The role and role context of the Lebanese school principal: Toward a culturally grounded understanding of the principalship

This study provides empirical data about the role and work context of the school principal in the Lebanon. The study applied grounded theory methods in collecting and analysing the data. The data were collected through a series of open-ended interviews with 53 secondary school principals, and focus group interviews with 8 principals from public as well as private schools. The results show that Lebanese school principals, despite a wide variety of backgrounds, share a core set of role expectations. Discussion of the results compares the role and role demands of the Lebanese school principal to what has been reported in empirical studies of principals in Western countries. While the results reveal many role similarities, it is also clear that the socio-political and cultural conditions in Lebanon shape the role and role demands of Lebanese school principalship. In contrast to their Western counterparts, principals in Lebanon: (1) give limited attention to the instructional dimension of the role; (2) assume limited responsibilities as the agent for school change and improvement; (3) adopt an authoritarian orientation in enacting the role; and (4) hold a highly idiosyncratic ‘craft’ conception of the work of the principal. The study’s results reinforce the need for more in-depth cross-cultural comparative studies of education professionals.