Some Effects of the National Dispute on the Relationships between Head Teachers and School Staffs in Primary Schools

Abstract

This paper reports part of a research project on the appraisal of the managerial performance of primary school head teachers. One aspect of the interviews conducted with the head teachers concerned their perceptions of their roles. A number of them expressed the view that the national dispute had affected the nature of their relationships with their staffs. There appeared to be evidence of the development of ‘us and them’ attitudes in primary schools where the heads were increasingly seen as management figures by their staffs rather than as fellow members of the teaching team. Some heads were attempting to resist this trend and some felt uncomfortable at the pressures they perceived to be upon them to move to a different managerial style. Some analysis is attempted of existing methods of management employed by heads in their relations with their staffs in primary schools and an attempt is made to predict ways in which these managerial patterns might now develop.