Management Support for a Sustainable School Principal?

Background

School principals’ workloads have been increasing for a long time, whilst many are leaving their posts early. High turnover among school principals affects both schools’ development work and pupils’ opportunities for a stable education. To address these challenges, Östersund Municipality has introduced a new role – management support – in which experienced school principals relieve the workload of other school principals, support them, and act as qualified mentors. Despite a growing need, there is very limited research on how such support works in practice.

Aim

The aim of the project is to generate knowledge about how leadership support affects school principals’ day-to-day work and leadership, as well as the opportunities and challenges the role entails. The project also investigates how leadership support can contribute to more sustainable leadership and strengthen schools’ long-term capacity for development.

Implementation

The study is being conducted as a practice-oriented qualitative case study in close collaboration with Östersund Municipality. Data collection comprises document analysis, interviews with senior management, school principals and management support staff, as well as written reflections from teachers. The material is analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify recurring patterns and experiences.

Significance

The project contributes new knowledge about an organisational function that has so far been little researched. The findings can provide school authorities with a better basis for understanding how school principals can be supported in their leadership roles, thereby contributing to a better working environment, greater continuity in school leadership and more sustainable school organisations. This knowledge is relevant both to research and to school practice.