The school principal’s role as a leader in teachers’ professional development: the case of public secondary education in Athens

This paper reports on research that was undertaken to determine the problems experienced by deputy principals in secondary schools, and the extent to which these problems were experienced. Although some research was conducted on the deputy principalship, no research treats the problems that deputy principals experience upon appointment comprehensively. An understanding of the problems experienced by secondary school deputy principals is a necessary precursor of an induction program to address the problems. A quantitative approach which was underpinned by the post-positivist paradigm was adopted. In order to determine the extent to which the problems were experienced, a survey was conducted among one hundred and fifty seven secondary school deputy principals in the North West Province. The participants came from a diverse context of rural, township and urban schools. The deputy principals who participated in the study included those who were newly appointed (one to three years of service) and those who were experienced (more than three years of service). Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and percentages. There were no significant differences in the responses of both newly-appointed and experienced deputy principals. The results revealed that deputy principals experienced administrative, financial management, work pressure, personal and physical resources problems. In an attempt to address the problems identified, a context-specific induction program is recommended. The induction program should be an on-going program of professional development and should preferably include specific aims, action steps to be taken to achieve the aims that are set and measures to evaluate progress.

The relevance of the studied problem is caused by the necessity of professional development in the field of human resource management of heads and specialists of the innovative organizations in a modern economic situation. In the article, the results of the conducted research of a personnel management system are given in the organizations of the Russian Federation (Voronezh region), and the necessity of creation of professional development system is proved in the field of human resource management of heads and specialists of the innovative organizations. The leading approaches to the research of this issue are the analysis and methodological justification of the psychological and pedagogical conditions which are necessary to realize the system of professional development in the field of human resource management of experts and heads of the innovative organizations. The implemented analysis defined the low level of competence of heads in the field of human resource management of most researched organizations. Professional development in the field of human resource management does not correspond to modern social and economic development conditions. To eliminate this problem the authors suggested theoretical and methodological basic concepts to establish the system of professional development in the field of human resource management of heads and specialists of the innovative organizations.

The current study aims at examining the role of transformational leadership in paving the way for well-built reengineering of marketing strategies within the healthcare sector in Jordan. Depending on a quantitative approach, 312 questionnaires were distributed to individuals within hospitals: 105 questionnaires – healthcare centers, 75 questionnaires – outpatient clinics, and 33 questionnaires – general medicine clinics in Jordan. The study results indicated as a start better employment of transformational leadership within hospitals compared to clinics and healthcare centers, which can be attributed to the size and capacity of the healthcare institution. The study also indicated an influence of transformational leadership in paving the way for reengineering of marketing strategies within the healthcare sector in Jordan attributed to all transformational leadership characteristics. Among these characteristics, it appeared that the most influential transformational leadership characteristic was “individualized consideration”, scoring a Beta value of 0.421. This meant that the individualized consideration that transformational leadership has can nurture creativity and innovation among individuals to use their talents, experiences, and skills to present new and novel approaches to managing the business. This individualized consideration helps manage the change approach that may appear within the reengineering process and cooperate with employees to embrace such change. The study recommended following transformational leadership as an approach within the organization to manage change and arm employees with a suitable leadership style that can prepare the environment for a well-prepared reengineering of marketing strategies.