In recent years much
has been written about the responsibilities of school administrators
and how they understand their role. Escalating educational costs
and shrinking resources have precipitated demands for more accountability
by principals and greater corporate involvement in our schools.
The impact on principals has been challenging and may be contributing
to the growing shortage of school administrators. It was with great
interest that I read Fennell's book, The Role of the Principal
in Canada, in which she presents the research of scholars from
Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario who looked into the concerns of
principals and make recommendations for how they can be better prepared
for what lies ahead.
In "To Be or Not
To Be: Factors Impacting on the Decision of Teachers to Move Into
the Principalship", Bénard and Vail surveyed administrators
in Ontario to compare their current role perceptions with their
motivations for becoming principals in the first place. Although
the return rate of surveys was only 41%, a substantial number reported
that "stress, increased workload and increased accountability"
(p. 18) made their work less appealing than they had expected it
to be. I would have preferred to see elaboration in some of the
sample responses under the headings Additional Comments or Feedback
Shared, and Obstacles to Accessing Principals' Qualification
Courses because such items as "changing role of the principalship"
(p. 18) and "course content" (p. 19) are unclear as to
whether they are positive or negative factors. However, Bénard
and Vail's interpretation of the findings as they pertain to the
leadership crisis in Ontario are useful, and their alternative to
the standard principal certification program commendable.
Castle, Mitchell and
Gupta's work highlights the negative effects of restructuring by
the Ontario government in 1996 without consulting principals and
allowing them time for reflection. In their chapter, "Roles
of Elementary School Principals in Ontario: Tasks and Tensions",
these authors imply that the mandated changes did not take into
consideration how individual principals would cope with resulting
role ambiguity and the fragmentation of responsibilities. The 1990s
vision of principals as transformational leaders is so blurred by
managerial tasks that one wonders whether government now believes
that schools need principals at all.
Macmillan and Meyer
used a survey in Nova Scotia to investigate the impact of external
agendas on the instructional leadership role administrators used
to perform. In "The Principalship: What Comes with Experience",
they recommend grant writing training in principal certification
programs to reflect the new realities. They list administrative
duties under three headings: Instruction, Monitoring and Communication,
and Management (p. 42), but one wonders if these categories
may be too broad. Also, it is not clear whether principals regard
these duties as positive or negative, and the meaning of all the
statistics reported on pages 44-48 is unclear. Such broad groupings
and numbers may obscure what might have been captured using a qualitative
methodology.
The chapter I felt most
comfortable with was Fennell's own, titled "Living Leadership:
Experiences of Six Women Principals". In her research, Fennell
used a narrative inquiry methodology to share the visions of professional
commitment, care and respect of her six study participants. While
many of her findings are not new in reporting the role perceptions
and styles of women principals, her research makes a strong case
for studying leadership from a phenomenological perspective. Through
conversations with and observations of her respondents, she found
their discomfort with authoritarian, hierarchical management styles
had led them to their current view of leadership. All six women
reported that prior to being principals they had experienced too
much management and too little leadership to promote student learning.
Furthermore, their desire to create a nurturing school climate of
shared decision-making, evolved out of their former feelings of
inadequacy when they were involved in power struggles with males.
These principals were committed to improving the lives of others
within an ethos of dignity and appreciation. Fennell states that
each participant in her study felt it was important to build trust
and support students and staff to deal with problems in their own
way. Consequently, the need for time to reflect cannot be overstated.
Sarbit's examination
of what happens when a principal in Alberta changes schools contributes
greatly to our knowledge of educational administration at a time
when there is tremendous principal turnover. In "Principal
Succession: The 'Reel' Story", her research shows that while
the administrator brings along the qualities and skills possessed
at the former school, there are many adjustments required in the
new context. Using a narrative inquiry methodology Sarbit cast herself
as a movie director and was able to capture multiple layers of meaning
through her camera lens. She recommends that succession be a topic
in principal certification programs.
The chapter by Goddard,
"Placing Community Before Efficiency? A Social and Cultural
Analysis Concerning the Amalgamation of Rural Schools", on
the effects of rural school closures in the name of political expediency
shows how an economic efficiency model based in a corporate mentality
hurts both students and staff. He applies priorities of the National
Association of Secondary School Principals (U.S.A.) for students
and teachers to our Canadian educational landscape. Goddard maintains
that the forced assimilation of rural students into larger, geographically
distant institutions does not yield improvement in student achievement;
on the contrary, the closures of small neighbourhood schools reduces
student participation in governance and many school activities.
While this chapter raises many issues of concern to students, parents
and teachers, I wish it had been more explicit in how the pressures
of school consolidation affect the principal's role.
In the final chapter,
"Inclusive Leadership for Diverse Schools: Initiating and Sustaining
Dialogue", Ryan discusses the challenges administrators face
in responding to increased diversity in student populations. He
uses terms like intelligence assessment, disability and minority
culture to advocate for more inclusion and recommends that principals
use a reciprocal, participatory stance to encourage dialogue. The
author does not acknowledge that schools have historically had diverse
populations and that cultural and gender discrimination are not
new phenomena in Canadian schools. The relation of dialogue to improving
inclusion is hardly a new idea. Inviting principals to "come
out of the office" and "walk the halls" (Ryan, p.
129) reflects a historically male-centred approach to leadership
while concurrently failing to address the current economic and political
pressures that are driving them back there. By stating that the
principal establishes school climate from a "position of power"
and needs to "handle" (Ryan,
p. 126) multiculturalism by engaging in dialogue, one wonders what
changes really need to be made.
I found this book interesting
and informative. The title is a bit misleading, since it suggests
to the reader that there will be a cross-section of perspectives
from each province and territory. I was unable to apply some of
it to my experience as a principal in an Aboriginal community, but
related to the challenges of change and bureaucracy. I found it
compelling to know that the authors were reporting on the realities
of current principals and making recommendations that might help.
The comparative aspect of accounts from contributors in such diverse
areas leads one to appreciate the commonalities of administrators'
collective experience and their dedication to a cause larger than
themselves.