The Physical Education Teacher as a Principal and Identification of the Need to Improve Administrative Competence Towards an Effective School

Alatzoglou Athanasios, Athanailidis Ioannis, Proios Miltiadis, Arvanitidou Vasilia, Jelena Jovanović Secondary school Kilkis, Department of PESS Komotini-Thessaloniki, Elementary School in Komotini, FSFV.
Abstract The thought of a Physical Education Teacher (PET) being assigned the position of a Principal and exercising educational Leadership in Primary and Secondary Schools hasn't always been taken for granted, as it was the case with the other disciplines. Indicative of the hindered equal accessibility in the position of a school Principal is the fact that only since 1985 (Law 1566/1985) the Physical Education Teachers (PET) are allowed to claim the Principal's position in secondary schools. Currently, Physical Education Teachers (PET) have gained more self-confidence and identify differently their role in the Greek school. Given the fact that Physical Education Teachers (PET) already constitute the third in volume discipline occupying the position of school Principal in Secondary Education, a significant question rises: Can Physical Education Teachers (PET) be effective school leaders? The purpose of the present paper is to identify which administrative skills of the Physical Education Teachers (PET) need improvement, so as the latter to be considered effective Principles according to their teachers' perceptions. Making use of a questionnaire (Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale-PIMRS) adapted to the Greek reality, a total number of 460 teachers of 32 schools run by Physical Education Teachers (PET) participated. The gap analysis technique applied revealed statistically significant results in all the items comprised in the measurement tool. The first three abilities/skills lacking and should be developed by Principals – PET are the following: "working with multilingual parent groups" with a mean difference of 0.75 (t(454)=14,649 p=0,000); "converting the curriculum objectives into a curriculum on the school's website" with a mean difference of 0.73 (t(452)=12,859 p=0,000); and "informing parents on their children's educational advancement" (t(452)=10,117 p=0,000). The present study confirms the findings of previous research concerning the effective Principal's catalytic role in the quality of education.
	SCHOOL PRINCIPAL / SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS / PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER (PET) / SECONDARY EDUCATION	Full Article Download (141kB)

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