Got a Minute? Can Instructional Leadership Exist Despite the Reactive Nature of the Principalship?
by Sheryl Boris-Schacter
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Overview
This is an account of the author’s decision to take leave from her academic position to fill an interim position as a primary school principal for a whole school year. Her focus was on the extent to which principals can find a way to balance the administrative side of managing a school, and also provide pedagogical leadership in order to improve teaching and learning.
Boris-Schacter’s previous research showed that there is a shortage in America of qualified and effective principals. It also presented the disillusionment that many experience when the everyday workload prevents them doing the things that first attracted to them the position. New Zealand research indicates that teachers are reluctant to take up principal positions. If they do, they often find themselves focusing more on management than on educational leadership.
This is a very accessible article which opens up a discussion about ‘what do principals spend their time on’ and about where their efforts should be focused. It provides useful examples of the tensions that arise if a principal does focus on teaching and learning, while others in the school are not expecting the principal to be so directly involved.
The article provides a very good opening for principals to think about their role, to consider their priorities, and to initiate discussion within their school about their approach to leadership. It could be used in conjunction with Kiwi Leadership for Principals.
Reflective questions
These reflective questions might guide you in your reading of this article:
- Reflect on the extent to which your vision of being a principal relates to the realities of your everyday experience of the job in your current school. What ideas does the article provide that might help you make a difference to the balance between administration and educational leadership?
- What expectations do the teachers and the community have of you and your role in the school? How do these expectations interfere with your ability to provide educational leadership for the school? Consider some changes that you could make, such as (re)distributing leadership in the school, that would help you and others to focus on your role as an educational leader.
- What ideas in the article assist you in thinking about ‘blending’ managerial and leadership roles to ensure a focus on pedagogical leadership that will improve teaching and learning?
Reference
Boris-Schacter, S. (2007, August). Got a minute? Can instructional leadership exist despite the reactive nature of the principalship? Paper presented at ACER research conference – ‘The leadership challenge: Improving learning in schools’, Melbourne, Australia.
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