Page 115 - Educational Leadership in a Changing World

Navigating between Principalship, Leadership and Management

Management processes
Leadership influencing ‘others’ – followers
Legal context
Principalship · Power · Authority

Principal

Figure 5.1
Conceptual Model
for Principalship

abilities, and the capacity to manage change constructively. These skills
are not peripheral, but central to fostering a positive school climate and
enabling sustainable school improvement.
As oecd research suggests, interpersonal and emotional competen-
cies should not be considered optional attributes, but rather integral
to the principal’s role. Their absence in formal standards risks leaving
principals underprepared for the relational and transformational de-
mands of contemporary schooling. In Slovenia, this gap is slowly being
addressed through professional development programmes and sublegal
guidelines; however, these remain fragmented and largely dependent
on individual initiative.
The legal framework explicitly and implicitly reflects a principal’s
power position, authority, responsibilities, and accountability. With
a focus on administrative tasks, neither management nor leadership is
sufficiently addressed. The foci of principals’ perceived needs, knowl-
edge and skills upgrade, and hence, professional development, move
the practice towards management processes while leadership remains
‘optional.’
Considering principals as primus inter pares and expecting them to be
super persons is illusory in this complex world. Schools must be man-
aged well with established processes and fulfilling aims and tasks, in a
welcoming, supportive, and developmentally oriented school culture.
Principals must understand their role and ‘engage others’ in leader-

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