New primary leaders face significant challenges worldwide and this book brings together the range of those experiences and challenges for the first time. It includes interviews with primary school leaders in the early years of leadership in 12 different countries. Each chapter begins with an introduction to the principal and the local context before the principal's own description of her or his experience as a new leader. The leaders discuss how they prepared for principalship, their experiences after taking up the post, the extent to which the job meets with their expectations and their hopes and fears for the future. The final chapter provides a comparative overview, exploring new principals' perceptions of key influences on schools and their communities, their reactions to the multiple, heightened and often-conflicting expectations, pressures and challenges they encounter and the implications for principal preparation internationally. The voices of principals from around the world provide a vivid and authentic picture of new school leaders in different contexts at the beginning of the 21st century.
Edited by:
Dr Michael Cowie
Imprint: Continuum Publishing Corporation
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 438g
ISBN: 9781441103079
ISBN 10: 1441103074
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 11 August 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Further / Higher Education
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgements \ Editor's Note \ Contributors \ 1. New Principals: Context, Culture, Preparation, Induction and Practice Michael Cowie \ Part 1: Australasia \ 2. At the Edge of the Silent Centre: An Australian Principal's Reflections on Leading an Isolated School Helen Wildy and Simon Clarke \ 3. Tihei Mauri Ora: Becoming a Primary School Principal in New Zealand Reynold Macpherson \ Part 2: Americas \ 4. Leadership Based in Love of People and Place: A Novice Principal in an Economically Poor Community in Texas, United States Sarah W. Nelson and Israel Aguilar \ 5. Changing School Perspective: A Challenge for an Elementary School Director in Mexico in Her First Years Gema López-Gorosave, Charles L. Slater, Susana Martínez Martínez and José María García Garduño \ 6. ‘Something Greater Was Happening': A Novice Principal Reflects on Creating Change through Building Community Relationships Diane Purvey and Charles Webber \ Part 3: Asia \ 7. ‘Our School is Our Independence': A Novice School Director's Perspective on School Leadership and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in East Timor Reynold Macpherson \ 8. ‘I Want to Do the Best Job That I Can, So I Worry': A Novice Principal in China Reflects on the Complexity of Leading an Urbanizing Rural School Xiao Liang \ Part 4: Africa \ 9. Life in the Principalship during Challenging Times: A New South African Principal's Perspective Kobus Mentz \ 10. One Classroom, Seven Grades and Three Teachers: Challenges Faced by a Novice Headteacher in Tanzania Brown Onguko \ Part 5: Europe \ 11. ‘I Think I do a Good Job but I Could Do a Better Job': Becoming and Being a School Principal in Scotland Michael Cowie \ 12. ‘Probably More Than I Bargained For': A Head Teacher in England Reflects on Her First Headship Megan Crawford \ 13. When You Enter on the Dance Floor, You Have to Dance: A New School Director in Romania Reflects on Leading an Inclusive Community School Ovidiu Gavrilovici and Carmen Cretu \ 14. Comparing the Experience of Principals in Different Contexts Michael Cowie and Megan Crawford \ Index
Michael Cowie is an Honorary Fellow of the College of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. A former headteacher, Michael was previously Co-Director of the Masters Programme in Educational Leadership and Management at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the North of Scotland Headteacher Preparation Consortium, a partnership involving the universities of Aberdeen and Dundee and nine education authorities.
Reviews for New Primary Leaders: International Perspectives
'These vivid narratives, from the remotest Inuit outpost in Canada to East Timor communities cutoff for months on end in the rainy season, provide a compelling read. They remind us of the profound impact of context and culture on what it means to lead a school, and how little of conventional wisdom 'travels'. In the most challenging and unpredictable of circumstances there is, however, one common theme -that leadership is a privileged opportunity to make a difference to the lives of children.' John MacBeath, Chair of Educational Leadership, University of Cambridge, UK 'This book offers 12 tales of school principals from across the continents that allow you to engage, smell and almost touch the intensity and passion felt for their role and the children and fellow teachers they serve. Academic participants in an international project on early principalship, in conjunction with principals, tell the stories and succeed in providing realistic human portraits laced with biographical detail, professional formation, contextual information and insights into the complex and demanding role. Educational theories are exemplified in the daily work of these principals and their locations, aspirations, inspirations and hopes for the future. Inherent risks, stresses and uncertainties abound; these are real people and very real schools.' Jim O'Brien, Emeritus Professor of Leadership and Professional Learning, University of Edinburgh, UK.
