Pedagogical leadership exercised by the principals of disadvantaged schools in Spain

ABSTRACT Numerous studies have highlighted the important role played by school principals in improving the learning of their students, especially those at risk of social exclusion. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the pedagogical leadership exercised by the principals of disadvantaged schools in the Community of Madrid (Spain). To this end, the approach employed was based on a mixed methodology, combining quantitative and qualitative techniques with an ad hoc teaching staff questionnaire, on the one hand, and interviews with school principals, on the other. Low scores were obtained in those leadership practices relating to teacher individualism, such as the supervision of classroom teaching and collaboration with other schools for exchanging best practices. The teachers surveyed and the principals interviewed both agreed that the latter should be given a greater say in decision-making, especially when hiring teaching staff, in order to allow them to manage truly efficient schools. This in turn points to the need for a consensus on education policy regulating the role of Spanish school principals, in order to allow them to exercise real pedagogical leadership and thus guarantee optimal teaching-learning processes.