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www.pdst.ie© PDST 2016

This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ie/. You may use and re-use this material (not including images and logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Licence.

The centrality of the Principal and Deputy Principal Relationship

Misneach 2016

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eHow might you describe the ideal relationship between a principal and deputy principal in any school?

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Outline

• Know the ‘water you are swimming in’

• Know thyself!

• Fostering the relationship with the Deputy Principal

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Who is the Deputy?

‘The Deputy Principal occupies a position of vital importance in the administration and development of the school. The Deputy Principal shall undertake responsibility under the direction of the Principal for the internal organisation, administration and discipline of the school’.

Circular 04/98

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Role and functions• Check contract and job-description• What the DES expects-recent WSE/MLL findings• What are the parameters of the initial conversations• Some of the fears and anxieties of Deputy Principals• Readiness for the change-clarity and building capacity• What are the particular strengths of the Deputy and his/her preferred

roles and areas of responsibility?

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WSE• Senior management roles and responsibilities are clearly

defined and agreed. The principal and deputy principal have a vision for the school and work effectively to share and implement this vision. They are very concerned to maintain the ethos of the school in all its daily routines and operations. They work very hard to ensure the smooth running of the school and to enable both teachers and students to work effectively. They are mutually supportive, share responsibilities and communicate effectively. The principal and deputy principal provide effective management and administration and strive to promote improvements in the quality of teaching and learning. They use a range of skills to motivate, manage and support others

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WSE• The principal and deputy principal are well established in the school

having both been appointed at its inception in 2002. They have a clearly defined working relationship with a strong administrative focus and involve themselves separately and together in a range of school activities including, for example, resource allocation, timetabling, policy development and the management of students. One area of ongoing challenge is the establishment and maintenance of a positive working environment. Evidence gathered during the evaluation indicates that morale is low and that relations between management and a number of staff are strained. This evidence also suggests that a shared understanding does not exist as to the basis on which some management decisions are made or as to how these decisions are communicated to staff. The development of a positive working environment should be addressed as an immediate whole-school priority, involving all parties working, if necessary under the guidance of an external mediator, towards developing trust and openness in their working relationships.

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eDealing with the expectations......

The intermediary?

The disciplinarian?

The multi-tasker

The carer?

The Leader?

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eFears and anxieties of the Deputy

Principal

• Balance of teaching and administration• Time management/Interruptions/Congestion of issues• Burden of administration• Fixer• Increasing burden of post work & S/S• Where the final decision lies?• Emotional demands-not seeing enough of students• Negativity of adults-’energy vampires’

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Know Thyself

The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you the better you hear what’s sounding outside

Dag Hammarskjold

What is personality?

A person’s preferred style of behaviour

We are “creatures of habit”

So, tend to be consistent over time and situations

If behaviour or personality wasn’t reliable, there’d be no point in measuring it

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eThe relationship with the Principal

“Coming together is a beginningKeeping together is progressWorking together is success”

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eKey Elements that underpin successful relationship

between Principal and Deputy

• Trust/Loyalty• Shared values and vision• Clarity about the boundaries between the two roles• Close personal and professional relationships• Self Evaluation

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TRUST• Of all the personal qualities of a leader trust is probably the most

important. It is difficult to envisage any aspect of leadership work that is not profoundly dependent on trust – indeed it could be argued that it would be impossible for leaders to work without trust. The absence of trust implies control, coercion and compulsion. JWB

• Leaders should be trustworthy, and this worthiness is an important virtue. Without trust leaders lose credibility. But trust is a virtue in other ways too. The building of trust is an organizational quality. …Once embedded in the culture of the school, trust works to liberate people to be their best, to give others their best, and to take risks. (Sergiovanni (2005) p90)

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Shared Values & Vision

www.pdst.ie

The PDST is funded by the Teacher Education Section (TES) of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and is managed

by Dublin West Education Centre

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This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ie/. You may use and re-use this material (not including images and logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Licence.

© PDST 2015

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eClarity about boundariesbetween the two roles

• What to know• What to do• What to share• Styles of leadership?

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e Principal/Deputy Principal

Relationship

Jointly?Separately?

What tasks do Principals and DPs perform

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eRoles of Principal and Deputy

Principal

• Shared Vision• Joint Planning• Joint Action• Joint Modelling• Joint Reviews• Joint Counselling• Staff Leadership

Separate Roles

• BOM• DES• Parent Council• Student Council• Staff Contracts• Front-of-House• Year Heads and Class

Tutors• Various Admin.

Actions

Joint Roles

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eClose personal and professional

relationships in practice

• Working and learning together• Sharing ideas• Taking risks• Time out

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How does it work ?

• How we share the lead and the load?• Time together-structured meetings• Channel of communication-unease?• Physically –where are we vis-a vis each

other?

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eEvaluation of our effectiveness-

separate and together

• Why?• How?• When?

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Lesson for both of you!

• Staff involvement, motivation and work –rate are all connected and if you go it alone as a leader, you will decrease all three and make it more likely that your funeral will be well attended!