Abstract
With an ever-increasing number of administrator turnovers and retirements the need for strategic leadership and trust development on the part of succeeding principals to develop and sustain organizational learning and school improvement initiatives is paramount. This chapter addresses how one principal faced with the consolidation of three schools successfully developed trust and utilized specific leadership goals and strategies to develop a positive and cohesive school culture aimed at increasing teacher effectiveness and student achievement. While attending to trust criteria focused on ability and interpersonal skills the principal explicitly communicated and reinforced the congruence of his actions, policies, and values (APV) to help his staff quickly progress to ‘integrative’ levels of trust along the trust continuum. Working to purposefully develop the ‘strategic architecture’ of the school including relationships, culture, learning and resources, the principal’s goals and associated practices addressed the technical, intellectual, socio-emotional and socio-political dimensions of teachers’ work as identified by Bascia and Hargreaves.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the administrators and teachers who kindly agreed to be part of this study. This research is supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1
8.1.1 Matching Areas of Strategic Architecture with Dimensions of Teachers’ Work
Technical (craft practice, ways and means, methods) | Intellectual (underlying beliefs, philosophies, and ideas) | Socio-political (procedures, rules of interaction, protocol) | Socio-emotional (sense of responsibility and efficacy) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Learning | • Pedagogy • Lessons • Assessment • Extra-curricular • Andragogy | • Principles of learning • Learning styles • Differentiation of instruction • Outcomes Framework—Age/skill groupings | • Academic support and discipline • IEPs • Supervision/feedback • Professional growth targets | • Personal and professional respect based on competence and legitimate authority |
Resources | • Faculty/personnel • Curriculum • Facilities • Time and space • Technology • Financials/capital | • Multicultural • Equal access • Multiple intelligences • Distribution mechanisms | • Prioritization • Use and acquisition • Outsourcing • Fundraising | • Valued for self and contribution of skills and expertise • Perceptions of fairness and justice |
Relationships | • Staff/student dynamics • PD • PLCs • Mentoring/coaching • Counselling • Community/parent contact/communications | • Self esteem built upon feeling: – Capable – Connected – Contributing Or act out with power, attention, revenge, avoidance | • Students/parents • Professional/collegial • Community/business • School board • Government • Associations | • Personal and professional identity and acceptance • Collegial trust • Role expectations |
Culture | • Autonomous vs. collaborative • Expertise vs. entitlement • Values driven/connected • Organizational and sub-group norms | • Learner and learning centred • Capacity building • Diversity | • Formal and informal power groups • Info/expectations, communication and feedback mechanisms | • Organizational trust • Conformity vs. risk taking • Individual and group identity |
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Northfield, S., Macmillan, R., Meyer, M.J. (2011). Trust During Transition: Strategic Leadership and Trust Development During Principal Succession. In: White, R., Cooper, K. (eds) Principals in Succession. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1275-1_8
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