Secondary school administrative teams : issues and processes

Educational institutions in Quebec face a wide variety of challenges as major restructuring efforts take place. Schools must develop strategies to manage these increasing demands in an effective manner.The purpose of the study was to contribute to the understanding of school administrative teams and to shed some light on the nature and function of these teams through a study of their administrative team meetings.As a qualitative descriptive study, this research involved 24 secondary school administrators. Data collection techniques included postal surveys to gather initial descriptive data, followed by telephone interviews that allowed for more in-depth discussion of issues faced by the principals and their administrative team.The findings provide strong evidence of the complexity of the nature of secondary school principals, work and the importance of working collaboratively with their administrative colleagues.The study has implications for the preparation of aspiring educational administrators, as well as those who currently hold these roles in today's schools