Framing headship: a demand-side analysis of how the headteacher role is articulated in job descriptions

Abstract

The majority of studies into recruitment to the headship role have focused on supply-side dynamics and teachers' own accounts of the factors that (dis)incentivise them from aspiring or progressing to headship. Significantly less work has been done in analysing demand-side factors (Kwan & Walker, 2009).This paper addresses the gap by presenting findings from a mixed-methods analysis of headteacher job descriptions (n=67) published in a complete school year within Wales -one of the UK's devolved education systems. A discourse analysis was conducted, based on organisational and occupational conceptions of professional work (Evetts, 2009), which informed a subsequent content analysis of the job descriptions. Our findings identified a dominance of articulations that privileged organisationally-orientated understandings of headship and evidence of a lack of contextualisation and agency by stakeholders responsible for recruitment. Such 'demand-side' analysis offers scope for examining and understanding the way in which headship is framed and aligns with policy within a variety of international educational contexts and jurisdictions.

Pathways to the school principalship: An international scoping review

“…In this body of work, questions of recruitment, selection, and preparation are considered paramount to ensure a highly qualified principal in each school (Murphy and Hallinger, 1989, Pont et al, 2008). Growing global interest in leadership development is associated with successive large-scale educational reforms that view principals as a critical improvement lever (Bailey et al, 2021; Begley, 2008; Gumus et al, 2018; Gunter et al, 2016; Milton et al, 2020).…”

“…Rather questions are deliberately constructed by researchers in keeping with their major assumptions’. Through an analysis of job descriptions for the recruitment of principals in Wales, Milton et al (2020: 13) make a related point by noting that principalship is framed ‘in a way that aligns with a centrally-prescribed, organizationally-inflected understanding of headteachers’ professional work’.…”

“…Writing in 1989 about changes in the preparation of school administrators, Murphy and Hallinger (1989) noted that the sources of pressure for change had evolved over time from the professoriate in the 1950s to sources from outside the universities in the 1980s. In the current review, we observed that the principalship, and what is required to be appointed, are framed by how governments prescribed notions of school leadership, management and administration, though locally these prescriptions are adapted rather than adopted (Milton et al, 2020). Stevenson (2006) highlighted how increasing uncertainty and the rapid pace of change were creating new pressures and tensions for the work of school leaders and their career paths.…”

“…One overall conclusion is that the main drivers for research on the pathways to the principalship suggest that the principalship is often understood as a component of the solutions to a number of educational problems related to equity in access and quality. Put differently, the principalship is part of political projects competing to frame the field of education in general and school leadership in particular (Gunter, 2004; Milton et al, 2020). As educational systems face new challenges and school leadership models evolve, further research could explore how the principalship is framed as a solution in the context of new challenges as well as the implications for developing career pathways.…”

“…Cubillo and Brown (2003) proposed a model distinguishing three dimensions influencing career paths: (a) a ‘macro’ socio-political level representing traditions, culture, religion, and policy; (b) ‘meso’ organisational level, such as preparation requirements and the infrastructure to meet them; and (c) ‘micro’ level which addresses an individual's motivations and how these are shaped by the previous two levels. Understanding pathways to the principalship from these three dimensions highlights push and pull factors for entering, remaining, and exiting the post as well as how the principalship is steered by policymakers and professional associations through practices for preparation, recruitment, and selection requirements (Crow, 1992; Milton et al, 2020; Ribbins, 2008; Stevenson, 2006).…”