Principal Succession/Rotation Management: Values, Processes and the Future

1. Principal Succession/Rotation Management: Values, Processes and the Future Cecilia Reynolds (University of Saskatchewan) Robert E. White (St. Francis Xavier University) Shawn Moore (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto) Carol Brayman (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto)

2. Three Year Study (2003-2006) Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada)

3. Purpose Investigate secondary principal rotation and succession from a district perspective with a focus on gender

4. Core Concepts Rotationis an organizational mechanism for transfer of leaders within a system Succession refers to the departure of one leader and the arrival of another

5. Sample Provinces: • Nova Scotia • Saskatchewan • British Columbia • Ontario Districts: Rural 0-5 high schools Urban 6> high schools Directors of Education: 8 male and 2 female

6. Data Collection 30 Interviews (21 males; 9 females) • Directors of Education • Superintendents • School Board Chairs • Executives of Principal Associations Documents • Strategic Plans • Policy Manuals • Research Reports

7. Data Analysis • Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to code interview transcripts, identify emergent themes and generate hypotheses • Qualitative findings were integrated with statistical trend data • Provincial and district profiles were developed for comparative analyses

8. Key Findings:Rotation Policy • Urban administrators endorse the 5-7 year principal rotation “model” as essential to system management and professional development. While rural leaders prefer an informal approach, Our practice…we cannot leave a principal anywhere longer than five, maybe six years. Our last director challenged us on that. He thought people should be there eight years...I can't think of leaving a principal anywhere longer than six years (Director, Urban Saskatchewan School District) “We only have one high school so we don’t need to have a plan for rotation” (Chair, Rural Ontario Board).

9. Key Findings (Cont’d):Decision-Making • Administrators claim they consult the school community before making principal rotation decisions. However, an official from the Catholic Principals’ Council (Ontario) argued that “consultation is almost non-existent”. In British Columbia, we found one notable exception in a rural district serving an Aboriginal community, “The final decision goes with the elected people who seek the advice of district...and local administration…It’s a consensus…It’s very seldom that the decision is different from what is advised by the community and the staff…We have considered (including secondary students).”

10. Key Findings (Cont’d):Criteria for Selecting Leaders • Administrators and trustees look for a common set of leadership experience, knowledge and skills amongst their principals. This comment from an urban trustee in Saskatchewan is similar to what we heard repeatedly, “Although individual (principals) have their own personal style… they're all expected to be exemplary curriculum leaders as well as be approachable, reach out to communities, and nurture and foster professional development within staff.”

11. Key Findings (Cont’d):Finding the Best “Fit” • Administrators asserted that “subjective” factors such as gender, ethnicity or race were weighed in relation to the “total picture”: the dynamic relationship between individual qualifications, local school needs and “effectiveness of a team”. The objective is to find the best "fit". We consider…whether the principal shares the same philosophy as the school staff and the school community... We want the students, parents and staff of the school to be a very cohesive unit ─ a good ‘fit’… (Board Chair, Urban School District in Nova Scotia)

12. Key Findings (Cont’d):Gender and Leadership Style • Administrators characterized women’s leadership style as “deliberate”, “disciplined”, “controlling”, “intuitive”, “collegial”, and “consultative”. Are women leaders ‘emotionally nourishing’ and men the ‘managers’? Our respondents were not convinced, • “It’s more the background of the person. I’m a biased towards women…as more (open and understanding), but it doesn’t always work that way.” • “We have males (who) are…warm, fuzzy people…We had a female who was very strict and stern.” • “Sometimes gender issues come to bear in an administrative team but they cannot be separated from the generational.”

13. Key Findings (Cont’d):Statistical Trends • Statistical trends indicating a gradual increase in the numbers of female administrators over the last decade support respondents’ contention that gender is no longer an issue, The first time I came to a provincial (meeting), I looked out over a sea of gray, largely male administrators. A decade later…the balance is almost even”. (British Columbia Provincial Leader)

14. Key Findings (Cont’d):Gender and Context • Our statistical and interview data are inconclusive on whether principal gender is consistently linked to large, urban secondary schools, “Principals from (the) inner city… are predominantly male. Why that is, I don’t know. Did they apply? Were they placed there? Did nobody want the job?” (Saskatchewan School-Based Administrators’ Association) “We have…eight high schools and five of them are big. Four of them have female principals” (Director, Nova Scotia Urban School District)

15. Key Findings (Cont’d):The Face of Fairness • Informal power brokering, behind the public face of political correctness, continues to influence decision-making, “Gender's always a factor. Are we allowed to weight it? No…Hiring policies…are masculinist in orientation that favor men…We always make sure there's a woman on the interview committee…to avoid grievance….” (Female Administrator, Nova Scotia)

16. Key Findings (Cont’d):Race and Ethnicity • District administrators and provincial leaders are concerned that under-representation of certain groups in leadership positions, specifically African and Native Canadians, deprives schools of leaders who bring unique cultural, political and social sensitivities to their work, “The challenge...[is] ensuring that our leadership group is representative of our teacher group…and wider community. The community is changing; there's a huge demographic shift…in relation to the numbers of Aboriginal people…. We need to make sure that we're encouraging, training and promoting people of Aboriginal background”

17. Key Findings (Cont’d):Recruitment Dilemma • District and provincial leaders in British Columbia, made it clear that “simply being a member of a minority group shouldn’t trump everything else” and that “people (shouldn’t be) promoted just because of their background”. And this comment from a Director of an urban district in Saskatchewan, “We have not consciously made decisions to promote someone of Aboriginal background over someone that qualified more highly on other criteria…Our approach has been to encourage and develop people as opposed to quotas”

18. Major Challenges Aging/Retiring Principals Declining Interest in Administration Increasing Principal Workload Shrinking Leadership Pool Recruitment Minority Groups Professional Development

19. Conclusions • Needs of the system take precedence over the needs of the individual • Administrators no longer see gender as an issue in principal rotation and succession • Administrators rely on their local knowledge and informal communications, not just policy guidelines, to make principal rotation decisions • Despite trends showing improvement in gender balance, women are still under-represented as principals in secondary schools

20. The Future In this final year, we will complete our interviews in British Columbia and compare findings across provinces according to the following key themes: • ‘Servant’ model of leadership • Invisible gender stereotypes • Claims versus statistical evidence • Representation by race and ethnicity • Amalgamation versus assimilation