Supervisors info:
Μπαμπάλης Θωμάς ,Καθηγητής ,ΠΤΔΕ,ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The present research paper focuses on specifying the core values, the skills and the require-ments which are considered essential for a successful career as a principal – pedagogical lead-er, in a teaching institution. Pedagogical leadership includes administrative, managerial, and mainly pedagogical skills. Principals who exert this pedagogical leadership emphasize on the creation of a school environment, that supports more effective teaching and learning proce-dures. A total of 127 primary school principals from the prefectures of Attica, Heraklion Crete and Cyclades participated in this study by completing a questionnaire in electronic form. The aim of this paper is to have the principals express their views on the philosophy of pedagogical leadership and what is included in it (practices, work, role, conditions), the de-gree to which they consider the implementation of pedagogical practices important in three main areas (students, teachers and school climate), the degree of importance they attach to nine factors of strengthening pedagogical leadership and the degree of their existence in Greek educational system. However, the findings suggest that the principals did not have suf-ficient knowledge of the model of pedagogical leadership. Specifically, they argued that the most important pedagogical practices are; cooperating, building mutual trust between staff members, creating a safe and supportive environment, etc. Ιn terms of strengthening pedagog-ical leadership, according to principals, the permanence and stability of the staff, the estab-lishment of networks of principals and their preparation and training are critical factors for the effectiveness of the implementation of pedagogical leadership. Conclusively, there was unan-imous agreement on the extent to which the specific -like the rest- factors that enhance the implementation of pedagogical leadership in Greece exist, which, as it turned out, is non-existent.
Keywords:
principal, teacher, skills, student, pedagogical leadership, school, school environment
