PurposeSubmitting negative feedback is a stressful experience which both superiors and subordinates try to avoid. Do principals adapt to the mum effect and hide their (negative) thoughts and feelings, or do they confirm Weening et al. hypothesis about the existence of facilitating conditions.Design/methodology/approachAbout 40 elementary school principals described in semi‐structured interviews cases of poor performing teachers whom they had to inform about their shortcomings.FindingsFour consecutive stages, which escalated in directedness and criticism were found. Each stage depended on the outcomes of the previous one. Initially, half of the principals preferred first to ignore, but later 88 percent held a soft negative feedback and problem‐solving oriented discussions. When these discussions did not bring the expected results, about 80 percent criticized the worker orally. Only 30 percent criticized in writing. That process was accompanied with mixed feelings, mainly those of anger and compassion.Research limitations/implicationsThe results emphasize the need for individual guidance as how to overcome their hesitattions and give effective feedback to their poor‐performing teachers. As an exploraty study, its major weakness was the reliance on one side of the equation – the principals.Originality/valueMost earlier studies on mum effect were conducted in experimental setting. This study provides a uniquely realistic evidence of the interpersonal processes within the workplace. The worker appraisal and the transmission of (negative) feedback are explored through emotional lens.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which elementary school principals in Israel deal with teachers who are “challenging” in their behaviour, that is those who are perceived as under‐performing. This is an important and under‐researched area of educational management.Design/methodology/approachInterviews were carried out with 40 elementary school principals, every fourth school being sampled in the northern district of Haifa. They were asked to recall a particularly difficult teacher and their shortcomings and then asked about the measures they took, in chronological order, to solve the problem.FindingsThe findings indicated that the principals preferred supportive measures or making changes to the organization rather than confronting the teachers. More than half the principals had started by ignoring the difficulties. In the end most did discuss the situation with the teacher and that sometimes involved direct criticism. In half of the cases the teacher left the school by the end of the year.Research implications/limitationsThe research findings are limited as they only relate to the views of the principals, leading to the possibility of researcher empathy with the principals. Further research might investigate the teachers perspective.Practical implicationsFrom a practical point‐of‐view, the current findings indicate that elementary school principals need to be better equipped with knowledge, managerial skills and sources of assistance to solve personnel difficulties.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the limited literature on the subject of under‐performing teachers and reveals the resulting personnel difficulties faced by principals.

Despite the possibility of poor teacher performance causing damage to pupils and to a school’s reputation, the subject has rarely been studied. This article examines, within the Israeli context, who the poor performing (referred as ‘challenging’) teachers are. Based on interviews with 40 elementary school principals, over 7 per cent of staff members were defined as ‘challenging’; mostly these were veteran teachers who manifested either insensitive attitudes towards pupils or had low motivation. The larger proportion of these teachers taught in deprived schools with inexperienced principals.

Teacher appraisal is never an easy task, especially of teachers experiencing difficulties and failures. Nevertheless it is a requirement for good management, in our schools no less than our corporations. Forty elementary school principals in Israel described the informal methods they use to appraise teachers who are performing poorly. Most considered traits such as sensitivity to children and their needs as well as motivation, rather than professional standards or pupil achievement, as the main criteria in judging poor or outstanding teaching. Due to the sensitive nature of the issue, and the desire to avoid misjudgment and painful conflict, the principals took several precautions: they used several different formal and informal methods of appraisal; they relied on various information sources and sometimes they preferred to delay drawing final conclusions until a crisis or external complaint occurred. The discussion situates the current findings with other research on the obstacles to identifying, evaluating and providing feed back to poor-performing teachers.

Educators in many countries are concerned about the decline in respect for authority by young people. The current study explores how children perceive their teachers' authority, what the `boundaries' (limits) to that authority are, and under what conditions they may decide to rebel. Over 200 Israeli elementary and middle school students were asked in semi-structured interviews how they conceive the norm of obedience to teachers; what kinds of illegitimate commands teachers issue; what pupils do in case of disagreement, and what is the jurisdiction of teachers and parents inside and outside school. The majority (81 percent) accepted the principle of teacher authority but qualified it with several conditions: authority was seen as limited to the school area, parents were accepted to intervene in cases of severe punishment and teachers should avoid committing aggressive and unethical acts. The discussion identifies circles of legitimate (agreed upon by both sides) and illegitimate (accepted by teachers but not by pupils) authority practices. It is argued that school psychologists can assist teachers and students identify this circle of disagreement and solve discipline problems.

The current study examines the mutual discrete emotions among superiors and their above-and below-average workers within a hierarchical organisation (school). Using a survey method within a random sample of 40 elementary schools in Northern Israel, each principal and four of his or her teachers (two who had been appraised as excellent and two who had been appraised as poorperforming) completed two questionnaires which addressed the teachers' perceived performance and emotions toward the principal/teacher. As expected, the above-average teachers were found to be more favourably professionally evaluated by their superiors than the poor-performing ones. The principals expressed very positive emotions toward them. These highly regarded workers shared mutually positive feelings and similar teacher performance appraisals with their principals. In contrast with the principals' evaluations, the below-average teachers perceived their own performance as very good. Unlike the teachers' mainly positive feelings, the principals experienced mixed emotions. The lower intensity of emotional 'tone' reflects the principals' hesitation about taking any action which might lead to a deterioration in relationships with these teachers. The discussion proposes the theoretical framework of a vicious circle, in which the principal's undelivered direct feedback does not reach the teacher, who mistakenly believes that if nothing is said everything is all right, and therefore maintains his or her high self-esteem and poor performance.

Why do teachers become poor performers? In semi-structured interviews, forty elementary school principals in Israel described the personal story of one poor-performing staff member. Half of the problematic teachers were veteran teachers who faced a marked internal and external shift in mid-career. The seeds of their problems were probably planted early in their lives. Others faced a current personal crisis which impaired their performance. Poor performance was found not to correlate with any principal or teacher background variable. Neither was it connected directly with specific professional stages of a teacher's career. The discussion provides a theoretical framework and some remedies.

In this research, we examine strategies school principals have used to assist struggling teachers. In an open-ended questionnaire designed for this study, we asked 219 school principals to describe a successful intervention they held. The results show that principals prefer supportive assistance to organizational changes (such as moving the teacher to another class). They rarely used confrontational approaches. A content analysis of the strategies that enabled successful intervention identified four conditions: (a) principals’ willingness to intervene; (b) intensive use of measures and resources; (c) the teacher’s willingness to make changes; and (d) the need for flexibility in managing the intervention. The findings indicate the need to train principals to assist struggling teachers more effectively and to encourage them to become more assertive. This requires a professional development program for teachers and principals, guidance in classroom management, as well as organizational, financial, and human support.