A global typology of school principals’ time use: Exploring the effects of contextual and individual factors

Abstract

This study aims to provide quantitative evidence regarding school principals’ time use by employing Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and multinominal logistic regression to the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) data from 47 societies. We examined (1) how principals spend their time across different societies by developing a global typology and (2) what macro (national) and micro (organizational) level contextual factors, as well as principals’ demographic characteristics, predict principals’ association with the identified typology. The results suggest four distinguishable categories of principal leadership in terms of their time use: Balanced Leadership, Administrative Leadership, Instructional Leadership, and Student-Centered Leadership. Several contextual (national and organizational) and individual variables influencing principals’ prioritization of their leadership responsibilities were also identified.