School principals and their SMTs can make or break their schools.
While I was waiting to convene a grievance meeting at a school, I had an interesting conversation with two school management team leaders - a deputy principal and a head of department. The main topic of our conversation was the difficulty to get their own children into schools of their choice. The head of department was disappointed because her daughter, a high achiever (95% average), was not accepted at the school that was their first choice. She spoke about the competition to get into good schools and bemoaned the powers that these schools wield. Is the school principal responsible for the school's success? Inevitably, the conversation turned to the difference between poor schools and wealthy schools and the role the principal plays in managing and leading the school to success. Here is where the conversation became interesting. There was definitely a sense that the two senior management members believe that only the school principal is accountable for the success of...