The Changing Role of the Primary School Head

Abstract

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.