Male, T; (2004) Preparing for and Entering Headship in England: A Study of Career Transition. Doctoral thesis , University of Lincoln.

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Abstract

This is a study of career transition into first-time headship in England, informed by a large-scale survey of serving headteachers. The literature review establishes that the transition to a position of formal leadership requires preparation and support along three dimensions of career transition: the personal, organisational and occupational; dimensions established through examination of theories of self, identity and socialisation. The study demonstrates that the high levels of accountability and responsibility associated with headship, caused by legal and societal expectations, distinguishes it from similar jobs in other occupations and school systems. This induces additional challenges in adapting to the demands of headship and to becoming effective as the de facto formal leader in the school to which the headteacher is appointed. Processes and systems of preparation and induction for beginning headteachers are shown to be inadequate along the three dimensions of career transition. The study extends the range of small-scale research previously conducted by the author and others in the last decade of the twentieth century when the nature of headship was undergoing rapid change mainly as a result of the 1988 Education Reform Act, which transferred the locus of power and decision-making to the school. The empirical research undertaken for this study, which provides evidence not available elsewhere, was conducted through a self-completion survey directed at a stratified, random sample of serving headteachers in England. The sample is deemed representative and the findings, based on a response rate of over 60 per cent, are considered generalisable. The survey sought to establish the perceptions of headteachers as to their state of preparedness on entry to the job and what contributed to that state of preparedness. Opinion was also sought from the sample as to how systems and processes could be further developed to assist that state of preparedness. The responses to the survey are analysed against the components of the three dimensions of career transition. The study concludes by comparing the findings with the formal systems and processes for preparation and induction in England at the time of writing and by making a series of recommendations for individuals, school communities, local education authorities and central government and its agencies that, if implemented, should allow headteachers to become effective earlier in their new occupation than was the case when the survey was conducted.

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