools are classified as small, some with fewer than 10 students. Novice principals are teaching principals, dividing their time between the classroom and the office. Small schools do not qualify for the administrative support that larger schools do. However, principal are required to demonstrate compliance to centrally mandated policies and deal with the increasing complexity of the job. Compounding these challenges are high staff turnover, and high expectations for students’ performance. Principals are also expected to develop staff capacity as leaders. With such a legacy, it is not surprising to note a shortage of principal applicants as the ageing workforce approaches retirement.
The study reported in this paper emerged from the International Study of Preparation of Principals (ISPP). Throughout the ten years of the ISPP we have lamented the absence of preparation programs in Western Australia. We conducted qualitative case studies of novice principals to find out the challenges they face and the extent to which they felt prepared for the challenges (Wildy & Clarke, 2008, 2009a), drawing international comparisons of principals’ experiences (Wildy, Clarke & Cardno, 2009). We conceptualized the challenges to pertain to Place; People; System; and Self (Clarke & Wildy, 2011) and articulated the foundational epistemological assumptions for both research about, and programs for, principal preparation programs (Clarke & Wildy, 2010, 2012). Finally, with ISPP colleagues, we constructed a survey instrument to investigate the extent to which the challenges faced by novice principals and their perspectives on their preparation to face these challenges varied internationally (Clarke, Wildy & Styles, 2011; Wildy & Clarke, 2009b; Wildy, Clarke, Styles & Beycioglu, 2010).
After successfully bidding for a 10-year contract to prepare principals for the Western Australian government Education authority, we started the Master's of School Leadership degree program in 2012. This paper describes the development of the program, its conceptual underpinnings, the contextual challenges of its delivery requirements, and the approach adopted to monitoring over time the impact of the program on both aspiring and in post principals’ thinking about leadership and their practice as principals. Our program has an explicit theory-practice nexus, noting Levine’s (2005) criticism of US principal preparation programs. Furthermore, in light the evidence of Azzam (2005) and Levine (2005) of little quantitative research into the effectiveness of such programs, we designed a longitudinal study to monitor attitudes, understanding and leadership practices of participants throughout their four years in the program, in the eight cohorts of at least 50 aspiring/practising principals, during the 10 years of the project.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Azzam A. (2005). The unprepared administrator. Educational Leadership, 62(8), 88-89. Clarke, S. & Wildy, H. (2010). Preparing for principalship from the crucible of experience: Reflecting on theory, practice and research. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 42(1), 1-16. Clarke, S. & Wildy, H. (2011). Providing professional sustenance for leaders of learning – the glass half full? In T. Townsend & J. MacBeath (Eds). International Handbook of Leadership for Learning. (pp. 673-690). Dordrecht: Springer. Clarke, S. & Wildy, H. (2012). Researching principal preparation, local and international perspectives. In Tony Normore (Ed.). Understanding the Principalship: An International Guide to Principal Preparation. Emerald Group Publishing. Clarke, S., Wildy, H. & Styles, I. (2011). Fit for purpose? Western Australian insights into the efficacy of principal preparation. Journal of Educational Administration, 49(2), 166-178. Diamond, A., Adamson, J., Lamb, H., Neat, S. & Spong, S. (2013). Transition to Headship Evaluation and Impact Study. Research Report CFE Research for the National College for Teaching and Leadership. Greenfield, T. B. (1984). Leaders and schools: Willfulness and nonnatural order in organizations. In T. J. Sergiovanni & J. E. Corbally (Eds.), Leadership and organizational culture: New perspectives on administrative theory and practice (pp. 142-169). Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press. Hallinger, P. (2006). Scholarship in school leadership preparation: The unaccepted challenge. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 1(1), 1-4. Levine, A. (2005). Educating school leaders. The Education Schools Project. Retrieved from http://www.edschools.org/pdf/Final313.pdf Wildy, H. & Clarke, S. (2008). Charting an arid landscape: The preparation of novice primary principals in Western Australia. School Leadership and Management, 28(5), 469-487. Wildy, H. & Clarke, S. (2009a). Tales from the outback: Leading in isolated circumstances. International Studies in Educational Administration, 37(1), 29-42. Wildy, H. & Clarke, S. (2009b). Using cognitive interviews to pilot an international survey of principal preparation: A Western Australian perspective. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(2), 105-117. Wildy, H., Clarke, S. & Cardno, C. (2009). Antipodean perspectives on enhancing school leadership: Views from Australia and New Zealand. In A.W. Wiseman & I. Silova (Eds.). Educational Leadership: Global contexts and international comparisons (pp. 153-190). Volume 11 in the International Perspectives on Education and Society. Emerald Publishing. Wildy, H., Clarke, S. R. P. & Slater, C. (2007). International perspectives of principal preparation: How does Australia fare? Leading & Managing Special Edition, 13(2), 1-14. Wildy, H., Clarke, S., Styles, I. & Beycioglu, K. (2010). Preparing novice principals in Australia and Turkey: How similar are their needs? Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 20(4), 307.
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