School decentralization, which has reshaped power relations in the educational system, has empowered teachers and parents. Taking Abbott's approach to professions, the authors examine teachers' perceptions of the implications of parents' empowerment for teacher—parent relations. In-depth interviews with homeroom teachers in affluent urban elementary schools revealed that teachers favored parents' involvement but also felt vulnerable to the increasing influence of parents, who scrutinized their work and encroached on their professional domain. To counter this, teachers employed political means: open communication and transparency to boost parents' confidence and trust in their teaching skills or diplomacy to avoid conflicts. This study suggests that, at times of school reform, teachers should develop political tasks to preserve their control over their profession.

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to probe the extent to which principals, as boundary spanners, manage with the influence of the local educational authority (LEA) and the superintendent over school matters. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on sequential quantitative→qualitative explanatory mixed research design. It is based on a sample of 161 Hebrew elementary school principals in two school districts in Israel who completed a questionnaire and on in-depth interviews with four school principals. Findings – The findings indicated that school principals initiate assistance from the superintendent and the LEA depending on the influence they have in schools. However, they utilize their relations with each external agency differently. With the LEA, they established mutual exchange relations whereas school principals engage with the superintendent in order to negotiate more effectively with the LEA. By doing so, principals can control external agencies’ involvement in schools along with strengthening the power of the central educational authority. Originality/value – The study makes a unique contribution to the literature on school principals’ role with external agencies by revealing their navigation and balancing among the various factors that influence schools. The study highlights the agential role of school principals.

Background: Women school leaders may act as social agents who promote gender equality, but evidence is inconclusive regarding the effect of women's leadership on gender stratification in the workplace. Purpose: Based on the similarity-attraction perspective, this study examined male and female school leaders' relations to similar others in three educational systems: Jewish secular public schools, Jewish religious public schools, and Arab schools. As these school systems represent distinct sociocultural contexts regarding women's status, the study tested for differences among them in women's sponsorship of other women. Data Collection and Analysis: The study was based on a survey conducted by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics in 2000 that included ( N = 63, 886) teachers and school administrators. The data were analyzed by conducting several multinomial logistic regression analyses in which the dependent variable was holding an internal leadership position within the school. Findings: The findings indicated that female school leaders have more diversified behavior to other women than male school leaders show in regard to men. The extent to which women promoted other women depended on their relative social power within each educational system. Conclusions: The study supports the claim that sponsoring similar others tends to be context bound, as gender inequality in holding internal administrative positions differed according to school principals'gender and to educational system. The implications of the study are discussed.

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