Leadership and school improvement in France

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how school principals in France spend their work time and when and under what circumstances they deal with school improvement-related matters. Design/methodology/approach – For the study presented in this paper, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used. Five French collèges (secondary schools) from one school district were visited for a week each. Each principal was shadowed, his/her actions and the context were recorded and categorized. The shadowing was conducted using a structured observation approach derived from Mintzberg. In addition semi-structured interviews were conducted with all principals. The data were analyzed following a grounded theory approach. Findings – The results show how principals spend their work time and as well as possible areas of improvement. Among other things, they reveal very fragmented workdays. Most principals put a low emphasis on school improvement and struggle with conflicting expectations (preservation vs innovation). Shared leadership was only observed in one case. Research limitations – The specificity of the sample limits the possible ranges of interpretation and generalization. Also, it remains unclear whether one week of observation per school is enough to get a reliable estimate of a principal's daily work. There is a need for further empirical studies of the matter. Originality/value – This paper offers rare insights into the day-to-day work of French school principals. It contributes to the understanding of school leadership practice as well as to the transcultural understanding of school leadership.