This article presents an empirical study on a new training program for the professional development of school inspectors and principals. The international literature reviews show that training based on the learning of managerial skills has limits. Another approach to training based on professional difficulties experienced and on authentic practice…

Addressing early career school leader attrition and turnover, education systems assign mentors to ease novice principals' socialization, but results are varied and many mechanisms of this variance are still unexplained. To fill gaps in the literature, different mentor profiles were typified. Fifty-six mentor and mentee interviews were thematically…

International research has focused on changing the criteria for being considered a successful school leader. Principals' recent professionalisation project, accelerated through education within the framing of New Public Management, might engender a role in conflict with teacher roles and needs further focus. This empirical study approaches newly…

Leading change that promotes social justice requires courage and conviction. Drawing on identity theory, insights from a New Zealand case study show how two principals found their leadership identity challenged as they resolved issues arising from social disadvantage. The programs they developed to enhance pastoral care, behavior management, and…

Furnishing novice school leaders with the knowledge and skills they require to be successful in practice has proved difficult. This paper describes and analyses an attempt to link learning and school leading practices in their education: a three-year learning activity within the Swedish National School Leadership Training Programme intended to…

School leadership is found important for school development and student learning. Consequently, the interest in professional leadership education for principals has increased. In Sweden, professional leadership education for novice principals was made mandatory in 2010. Moreover, enhanced focus on leadership for teaching and learning in terms of…

The COVID-19 pandemic is a health crisis and today's school principals are faced with more challenging circumstances than in any other time in our known history. The purpose of this paper is to explore school principals' management practices, their leadership styles, and the challenges they encounter in response to the coronavirus disease 2019…

The aim of this study was to explore the role of school principals and their term of office in regard to school improvement. In particular, we investigated the convergences and divergences between the views of school principals in Greece and the findings of relevant international literature. To this end, we collected and analysed data from 66…

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the relationship between the psycho-social working conditions of novice school leaders and their turnover intentions, focusing on potential variations across public- and private schools and school levels. Research Methods: We invited all novice school leaders (n = 3,389) enrolled in the in-service Swedish…

As school leadership has increased in complexity, policy makers, educationalists, and researchers have realized that principalship requires preparation. However, several researchers have called for a better understanding of how school leadership education affects the learning and activities of principals. This empirical study explores how novice…

Purpose: This study investigated how leader characteristics, interpersonal dynamics, and situational context may predict turnover intentions among novice principals and assistant principals. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative survey was administered to 1,945 novice school leaders in Sweden. Linear regression analysis was conducted to…

The concern about the quality of preservice preparation programs provided for new and aspiring principals in China have led to calls to evaluate current programs through participant perspectives. This paper addresses this research gap by reporting research with participants on one national training program in a Southern province of China. A mixed…

Novice principals' experiences and responses to challenges are important for understanding their sensemaking of their role, especially in view of the contextual complexity of leadership in small schools. Using interview data from 19 novice principals in small schools, we explore principals' sensemaking of their key challenges and responses.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore teachers' responses to the arrival of new principals (NPs) into their school. More specifically, the paper poses three questions: How do teachers perceive the arrival of an NP into their school? How do teachers cope with the arrival of an NP? What are the factors affecting teachers' responses…

This review provides a synthesis of research from the past decade on beginning principals and the professional supports they access to cope with role-related demands. The synthesis is based on empirical research studies conducted from the perspectives of beginning principals and contributes to the knowledge base on principal wellbeing and…