If you have , at times, wondered the wisdom of taking on the responsibility of being a building principal, apparently you are not alone. The job description for principals, elementary, middle and high school has evolved significantly since the early 2000’s when technology innovation, instructional/learning challenges, demographic changes and the political climate of local boards and state legislatures have created a new paradigm for administrators. In many cases, the change has been positive. In others, the changes have added new and sometimes onerous responsibilities and tasks that make for long days and much paperwork, even with the advantage of improved technology. If your thought is ” if you don’t like the heat, stay out of the kitchen ” you may not be among a large number of administrators who are becoming increasingly task weary and often under appreciated.
A recent survey, the 29th annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, has provided information regarding school principals and their feelings about issues affecting job satisfaction. This survey of teachers also included telephone interviews with 500 school administrators in the nation. The results are interesting.
As a result of the survey, 3 out of 4 k-12 public school principals, regardless of the type of school in which they work feel that the job has become “too complex.” About 30% feel that they will change to a different occupation within five years. Again, this may not be news to many school administrators. Data from the survey of principals show that job satisfaction has decreased from 68 per cent responding as “very satisfactory” in 2008 to 59 per cent responding in 2013.
One of the biggest issues is the reality that leadership responsibilities have changed greatly over the past 5 years. In Virginia, we do not work with the Common Core Standards and the workload associated with it. We do, of course, have our own standards for instruction and increasingly new issues and mandates generated by members of the General Assembly have added layers of responsibility not experienced by principals in previous years.
The MetLife survey noted that among the administrative responsibilities that principals listed in order of time consumption were meeting individual student needs (83%), managing budgets and resources (78%), and evaluating teacher effectiveness (53%). Many Virginia administrators would concur with these responsibilities and time devoted to them.
Even with the level of responsibilities increasing, principals reported that they still feel well trained for their job. In Virginia, we are fortunate that VASSP keeps school administrators informed of leadership issues and best practices. Our website, blog site, legislative reports and professional development opportunities at the VASSP Summer Conference and Exposition help keep Virginia administrators “on top of their game.”
If you would like to review the entire article. please go to: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/02/21/22leaders.h32.html?tkn=YLSF2Ufhljoj32kgyYtj%2B3IbZU7AmMn%2FZ&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1
