From the Dollhouse to the Schoolhouse: The Changing Experience of Women Principals in British Columbia, 1980 to 1990

This study sought to determine if and how the experiences of recently appointed women principals differ from those of earlier appointees in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Interviews revealed both differences and similarities. Although recent women principals continue to face sex-role stereotyping from outsiders, they are now accepted and supported by their male peers. They demonstrate greater career initiative than their earlier counterparts and have a wider range of experience in both teaching and adminis- tration. Both groups are well-educated, expert teachers. They focus on learning for themselves, developing collegial relationships with teachers and caring relationships with children, who are their priority. They are career-oriented women whether mothers and wives or not. They perceive themselves as women principals whose leadership is characterized by their gender and accentuated by their feminine qualities. They are redefining the world of educational administration to include the woman’s voice. La recherche menée par les auteurs visait à déterminer si les expériences de directrices d’école nommées récemment diffèrent de celles de directrices nommées antérieurement dans le Lower Mainland de la Colombie-Britannique. Des entrevues ont permis de révéler à la fois des différences et des similitudes. Bien que les directrices en poste depuis plus récemment continuent à faire face à des stéréotypes reliés au sexe et au rôle de la part de personnes extérieures, elles sont maintenant acceptées et appuyées par leurs pairs de sexe masculin. Elles font preuve d’une plus grande initiative vis-à-vis de leur carrière que leurs homologues précédentes et ont une plus vaste expérience de l’enseignement et de l’administration. Les deux groupes sont constitués d’enseignantes chevronnées. Ces dernières mettent l’accent sur l’auto-apprentissage et l’établissement de relations collégiales avec les enseignants et de liens chaleureux avec les enfants, qui sont leur priorité. Il s’agit de femmes pour qui la carrière revêt une grande importance, qu’elles soient ou non mères ou épouses. Elles se perçoivent comme des femmes dont le leadership est caractérisé par leur sexe et accentué par leurs qualités féminines. Elles sont en train de redéfinir le monde de l’administration scolaire afin de donner aux femmes une voix au chapitre.

Getting it together: instructional collaboration between students, parents and teachers

This study examines qualitative and quantitative data from students, their parents, and their teachers at the Grades 4 to 7 levels in order to understand: (a) the expectations of each party for the other with respect to collaboration based on instructional concerns, and (b) whether and how these expectations are met within the web of instructional relationships among the three parties. The study ultimately addresses a third research question: How can triad relationships be improved?   Data for this mixed-method study were drawn from "The CoProduction of Learning Project" a recently completed multi-year, multi-site research effort examining curricular/instructional relationships between families and schools in which I took part as a team researcher. Five-point Likert-style surveys were designed to determine teacher, student and parent attitudes and practices regarding home-school collaboration. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were prepared for each of the three respondent groups.   The quantitative data set for this study consists of 20 teachers and 159 student/parent sets from the second year of the larger project, and twenty-one teacher participants with 174 accompanying student/parent dyads from the fourth year. The qualitative data set consists of 44 teacher interviews, and 100 parent interviews and 100 student interviews over three years of the larger project.   As far as expectations are concerned, there is little sense among teachers of the interaction of parents and students in the home and little sense among students of instructional relationships between parents and teachers. Parents look to teachers to communicate openly and extensively with them, and to respect parent knowledge of their children. Students expect a challenging academic environment, but also help and support.   In triadic relationships in which expectations are met teachers create responsive, collaborative centres of academic learning for students in which respect and responsibility are features. Students are appreciative of these efforts. Teachers also make strong and consistent efforts to reach out to and include parents whom they also consider to be partners in practice. Parents, for their part, respond to the teachers\u27 initiatives for support and participation by helping at home and communicating freely with the teacher.   In triadic relationships in which expectations are not met there is little conviction demonstrated by teachers regarding the importance of participation by students and parents. These teachers do not make efforts to reach out to parents and often feel that parents are choosing not to help. Parents refer to work that they do with their children but do not mention receipt of information from the teacher about how they might help. Students speak neither of teacher efforts to work closely with them, nor of teacher efforts to use practices to bring students, teacher and parents closer together.   Findings here suggest that collaborative instructional relationships between students, parents and teachers can be sustained and developed by the continued efforts of parents to initiate connections with teachers and to speak up for their children, and by the efforts of teachers to create participatory classrooms for students and to both seek and respect parent contributions

School administration in a different voice : the careers of women administrators in British Columbia

The purpose of this study was to determine if and how the experiences of recent women appointees to the principalship differ from those of earlier appointees. Given the rather recent increase in the number of women assuming administrative posts in British Columbia, it is possible that conditions for women may have changed. Interviews with nine new and eight experienced women principals revealed some differences between the two groups in their careers and experiences. Although recent women principals must still prove themselves on the job and continue to face sex-role stereotyping, they are now accepted and supported by their male peers. In addition, recent women principals demonstrate greater career initiative and orientation than their former counterparts and have a greater range of experience in both teaching and administrative areas. The careers of recent and women appointees are, significantly, also similar