Cloning their own : aspirant principals and the school-based selection game

In this article, the authors report data from two projects concerned with the aspirant principals' perspectives about school principal recruitment in three Australian states. In particular, the authors consider what our informants perceive as factors that inhibit the realisation of their aspirations. These factors include aspects of the operation of school-based processes of application and selection. Principal aspirants regard selection as a game that works to the advantage of internal applicants for advertised vacancies. The authors analyse a number of dimensions of the selection game and liken the bias towards internal candidates as a form of personnel cloning. Finally, they consider some possible explanations for this practice and review its wider significance in respect of the themes of risks, risk-taking and risk aversion in employment recruitment. [Author abstract, ed]