ERIC Number: EJ1145562
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0032-0684
EISSN: N/A
Women's Leadership Preparation within the Senior Leadership Team
Fuller, Kay; Cliffe, Joanne; Moorosi, Pontso
Planning and Changing, v46 n3-4 p388-415 2015
In England, despite making up 60% of the secondary school teaching workforce, women continue to be underrepresented in secondary school headship. In this paper, we focus on the experiences of women working in the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) as a site for headship preparation. This paper draws on survey findings from a study of women's and men's work in the SLT, and their leadership preparation and development in schools in three pairs of geographically adjacent local authorities (South-West Birmingham and Sandwell; Stockport and Tameside; Wokingham and Reading). Two cases were created each containing one half of the paired authorities. Case 1 consists of local authorities and schools where women have achieved headship (South-West Birmingham, Stockport and Wokingham); Case 2 of local authorities and schools where fewer women were headteachers (Sandwell, Tameside and Reading). Findings suggest there were differences between Cases 1 and 2 with respect to the gendered composition of SLTs, the length of time senior leaders had been in post, their experience of discrimination, opportunities for flexible working practices, and the way they described senior leadership as it was done in the school. There were also differences with respect to sustained aspiration to headship, access to expanded leadership repertoires, availability of mentoring and coaching programmes, and access to networks. The article argues that as an important site for leadership development and preparation for headship, the working practices of the SLT might impact on women's achievement of headship.
Descriptors: Leadership Training, Women Administrators, Womens Education, Administrator Attitudes, Administrator Surveys, Management Development, Telephone Surveys, Educational Change, Disproportionate Representation, Teamwork, Time Perspective, Gender Discrimination, Working Hours, Occupational Aspiration, Educational Opportunities, Secondary Education, Foreign Countries
Department of Educational Administration and Foundations. College of Education, Illinois State University, Campus Box 5900, Normal, IL 61790-5900. Tel: 309-438-2399; Fax: 309-438-8683; Web site: http://education.illinoisstate.edu/planning/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A