School principals’ perceptions of their roles and responsibilities in the city of Rzeszów and Atlanta area

• Main Authors: Tak Cheung Chan, Binbin Jiang, Sławomir Rębisz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych 2018-03-01
• Series: Edukacja
• Subjects: comparative education; Polish education; principalship; school leadership
• Online Access: http://www.edukacja.ibe.edu.pl/images/numery/2018/1-6-cheung-chan-i-in-school-principals-perception.pdf

By comparing the roles and responsibilities of principals from the city of Rzeszow (Poland) and the Atlanta area (Georgia, U.S.A.), this study contributes to a better understanding of school leadership in the two countries. Participating principals included 148 from the United States of America, and 74 from Poland. A researcher designed a Likert-scale questionnaire on the roles and responsibilities of principals in seven leadership areas: character, professional knowledge, professional skills, administrative style, administrative duties, personnel management, and student affairs management. This was supplemented by a survey of three open-ended questions on the principals’ major responsibilities, challenges, and fulfillment. The multivariate analysis of covariance was used for data analyses with gender and age as control covariates. The results of the data analysis indicated significant differences between Poland and the United States in overall responses and three leadership areas: principals’ knowledge, styles, and duties.