A recent article published in the journal Frontiers in Education shares a study from two Australian school leaders investigating what school leaders, teachers and students desire from their Head or Principal. Surveying 405 Individuals, the level of agreement was asked of participants with 30 statements which relate to the authors’ six different styles of leadership available to Principals.


I wish to highlight two insights from the implications section of the paper.

  1. Principal as role model: “The principal models what it means to be a successful adult in the third decade of the 21st century.” As with all leaders, teachers, and even senior students at Barker, the Principal demonstrates character, values and attributes to be followed.
  2. Alignment of values: In a section on implications for aspiring leaders the authors write “aspiring leaders need to align themselves with the morals and values of the organisations they wish to lead to the extent that they can consistently model the associated behaviors and inspire others to adopt them as well.” This is not a superficial façade that a school leader takes on, rather “The match between leader and school needs to be authentic”.

We at Barker are grateful for so many good role models in the school who authentically demonstrate their values aligned with, what the authors describe as, the “beliefs cherished by the organisation”.  We are grateful for our Head of School modelling his values, and other faithful school Principals and Heads throughout Australia supporting teachers through these times of change, and developing young people of the future.

The FULL PAPER is available online (open access).