Rosemary Webb and Graham Vulliamy are members of the Department of Educational Studies at the University of York. In this article they report on a study of 50 schools in England and Wales which sought to examine views of the changing role of the contemporary primary-school headteacher. In so doing, they identify and discuss growing tensions between heads' administrative and professional roles and between collegial and top-down management styles.

The Changing Role of the Primary-school Headteacher:

In the first of what the Editors hope will be an on-going series of papers on this theme, Les Bell of the University of Warwick sets out to distinguish the contemporary issues which could and should concern those in educational management who consider themselves as scholars and those who might think of themselves as practitioners. Like others who have attempted this, the author finds this no easy task but is nevertheless able to identify an agenda of three such issues for scholars and six for practitioners.

Educational Management: An Agenda for the 1990s

This article describes some follow-up work to two city-wide surveys investigating the role of the deputy head in the primary school. The authors use the results of their work, together with their experience as trainers for the National Professional Qualification for Headship, to explore the deputy head's role in terms of preparation for headship. They then address the implications for future training for deputies as preparation for headship.

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Preparation for Headship? The Role of the Deputy Head in the Primary School.

The role of the primary school headteacher has undergone significant changes since the Education Reform Act (1988). This article explores the headteachers’ perceptions of change from anumber of perspectives; change as a result of their career paths; change due to imposed legislation and changes in their relationships with key stakeholders. Many of the changes are contradictory and generate paradoxes. Nevertheless what is unequivocal is that there is now a much greater emphasis on the formal dimensions of management. The heads manage but are more than managers, their management performance is guided by an underpinnning of educational knowledge and educational practice.

W.F. Dennison

Papers

The use of headteachers' time: Leading professional or chief executive?