CANCELLED - The Nature of the Interplay between New Principal Leadership and School Culture

PLEASE NOTE -  THIS SEMINAR HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Presented by Rinnelle Lee-Piggott, The University of Nottingham

The seminar present findings from an explanatory, multiple case study conducted within three primary schools of differing effectiveness in Trinidad and Tobago. It will focus on the interplay between new principal leadership and school culture and rests on the premise that, whilst a new principal may wish to re-culture and restructure a school, the existing school’s culture, and the new principal’s own personal attributes and values, may act to influence his/her ability to do so and the strategies which he/she may adopt.

Preliminary findings suggest that the new principals experienced two phases of leadership transition before their second year in post: (1) Inheritance and encounter and; (2) building and shaping. These are somewhat consistent with stages 1- 3 within Weindling’s (1999) model of headship transition but add to them. During these phases, school members’ responses to their new principals’ leadership have been dynamic: being positive or negative for a variety of reasons and purposes and; changing in type over time.

Biography

Rinnelle Lee-Piggott is a doctoral student at The University of Nottingham and was previously a primary school teacher in Trinidad. She holds an MA in Educational Leadership and Management from Nottingham and a B.Ed. in Primary Education conferred by the University of the West Indies. Her research interests are in schools facing challenging circumstances, beginning principal leadership and development, teacher leadership, school culture