Abstract
This chapter presents research overview of the studies on school principals and leadership in Poland, and it covers the period from 2000 to 2012. The paper begins with the brief characteristics of the school system in Poland and its current challenges. Then, it characterizes a Polish principal and describes their role in relation to the current national policy and the school system in Poland. In the second part of the paper, the attention is paid to the critical analysis of contemporary research on school principal’s role and leadership in Poland. It shows that the research is centered on the following three main aspects: (1) situation and professional status of school principals; (2) principal’s role, work, and competences; and (3) educational leadership and school development. In summary of the paper, the existing strengths in contemporary research on school principals and leadership and important areas currently not examined in Poland are highlighted. This could form the basis for suggesting directions which could be undertaken in the future research efforts in the field.
The overview of the research presented in this paper encourages to search further and become more closely interested in the principals as agents of leadership actions and in everyday problems that they face. The debate about the role of a principal in a contemporary school should be centered on the possibilities that are at principal’s disposal for creating a school’s organizational culture. The analyses concerning school ought to particularly focus on norms and values, which are important for teachers, parents, pupils, and on various premises lying at the foundations of a school.
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Notes
- 1.
The year 1989 was a crucial year in the contemporary history of Poland. After the agreements of the so-called “round table” resulting from the negotiations between the representatives of the opposition and the representatives of the ruling government, the first partially free parliamentary elections took place in June 1989. The first totally free and democratic elections were held later, in 1991. A dynamic period of political, social, and economic transformation began in Poland. The rebirth of parliamentary democracy led to the creation of many political parties and the development of independent mass media. The decentralization of public authority continued along with the local reform. The introduction of the market economy limited the State intervention in the economy and initiated restructuring and privatization processes. In the 1990s, Poland entered the path leading to integration with Western European countries. In 1991, it became a member of the Council of Europe and concluded the Association Agreement with the European Community, which was ratified by the European Community in 1993. Poland became a member of the OECD in 1996 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999. On 1 May 2004, Poland became a member of the European Union.
- 2.
The evolution of a research dedicated to educational leadership is accompanied by numerous activities aimed at popularizing the issue of educational leadership. These activities are taken in response to increased demand among practitioners, educational policy makers, and the academia for discussion. The exchange of views, analysis of good practices, and the latest research findings over – putting it broadly – educational leadership are performed in Poland. At the national level, these actions are primarily organized by the National Association of Managerial Educational Staff and by the Centre of the Development of Education. The activities of the National Association of Managerial Educational Staff gather around itself the heads of all kinds of educational institutions, educational inspectors, and teachers from the whole of Poland in order to exchange experiences and develop good solutions for education. Nowadays, the association aims at establishing standards for schools and, especially, (1) organizational standards (e.g., standards for employing workers), (2) financial standards, (3) school management standards and those concerning principals’ competences, and (4) the scopes of competences of all who make up education in Poland. The association is a partner of the journal Dyrektor szkoły (“School Principal”), issued by the Managerial Educational Staff. This monthly journal is a compendium of knowledge about school management and also educational leadership. In order to popularize the issue of educational leadership, conferences, seminars, and workshops are organized, mainly by the institutions of higher education.
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Madalińska-Michalak, J. (2016). Poland: Contemporary Research on School Principals and Leadership. In: Ärlestig, H., Day, C., Johansson, O. (eds) A Decade of Research on School Principals. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23027-6_9
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