Relying on the contingency theory, the present study examines the influence of school characteristics and principal-teacher gender (dis)similarity on the relationship between principals' systems thinking (PST) and teacher withdrawal behaviours of absenteeism and intent to leave. Data were collected from two sources: 111 school management team…

The study examines factors that boost principals' sense of resilience in their first year, as well as those that undermine it. 61 interviews were conducted with 21 school principals from five different districts throughout their first year in the role. Analysis revealed five categories of resilience-undermining factors. (1) Work overload that…

This qualitative study explores how 60 Israeli high school principals vary in their perceptions and enactments of shared sense-making processes while engaging in strategic activities to gain teachers' support during a national reform implementation. Data analysis has yielded three major themes: (a) a common language; (b) a collaborative learning…

Purpose: This conceptual paper explores a novel model explaining teachers' perceptions of their effective leader through the lens of implicit leadership theory (ILT), using the concepts of school principals' sense-making and cognitive complexity (CC). Design/methodology/approach: The sense-making framework and CC theory were used to explain ILT,…

Keeping experienced and competent teachers in schools is becoming an important challenge for school leadership. Hence, this research tested an innovative model which explored the direct and indirect relationship between principals' instructional leadership, collective teacher efficacy, a shared vision, and a teacher's intent to leave their…

In the face of the dynamic tension between internal goals and external reform demands, school principals' role has become increasingly more complex and their sense-making more crucial. Yet, research has paid little attention to the significant role principals perform as sense makers in local reform implementation processes. This study explores…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test an innovative model for exploring the direct and indirect relationships between principals' cognitive complexity (CC), schools' absorptive capacity (ACAP), a teacher's affective commitment and a teacher's intent to leave. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a survey of 1,664 teachers…

During reforms, principals often experience ambiguity, contradicting demands, and lack of information. As critical change agents and system players, principals interpret reform demands and translate them into school practices through a process of sense-making. The current qualitative research explored 59 elementary school principals' sense-making…

This study examined the coping strategies utilized by new assistant principals (APs) in order to establish their professional and managerial authority as they enter their role. This article is based on a qualitative study of 23 APs at different stages of their careers, deriving categories from 37 semi-structured interviews (14 were repeated ones,…

Research results have provided evidence of the potential contribution that professional learning communities (PLCs) can make to enhance school outcomes. While numerous organizational and cultural aspects of schools have been recognized as key requirements for PLC success, researchers have noted that a teacher's ability to share knowledge in the…

Purpose: Turning an education reform program into school reality greatly depends on the principal. In certain cases, principals choose to implement reform instructions only partially. The purpose of this paper is to explore school principals' considerations leading to their decisions not to fulfill a national reform's guidelines in a full and…

This exploration of principal learning mechanisms (PLM) to support a learning-centered school aimed to develop, field-test, and validate a PLM-measuring instrument. Following exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of items to examine factorial validity, the developed scale was correlated with other work-related established constructs (e.g.,…

This article attempts to explore the concept of the professional learning community from the critical discourse perspective. Instead of viewing collective learning as being controlled by higher levels within the school hierarchy as a means to increase power, critical discourse seeks to uncover how power, knowledge, and truth are continuously being…