The principled principal: the case of Australian Steiner schools

Abstract

PurposeSteiner schools represent a natural experiment in the provision of schooling. With a history dating back more than 100 years, leadership, leaders and the principal do not sit easily with Steiner educators. The contemporary regulatory environment requires a “principal” or legal authority at the school-building level, creating a tension for Steiner schools. This makes Steiner schools an ideal case study for understanding the contemporary role of the principal.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on an interview-based study with 24 heads of Australian Steiner schools. Conducted on Microsoft Teams, all by the principal investigator, the interviews generated a 171,742-word corpus subjected to an inductive analytical approach. Data reduction led to four themes, and this paper focuses on one (principles not prescription) and its implications for the principalship and school governance.FindingsEmbedding the principalship in a philosophy (or theory) of education re-couples school administration with schooling and bases decision-making in principles rather than individuals. It also alters the role of data and evidence from accountability to justifying principles.Research limitations/implicationsRather than a focus on individuals or roles, this paper argues that the underlying principles of organisational decision-making should be the central focus of research.Practical implicationsEnsuring organisational coherence, by balancing the diversity of positions on core principles is the core task of the contemporary principal.Originality/valueExploiting natural experiments in the provision of schooling makes it possible to argue for how schooling, and specifically the principalship, can be different.