Abstract
There is mounting international research evidence that the work of school principals is increasingly difficult, time consuming and more unattractive to prospective applicants. We suggest that the solution to this situation lies in redesigning the work that principals do. Using the New London Group’s (1996) definition of design as both process and product and as a hybrid of existing resources, we offer five cases of redesign: distributed pedagogical leadership, co-principalship, shared principalship, multi-campus principalship, and community-based principalship. We argue that these examples show that redesigns that focus on the school, rather than on the work of the principal, have more far-reaching effects, but are also much more vulnerable to context. We propose three emerging principles for redesign viz. developing a strong warrant for redesign, attending to infrastructure and building organic relations between school and community.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bacchi, C. L. (1999). Women, policy and politics the construction of policy problems. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.
Barty, K., Thomson, P., Blackmore, J., & Sachs, J. (2005). Unpacking the issues; researching the shortage of school principals in two states of Australia. Australian Educational Researcher, 32(3), 1–14.
Baskwill, J. (2003). Is there room for the girls in the boys club? A study of women elementary school administrators in Nova Scotia, Canada. Unpublished PhD, University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Bishop, P., & Mulford, B. (1999). When will they ever learn? Another failure of centrally-imposed change. School Leadership and Management, 19(2), 179–187.
Blackmore, J. (1999). Troubling women. Feminism, leadership and educational change. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Blackmore, J., & Thomson, P. (2004). Just ‘good and bad news’? Disciplinary imaginaries of head teachers in Australian and English print media. Journal of Education Policy, 19(3), 301–320.
Blackmore, J., Thomson, P., & Barty, K. (2006). Homosocioability and the selection of school principals. Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, 34(3), 297–317.
Breischke, P. A. (1993). Interpreting ourselves: administrators in modern fiction. Theory into Practice, 32(4), 228–235.
Brooking, K., Collins, G., Court, M., & O’Neill, J. (2003). Getting below the surface of the principal recruitment ‘crisis’ in New Zealand primary schools. Australian Journal of Education, 45(2), 146–158.
Bush, T., Bell, L., Bolam, R., Glatter, R., & Ribbins, P. (1999). Educational management: Redefining theory, policy and practice. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Collard, J., & Reynolds, C. (Eds.). (2005). Leadership, gender and culture in education. Male and female perspectives. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Cooley , V., & Shen, J. (2000). Factors influencing applying for urban principalship. Education and Urban Society, 32(4), 443–455.
Court, M. (1998). Women challenging managerialism: devolution dilemmas in the establishment of co-principalships in primary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand. School Leadership and Management, 18(1), 35–57.
Court, M. (2003a). Different approaches to sharing school leadership. Nottingham: National College for School Leadership.
Court, M. (2003b). Towards democratic leadership Co-principalship initiatives. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 6(2), 161–183.
Court, M. (2004). Talking back to new public management versions of accountability in education. Educational Management and Administration, 32(2), 171–194.
D’Arbon, T., Duignan, P., & Duncan, D. (2002). Planning for the future leadership of schools An Australian study. Journal of Educational Administration, 40(5), 468–485.
Davis, S. (1998). Superintendents’ perspectives on the involuntary departure of public school principals: the most frequent reasons why principals lose their jobs. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(1), 58–90.
Dorman, J., & D’Arbon, T. (2003a). Assessing impediments to leadership succession in Australian Catholic schools. School Leadership and Management, 23(1), 25–40.
Dorman, J., & D’Arbon, T. (2003b). Leadership succession in New South Wales Catholic schools: identifying potential principals. Educational Studies, 29(2/3), 127–139.
Elmore, R. (2000). Building a new structure for school leadership. Washington, DC: The Albert Shanker Institute.
Forsyth, P., & Smith, T. (2002). Patterns of principal retention: What the Missouri case tells us. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, April 1–5.
Glatter R. (2002). Governance, autonomy and accountability. In Bush T., & Bell L. (Eds.), The principles and practices of educational management. London: Paul Chapman.
Gronn P. (2002). Distributed leadership. In Leithwood K., Hallinger P., Seashore-Lois K., Furman-Brown G., Gronn P., Mulford B., & Riley K. (Eds.), The second international yearbook in educational leadership. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Gronn, P. (2003). The new work of educational leaders changing. Leadership practice in an era of school reform. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Gronn, P., & Hamilton, A. (2004). ‘A bit move life in the leadership’: Co-principalship as distributed leadership practice. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 3(1), 3–35.
Gunter, H. (2001). Leaders and leadership in education. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Johnson, H., McCreery, E., & Castelli, M. (2000). The role of the headteacher in developing children holistically Perspectives from Anglicans and Catholics. Educational Management and Administration, 28(4), 389–403.
Jones, J., & Webber, C. (2001). Principal succession: A case study. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, April 10–14.
Kimball, K., & Sirotnik, K. (2000). The urban school principalship: Take this job and...! Education and Urban Society, 32(4), 535–543.
Lacey, K. (2003). Principal class leadership aspirations A research report to Education Victoria. Melbourne: Rightangle consulting.
Lefebvre, H. (2004). Rhythmanalysis. Space, time and everyday life. London: Continuum.
Mulford, B. (2003). School leaders: Changing roles and impact on teacher and school effectiveness. OECD: Paris.
Ngurruwutthun, N., & Stewart, M. P. A. (1996). ‘Learning to walk behind; learning to walk in front’ a case study of the mentor program at Yirrkala Community Education Centre. Unicorn, 22(4), 3–23.
OECD (2001). What future schools? Paris: OECD.
Pounder, D., & Merrill, R. (2001). Job desirability of the high school principalship: A job choice theory perspective. Educational Administration Quarterly, 37(1), 27–57.
Reay, D., & Ball, S. (2000). Essentials of female management. Women’s ways of working in the education market place? Educational Management and Administration, 28(2), 145–159.
Revell, R. (1996). Realities and feelings in the work of primary heads. Cambridge Journal of Education, 26(3), 391–399.
Rosenblatt, Z., & Somech, A. (1998). The work behaviour of Israeli elementary school principals: Expectations versus reality. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(4), 505–532.
Sergiovanni, T. (1992). Moral leadership getting to the heart of school improvement. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Smith, P. (1999). Sex, lies and Hollywood’s administrators. The (de) construction of school leadership in contemporary films. Journal of Educational Administration, 37(1), 50–65.
Spillane, J. P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J. B. (2001). Investigating school leadership practice: A distributed perspective. Educational Researcher, 30(3), 23–28.
Starratt, R. (2003). Centering educational administration Cultivating meaning, community, responsibility. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
The New London Group. (1966). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 363–376.
Thomson, P. (1994). Local decision making and management. Adelaide: Joint Principals Associations, South Australia.
Thomson, P. (2001). How principals lose ‘face’: A disciplinary tale of educational administration and modern managerialism. Discourse, 22(1): 5–22.
Thomson, P. (2002). Schooling the rustbelt kids. Making the difference in changing times. Sydney: Allen & Unwin (Trentham Books UK).
Thomson, P. (2004). Severed heads and compliant bodies? A speculation about principal identities. Discourse, 25(1), 137–160.
Thomson, P., Blackmore, J., Sachs, J., & Tregenza, K. (2003). High stakes principalship: Sleepless nights, heart attacks and sudden death accountabilities Reading media representations of the US principal shortage. Australian Journal of Education, 47(2), 118–132.
Walker, B. (1992). Portrayal of the principal. The Practising Administrator, 14(3), 18–20.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thomson, P., Blackmore, J. Beyond the power of one: redesigning the work of school principals. J Educ Change 7, 161–177 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-006-0003-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-006-0003-6