Emotion is central to principals' daily operation of schools. As principals' work is intensifying, principals are increasingly encountering emotionally charged situations on a daily basis. This article uses data from a large provincial survey to explore what time demand factors contribute to these emotionally draining situations that principals…

Chile is undertaking an ambitious public education reform, re-centralising the administration of municipal schools in larger territories. This reform is unprecedented, both for the size of the new intermediate-level services ("Servicios Locales de Educación Pública") and the escalation of their bureaucratic complexity, facing widespread…

Purpose: This study explored the different manifestations that school principals attribute to their sense of loneliness, with reference to their career seniority. The study posed two questions: (1) what are the various interpretations that school principals attribute to their sense of loneliness, in regard to the way in which it is manifested in…

In this qualitative study, we examined the perspectives of four urban K-12 principals on what hinders and helps their vitality. Grounded in 60 minute interviews, 10 monthly, full-day observations, and document analysis with each participant, we identified three themes hindering their vitality: (a) illusion of control of productivity strategies and…

It is well established that principal turnover is of grave concern in the U.S. (Goldring & Taie, 2018; Levin et al., 2020) and may have been exacerbated due to the pandemic (Steiner et al., 2022). This transcendental phenomenological study explored the experience of women principals at P-12 schools in the U.S. who voluntarily left their roles…

Using an information-processing approach and organisational learning theory (i.e. ambidexterity), the current innovative study examines a model for the prediction of schools' collective mindfulness and its consequences, linking principals' cognitive complexity (CC) with school ambidexterity and mindfulness, school ambidexterity with school…

The very nature of contemporary principals' work depends on the effective management and regulation of emotions. This study uses data derived from 13 interviews to provide insight into how secondary school principals manage their emotions. Findings indicate that principals use several strategies to manage their emotions, including those associated…

The current study traced the principal's own interpretation of loneliness in the workplace throughout various career stages in the principal's career cycle. The study posed two questions: (1) How do school principals explain the personal and organisational factors that influence their loneliness experience as it relates to different contexts? (2)…

This study explored principals' perceptions of their own loneliness and their styles of coping with it. The study posed two questions: (1) How do school principals experience the personal and organizational factors that influence their loneliness in various work contexts? (2) What strategies do school principals use to cope with their sense of…

Although an emerging field in the leadership literature, destructive leadership is an under-researched area in the context of education. Destructive leadership in schools is the focus of the article. To understand the phenomenon we first undertake a transdisciplinary review of the literature from across philosophy, psychology and sociology. We…

Workplaces are the locations of significant social outcomes that are worth studying in their own right. In addition to pursuing and achieving their own intended outcomes (i.e. a well-educated and healthy public, in the case of the American public education and American healthcare systems), they are resources on which individuals rely for social,…

School principals fulfil unique and crucial roles, drawing on their respective experience to react to an increasing number of challenges. They must carry out their roles as school leaders within a context highly charged with emotion. The loneliness of principals at schools urgently requires investigation. Limited details can be found in current…

The main purpose of this research is to analyse the effect of the loneliness status of principals' working at the schools in Aydin, Turkey to their individual performance. The partcipants included 286 principals, working in Aydin city center, district or villages. "Loneliness at Work Scale" (LAWS) and "Employee Performance…

Based on a secondary analysis of studies on Flemish primary schools, the article argues that the metaphor of the gatekeeper, on the threshold between the outside-school and the inside-school world, is a powerful frame to capture some of the particular complexities of principals' emotional experience of themselves and their working conditions. More…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to conduct a critical analysis of the origins and implementation of problem-based learning in educational administration as a window into the limitations of this approach and more generally administrator preparation. Design/methodology/approach: The author reviewed the published work of the originator from…