ISSPP Building and Sustaining Successful Principalship: Messages from the Field Paper presented at CCEAM, Cyprus, October 2006

Differences in Contexts and Kinds responsive to context but not dependentresponsive to context but not dependent courage, heroism or distributed leadership: dispelling the mythscourage, heroism or distributed leadership: dispelling the myths

Similarities: Five Themes Passionate commitment, care and personal accountabilityPassionate commitment, care and personal accountability Moral purpose in managing tensions and dilemmasMoral purpose in managing tensions and dilemmas Being other centred and learning focussedBeing other centred and learning focussed Emotional and rational investmentEmotional and rational investment The personal and the functionalThe personal and the functional

The Organisational and Communal Orientation of Schools Schools as Impersonal Organisations Schools as Affective Communities Schools as High Performance Learning Organisations Schools as Person- Centred Learning Communities The Functional Marginalises the Personal The Personal Marginalises the Functional The Personal is Used for the Sake of the Functional The Functional is for the Sake of/Expressive of the Personal Mechanistic Organisation Affective Community Learning Organisation Learning Community Community is Unimportant/Destructi ve of Organisational Purposes Community has No/Few Organisational Consequences or Requirements Community is a Useful Tool to Achieve Organisational Purposes Organisation Exists to Promote Community EfficientRestorativeEffective Morally and Instrumentally Successful Table 11.1: The Organisational and Communal Orientation of Schools (Fielding, 2003, p. 6)

1. Sustaining Passionate Commitment and Personal Accountability High expectations; strong self-esteem; persistent; assertive; achievement oriented; learning centred: open communication; concern for educating the whole person based on clearly articulated values; rooted in the rights of students, inclusivity, social justice and democratic principles 2. Managing Tensions and Dilemmas and Maintaining Moral Purposes Able to manage ambiguities and conflicts in ways which enhance individual and school improvement which go beyond instrumental rationality 3. Being Other-Centred and Learning Focussed Continuous improvement, individual and collective communication and capacity building, collaborative learning cultures; dispersing leadership, decision-making and responsibilities, encouraging trust; intervening strategically in ways which are relevant to personal and system contexts through community involvement, deprivatising professional practice and nurturing teacher leadership 4. Making Emotional and Rational Investments Emotional understanding; empathy; trust; being courageous; staying close to the action; interacting on both cognitive and emotional levels with key stakeholder groups; creating safe teaching and learning environments; being innovative 5. Emphasising The Personal and The Functional Building person-centred communities which are functionally successful; modelling values; respecting others; exercising care with accountability Five Combinations of Principles and Practices in Building and Sustaining Processes of Successful School Principalship

1.emphasise both the functional and the personal, combining the pursuit of academic and social goals for the benefit for the personnel. 2.hold onto and express clear moral purposes as they manage tensions and dilemmas and these are expressed through building an individual and collective sense of identity To achieve this requires a strong sense of identity and this implies an awareness of self – "the extent to which people are conscious of various aspects of their identities and the extent to which their self-perceptions are internally integrated and congruent with the way others perceive them" (Hall, 2004, p. 154, in Gronn & Lacey, 2004) 3.sustain a passion of commitment with contexts of personal accountability 4.have a strong understanding and appreciation of the importance of emotional understanding and investment 5.recalibrate contextual conditions and constraints in order to use appropriate change strategies to continue to create the conditions necessary for school improvement; such conditions and constraints vary over time depending upon changes in internal and external contexts; the frequency of change varies according to internal and external contexts 6.prioritise genuine care for all in the community and the building and sustaining of professional trust and mutual respect e.g. dispersed leadership, collaborative structures CONT Conclusions

They indicate, also, that: 7. success is relative, dependent upon the school's structure, culture (social dynamic), socio-economic setting and the beliefs and biographies of the principal, staff and students; and 8.external changes are used by successful principals as a means of raising teacher and student expectations for learning and achievement as well as satisfying external accountability criteria 9.continuing professional development of different kinds appropriate to purpose is a key part of the development strategies used by successful principals e.g. de-privatising practice, modelling, mentoring 10.the ways in which core practices emerge and how they interrelate over time is neither linear nor formulaic. Conclusions

Conclusions: Successful principalship involves: A focus upon social, emotional and academic goalsA focus upon social, emotional and academic goals Changing structures and cultures in order to open schools to their local communitiesChanging structures and cultures in order to open schools to their local communities Understanding and working with tensions and dilemmas inherent in personal, social and policy contextsUnderstanding and working with tensions and dilemmas inherent in personal, social and policy contexts Responding but not being dictated to by these contextsResponding but not being dictated to by these contexts