The secondary headship: Perceptions, conceptions, performance and reactions of headteachers in Barbados

Newton, Earl H

Abstract

A study was conducted of 7 headteachers from public schools in Barbados during the period March-June 1984. The study found that: 1. headteachers see their role in creating good interpersonal relationships and purposeful climates as a very important one, 2. headteachers are seriously concerned about student discipline, control, and order, and 3. there is great discontinuity between the teachers’ role conceptions and performance. In addition, the headteachers experienced feelings of powerlessness and ambiguity as a result of being controlled by policies and rules from a central body. These feelings were their major source of unhappiness, but the frustration that they claimed to feel did not appear to have reached debilitating proportions. Their main source of satisfaction was derived from watching their students’ growth and development, sharing in whatever success they achieved and feeling that they had contributed to it.

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