Life stories and career paths of School Headmasters

This theoretical-empirical thesis focuses on the life and career path of experienced School Principals of Preschools and Elementary Schools in Czech Republic and what the School Principal position is about. The theoretical part brings a closer look on an explanation of life and career path, summarisation of knowledge of the work of the School Principal itself including its competence and management skills, which are necessary to provide flawless run of every school. The empiric part presents the results of qualitatively oriented research. The main method of the data collection is in-depth semi-structured interview led by the School Principals, the supplementary data were gained from the analysis of publicly accessible documents, especially inspection reports, and by supplementary interviews with Deputy School Principals or with the founders. The research sample is very wide even though it consists of only three respondents - the Principal of Elementary School, the Principal of Preschool and the Principal of school combining Preschool and a first grade of Elementary School. The analysis of the data obtained from in-deep interviews leads to finding the most fundamental persons and moments, which had a great influence on the respondents when choosing their occupation and their view on the profession itself,..