Inconvenient, but Essential: Impact and Influence of School-Community Involvement on Principals' Work and Workload

Y

23

College School Cooperation; Principals; Partnerships in Education; Faculty Workload; Administrator Surveys; Community Involvement; School Involvement; Mixed Methods Research; Research Design; Elementary Education; Secondary Education; Instructional Leadership; Foreign Countries; Online Surveys; Focus Groups

1059-308X

The work of contemporary school principals is intensifying in terms of complexity and volume. Many factors moderate and drive such work intensification. More than ever before, school principals are expected to build relationships with organizations and agencies connected to the student and school community. Using findings generated from a large-scale survey of 1,400 Ontario principals, this paper reports on the influence of opportunities for school--community involvement on the work principals do on a daily basis and details how involvement in such activities influences and impacts their workloads. Survey findings indicate that principals are engaged in an average of 4.4 community involvement opportunities at the school level. Almost two-thirds of principals reported that school-community involvement increases their workload. Four ways in which work intensification influences principals' ventures in school-community involvement are also identified, including how school-community involvement leaves less time for direct instructional leadership practices.

As Provided

32

2017

EJ1146468