Peter Karstanje and Charles F. Webber
This paper is intended to provide an overview of trends in European education and to offer a framework for considering the elements of school management.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is intended to provide an overview of trends in European education and to offer a framework for considering the elements of school management.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports elements of the planning and implementation of a graduate‐level leadership development initiative in Bulgaria.
Findings
Several lessons learned were garnered from this project. First, models of leadership development must be adaptable to local organizational and system cultures. Second, international leadership development programs should expose participants to different approaches to learning and promote reflective analysis of the various approaches. Expansion of train‐the‐trainer models should be planned from the beginning of projects and consider status differences between trainers‐of‐trainers and trainees who become trainers. Finally, sustainability must be included in planning.
Research limitations/implications
The international leadership development program is reported from the perceptions of those who participated in the delivery and in the accreditation process. Others may perceive the program differently.
Practical implications
Management training needs to be practiced so program participants should have opportunities to practice, receive feedback, and dialogue. Experiential learning is essential. New educational ideas may need long incubation periods in the settings where they are introduced.
Originality/value
Leadership development program in East Europe are a relatively recent phenomenon and lessons learned will resonate with providers of leadership preparation programs in other settings.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to use empirical data on new principals to clarify the connection between different succession situations and the challenges their successor…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use empirical data on new principals to clarify the connection between different succession situations and the challenges their successor principals face.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on two waves of interview data from a random sample of 16 new elementary school principals in a major urban school district in the USA.
Findings
New principals face distinct practice challenges depending on the nature of their successions. The less planned the succession, the less information and knowledge the new principal tends to possess. The more discontinuous the new administration’s trajectory is with the previous administration, the greater the staff resistance that the successor principal tends to face.
Research limitations/implications
Few studies systematically examine how succession situations differ in schools that are in need of transformation vs those in need of stability. This study addresses this gap by illuminating the varied processes of succession and highlighting specific mechanisms that link these processes to different organizational trajectories.
Practical implications
For district officials, this study suggests that principals in unplanned successions need greater support in quickly gathering information about their new schools while principals in discontinuous successions need greater expertise in how to balance trust-building and accountability in their attempts to promote transformational change.
Originality/value
This study’s primary value is its detailed articulation of how certain characteristics of succession situations are associated with specific types of challenges. Only studies at this level of specificity can be effective guides to practitioners and policymakers who are charged with preparing, selecting, and supporting new principals and their schools.