Principals’ Views of Policy Enactment in a Context of Intense School Reform: Challenges to Instructional Leadership

• In Event: Supervision and Instructional Leadership in Dynamic and Challenging Contexts

Abstract

This paper focuses on the views of school principals with regard to (new) policy on the school curriculum. School principals have to balance conflicting goals and to manage tensions of implementation, particularly in a context of intense school reform. Data are drawn from a wider 3-year study conducted in Portugal. Findings point to the existence of contradictory elements in the principals’ accounts. In general, they are critical of the new curriculum policy and they question the adequacy of the conditions currently existing in schools to put it into operation. Overall, the regulatory and centralized orientation stands in sharp contrast to the very essence of the policies that call for local, contextualized and innovative solutions.

Author

• Maria A. Flores, University of Minho