Making Sense of Problems in Primary Headship

Managing problems has always been a major responsibility of headship, but a substantial number of primary heads now regard their role as especially problematic. With a steadily expanding set of responsibilities and an increasingly demanding set of constituencies to satisfy, the problems which impinge upon primary headship seem set to become ever more challenging. While media sources regularly report increasingly onerous headteacher workloads, ever more rigorous accountability and responsibility demands and over-stretched school budgets, there has been very little empirical research into the problematic nature of modern primary headship.   By using evidence from interviews with seventy primary headteachers, this book highlights the most serious problems experienced by primary heads. In particular, the management of school finance and premises and relationships with a range of other people involved in the life and work of the school are shown to be recurring historical issues in primary headship. This book is a response to these problems and draws upon research on organizational value theory, micropolitics and symbolism as well as school leader succession and socialisation studies. By offering a set of conceptual tools to enhance analysis of problem causes and identification of relevant management strategies this text will prove a valuable resource for researchers and leaders in education.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I What’s the Problem?  Chapter 1. Mapping the Minefield: explaining the research studies  Chapter 2. Landmarks in the Minefield: generic problem issues  Chapter 3. New Heads on Their Blocks: the problems of assuming headship  Chapter 4. Hard Labour: managing a problematic workload  Chapter 5. Close Encounters: problematic colleagues  Chapter 6. Clients and Consumers: problematic parents and pupils  Chapter 7. More Checks Than Balances: problematic partners in school governance  Chapter 8. Counting the Cost: the personal impact of headship  Part II What Every Head Should Know  Chapter 9. Making Sense of Headship: knowing what  Chapter 10. Making Sense of Headship: knowing how  Chapter 11. Back to the Future: revisiting classic knowledge bases for problem analysis and framing  Chapter 12. Learning the Ropes? On the Ropes?: making sense of headteacher succession and socialisation  Chapter 13. Hands on Hearts and Fingers on Pulses  Chapter 14. Putting Problems in Perspective: Strategy and Reflection in Problem Management

About the Author :
Gerald Dunning taught at Swansea University, UK and, subsequently, the University of South Wales where he was head of the Department of Education and deputy head of the School of Psychology where he currently serves as a visiting research fellow. Tony Elliott taught at Bangor University, UK, where he was Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Education.

Review :
Drawing on interviews with 70 primary headteachers in the UK, as well as personal experiences, the authors consider problematic aspects of primary headship and how they affect the daily work of primary headteachers, as well as how to deal with them or reduce their impact. They discuss generic problem issues faced by headteachers, then issues in the areas of the assumption of the headship; workloads; relationships with parents, colleagues, and students; and the impact of problems on professional and personal lives. The second section addresses theories that aid in the understanding of the causes and ramifications of problems, including the types of knowledge headteachers need to be able to process; how that knowledge is formed and applied to problem management; organizational micropolitics, symbolism, and value theory; the processes and implications of headteacher succession and socialization; and strategic problem management and the role of reflection.