The politics of management and leadership in Irish post-primary schools A study of WSE reports, 2006-2007

This study exam ines management and leadership in Irish post-primary schools, as portrayed in W hole School Evaluation (W SE) reports for the period 2006-07. Management and leadership are contested and ambiguous terms, so the examination of the WSE reports was conducted through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (C D A ). CDA enabled a critical study which interpreted the relevant aspects o f the WSE reports in their historical and political contexts. These contexts shaped understandings, practices and official expectations regarding m anagem ent and leadership. Spillane\u27s (2006) understanding o f distributed leadership provided a conceptual m odel o f school leadership which helped guide the critical analysis. The research problem arose from the lack of an agreed national understanding o f school management and leadership. The following research questions emerged. Firstly, how objective was the process that the inspectorate used to report on management and leadership activity in Irish post-primary schools? This is a question about the research and reporting methods used by the inspectors in the first 100 published W SE reports, 2006-07. The second question is, what do these same WSE reports reveal, or not reveal, about management and leadership activity in post-primary schools? Thirdly, what do the reports say about the inspectorate\u27s preferred model for management and leadership? This study is a critique of the process which generated the W SE reports as well as a critique o f what is reported. On the basis o f the findings for 2006-07, the author concludes by arguing that the WSE reports do not provide adequate consistency and clarity, and that their frequent am biguity is in large part due to the absence o f a shared national understanding o f school management and leadership. While such an understanding may be achievable the WSE process itself was also problematic in terms o f securing reliable and accurate data. The findings also indicate that the inspectorate tended to favour a managerialist model f management and leadership. In light of the current erosion of the partnership model in education this managerialism may become more pronounced