Ontario's principal scarcity: yesterday's abdicated policy responsibility--today's unrecognised challenge.

Ontario's principal scarcity: yesterday's abdicated policy responsibility--today's unrecognised challenge. This article highlights the principal recruitment problem inOntario. It suggests that the problem is closely associated with theretirement plans of principals which is resulting in a significant lossof human capital; poorly planned implementation of policy changes whichpresents problems at the school level and discourages potential leadersfrom pursuing the principalship; and a lengthy and burdensomecertification process. The article concludes that leadership successionplanning Management Succession PlanningIn organizational development, succession planning is the process of identifying and preparing suitable employees through mentoring, training and job rotation, to replace key players — such as the chief executive officer (CEO) — and development in Ontario represents a major policy challengeto government and school boards alike. Introduction The school principal is the linchpin linch��pinor lynch��pin ?n.1. A locking pin inserted in the end of a shaft, as in an axle, to prevent a wheel from slipping off.2. for successful schoolperformance. Yet, in Canada's most populous pop��u��lous?adj.Containing many people or inhabitants; having a large population.[Middle English, from Latin popul province, Ontario,interest in the position is waning at the very time when incumbentprincipals and vice-principals are retiring at unprecedented rates. This article reports on the retirement plans of Ontario principalsand vice-principals and discusses aspects of their role that they findmost dissatisfying. It also reports on the reasons that a group ofidentified potential leaders gave for not pursuing a career in schooladministration. The paper examines weaknesses in the processes used todevelop recent educational policies and poses a series of policychallenges facing policy makers concerned with school administratorrecruitment and retention. The Canadian literature For the quarterly academic journal, see .Canadian literature may be divided into two parts, based on their separate roots: one stems from the culture and literature from France; the other from Britain. Each is written in the language of its originating culture. , both anecdotal anecdotal/an��ec��do��tal/ (an?ek-do��t'l) based on case histories rather than on controlled clinical trials. anecdotaladjective Unsubstantiated; occurring as single or isolated event. and empirical, notes thatthe rates of retirement for principals and vice-principals will be veryhigh during this decade (Echols, Grimmett, & Kitchenham, 1999;Eckstrom, 1997; Evans, 2000; McColl, 1999; McKinnon, 1999; Steffenhagen,2000; Williams, 2001b). Although there was evidence from theprovince's College of Teachers that there would be high levels ofretirement from teachers' positions, prior to 2001 there was noprovincial database that referred to the retirement plans of principalsand vice-principals. The only provincial data were aggregated,demographic data that described the total group of people who heldprovincial certification to be a principal. (The province of Ontario isone of a minority of Canadian provinces Noun 1. Canadian province - Canada is divided into 12 provinces for administrative purposesprovince, state - the territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation; "his state is in the deep south" that requires principals to holdcertification in a process controlled by the Ontario College of Teachersas delegated by the government.) This group included both currentincumbents and others who held the certificate but had decided not topursue administrative positions or were hoping to gain such a position.It did not distinguish between principals and vice-principals and wasnot broken down by individual school board. In short, it was at such a'macro' level that analyses masked A state of being disabled or cut off. important insights by role,age, gender, and whether they were incumbents. This information was alsonot available in many school boards. There is growing evidence in Ontario that there are decliningnumbers of applicants for advertised principal vacancies.Superintendents report that the number of applicants for eachprincipal/vice-principal vacancy VACANCY. A place which is empty. The term is principally applied to cases where an office is not filled. 2. By the constitution of the United States, the president has the power to fill up vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate. is lower than in previous years.Presently the issue would appear to be one of the quality and depth ofthe applicant pool as opposed to an actual deficiency in the number ofavailable candidates (interview with Executive Director, OntarioPrincipals Council). The reasons why the principalship in some Canadian provinces isdeemed to be a less than attractive position have been the subject ofsome research (Echols et al., 2000, Evans, 2000; Federation of WomenTeachers Association, 1992; Williams, 2001a). Factors include: salary,workload The term workload can refer to a number of different yet related entities. An amount of laborWhile a precise definition of a workload is elusive, a commonly accepted definition is the hypothetical relationship between a group or individual human operator and task demands. , increased demands for accountability with declining authorityto act, teacher union contract management, travel time and poorgovernment--professional educator relations. Despite these 'signposts', the approaching departure ofhuge numbers of the very leaders on whom many new educational reformsdepend is not on the policy agendas of provincial legislators or mostschool board trustees. The Ontario context The Canadian province of Ontario is Canada's most populated pop��u��late?tr.v. pop��u��lat��ed, pop��u��lat��ing, pop��u��lates1. To supply with inhabitants, as by colonization; people.2. province. Constitutionally in Canada, education is a provincialresponsibility and provincial governments have been very activelyinvolved in educational governance Governance makes decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists either of a separate process or of a specific part of management or leadership processes. Sometimes people set up a government to administer these processes and systems. . Recent reforms have centralised Adj. 1. centralised - drawn toward a center or brought under the control of a central authority; "centralized control of emergency relief efforts"; "centralized government"centralized virtually all educational finance at the provincial level. The 1990s andthe early years of this decade saw dramatic provincial government fiscalretrenchment re��trench��mentn.The cutting away of superfluous tissue. . This has resulted in substantial cuts in educationalspending at the local district level. This was coupled with a massivereorganisation Noun 1. reorganisation - the imposition of a new organization; organizing differently (often involving extensive and drastic changes); "a committee was appointed to oversee the reorganization of the curriculum"; "top officials were forced out in the cabinet of school districts which reduced the number of boards inthe public, non-sectarian system by almost 50 per cent. New provincialfunding formulae have caused district boards to close schools and cutlarge numbers of high profile programs. These provincial actions haveresulted in increasing acrimony ac��ri��mo��ny?n.Bitter, sharp animosity, especially as exhibited in speech or behavior.[Latin crim between the government and a wide arrayof special interest groups, including teachers unions, trustees andparent groups. Principals, too, were directly affected by the provincialchanges. Legislation in 1997 removed them from local teacher unionbargaining units A bargaining unit in labor relations is a group of employees with a clear and identifiable community of interests who are (under U.S. law) represented by a single labor union in collective bargaining and other dealings with management. and defined their role as 'management'. Inmany district boards, principals became 'orphans'--notinvolved by superintendents as key members of the management team and nolonger permitted to be members of the teachers unions. During thisperiod, government spokespersons, including the premier, began a periodof public 'educator bashing'. The combination of all of thesefactors resulted in plummeting morale within theprincipal/vice-principal ranks throughout the province. Ontario public school system principals' study A study(Williams, 2001a) looked at three research questions: 1 What are the retirement plans of incumbent principals andvice-principals in Ontario's public school systems? 2 What are the major dissatisfiers re these roles as experienced byincumbents? 3 What disincentives were identified by a group of individuals,nominated nom��i��nate?tr.v. nom��i��nat��ed, nom��i��nat��ing, nom��i��nates1. To propose by name as a candidate, especially for election.2. To designate or appoint to an office, responsibility, or honor. as excellent potential in-school managers who opted not toapply for those roles? Data for questions 1 and 2 were collected from survey responsesfrom approximately 1000 incumbent principals and vice-principals inOntario's publicly funded school boards. Data for question 3 werecollected through interviews with 92 individuals who, althoughidentified as strong potential candidates for the principalship, hadmade the choice not to pursue a career as school administrators. Retirement plans The principals and vice-principals were asked about theirindividual retirement plans. In aggregate, the projected years ofintended retirement of all respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. was not dissimilar to theprojections of the government's College of Teachers. However, whenthe figures were broken down into specific roles, dramatic numbersemerged. The figures suggest that, by 2007, 71.7 per cent of elementaryschool elementary school:see school. principals and 74.2 per cent of high school principals will haveretired. The provincial Ministry of Education and Training figure onlydealt with the total number of individuals who hold the provincialprincipal's certification. Their figure was a cumulative retirementpercentage of 62.2 per cent by 2007. This translates into at least 500more retirements in the next five years than the province's bestestimates. For vice-principals, the retirement rates are lower than forprincipals but still alarming. Although the data do not suggest anabsolute inability to fill the number of anticipated vacancies withcertificated replacements, another concern does arise. It is apparentthat the pool of available candidates will be small relative to thenumber of vacancies that are looming looming:see mirage. . This raises issues concerning thequality or depth of the applicant pool from which selections will bemade because, numerically nu��mer��i��cal? also nu��mer��icadj.1. Of or relating to a number or series of numbers: numerical order.2. Designating number or a number: a numerical symbol. , it will not be as 'deep' aspreviously. Interviews with Ministry of Education and Training officials andschool board administrators suggested that most were not aware of thescale of the pending retirement wave. No systematic thought had beengiven to its implications at either the provincial level or within mostschool boards. In fact, the problem was largely unrecognised. Respondents indicated overwhelmingly that they intended to retireas soon as they reached the threshold that allowed them full benefitsunder the superannuation SuperannuationAn organizational pension program created by companies for the benefit of their employees.Notes:Funds deposited in a superannuation account will typically grow without any tax implications until retirement or withdrawal. plan. This is despite the fact that most wouldonly be in their mid-fifties. In an effort to understand what aspects ofthe principalship made the job unattractive, respondents were asked torank 22 disincentives identified from the literature. Their responsesare found in Table 2. Surprisingly, even when the responses in Table 2 were analysed fordifferences between elementary and secondary school respondents, men andwomen, principals and vice-principals and across different age groups,the results were remarkably similar. It was interesting that salaryconcerns ranked only 12th out of 22 factors. Of those factors ranked ashigh level dissatisfiers by 70 per cent or more of respondents,virtually all related to policy initiatives taken by the provincialgovernment and implemented, often poorly, by local district boards since1997. The highest ranked dissatisfiers were of three types: thoseassociated with major provincially mandated curriculum changes, thoserelated to major funding cuts that directly impacted on schools, andthose related to the nature of the role of principals andvice-principals. The opt-out group A unique aspect of the Ontario study was the investigation of thereasons given by a group of individuals identified as superb potentialprincipals, who had recently decided not to pursue a career in schooladministration; 92 such individuals were interviewed and asked thereasons for their decision. The major deterrents identified by thisgroup are shown in Table 3. As might be predicted, one of those deterrents is related topersonal lifestyle choices. The majority, however, are related tocurrent definitions of the role, selection and leadership developmentissues and concerns over the climate surrounding sur��round?tr.v. sur��round��ed, sur��round��ing, sur��rounds1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle.2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication.n. public education. Ofparticular concern was the group's perception that principals couldnot function as meaningful agents of change. They perceived that theprovince had centralised so much power over educational matters andimposed so many changes in such a short period of time, whilesimultaneously cutting resources, that principals could have little inschool impact. This perception is undoubtedly exacerbated by personalimpressions conveyed to this group by their role models--incumbentprincipals and vice-principals. (Their views are reflected in Table 2). Policy issues This study gives rise to several policy issues: 1 What steps can be taken to ensure a high quality pool ofpotential replacements for the incumbents who will soon retire? 2 Given the strong antipathy to the manner in which educationalchanges have been implemented by the government, how might futureprovincial changes in education policy be better designed? Development of an adequate candidate pool The retirement wave projected from the study is now well underway.Evidence from superintendents responsible for principal hiring suggeststhat the number of applicants per principal/vice-principal vacancy isalready dropping in Dropping in is a skateboarding trick with which a skateboarder can start skating a half-pipe by dropping into it from the coping instead of starting from the bottom and pumping gradually for more speed. most boards. What has been the government's reaction to this situation?When asked a question in the legislature concerning thegovernment's plan to deal with the huge retirement rates ofprincipals, the province's Minister of Education replied, 'Asin health, in business and in many other sectors, we are facing asignificant demographic challenge. As the population ages, we have morepeople retiring than we have coming in, in a whole range of areas.Unfortunately education is no more immune to this than any othersector' (Government of Ontario The Government of Ontario refers to the provincial government of the province of Ontario. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867.In modern Canadian use, the term "government" refers broadly to the cabinet of the day, elected from the Legislative , Hansard, 10 October 2001). Althoughthe statement is a trite truism that everyone is getting older, itcertainly does not suggest a strong government willingness to exertleadership on the issue of the quantity and/or quality of thereplacement pool! Clearly if the problem is to be solved, key policymakers at both the provincial and local levels must first acknowledgeits existence and seriousness. Some local district boards and someprovincial professional organisations Noun 1. professional organisation - an organization of and for professional peopleprofessional organizationorganization, organisation - a group of people who work together have done this, but no coordinatedprovince-wide initiatives have been undertaken. What policy initiativesmight be taken to improve the situation? Provincial policy initiatives Because the provincial governments inCanada hold most of the constitutional power for public education, thatlevel of government must accept a leadership role in the resolution ofthis critical policy issue. The government is tight fisted in itscontrol of educational spending. Yet the principal turnover problem isnot one that will be solved by 'throwing money' at it. Theprovincial level policy initiatives required are mostly low cost or nocost items. What initiatives might the province undertake? 1 The government urgently needs to put the principal retirementissue on their education policy agenda. It needs to acknowledge thereality that there is a need to develop procedures to ensure an adequatepool of well-qualified candidates for principal positions and commit toa collaborative strategy with appropriate stakeholder stakeholdern. a person having in his/her possession (holding) money or property in which he/she has no interest, right or title, awaiting the outcome of a dispute between two or more claimants to the money or property. groups to solvethe problem. To date, this has not been done. This is curious becausemuch of the province's curriculum reform agenda is dependent uponstrong in-school leadership. By simply not engaging itself with theprincipal retirement issue, the government may be compromising thecapacity of the province's schools to implement the very educationreforms that were part of its election platform. 2 The massive principal turnover provides the province with theopportunity to examine the dated certification requirements forprincipals. Currently the requirements are the most extensive and timeintensive of any jurisdiction in Canada. Given the changed role of theprincipal in the last decade, an evaluation of the current lengthyprocess to achieve principal's certification is warranted. Thesubstantive basis of the certification requirements have not changeddramatically for years and many argue they no longer reflect the skillsneeded by modern principals. Such a review could also provide thegovernment and its school boards with the opportunity to focus on theleadership requirements of the school system in the future. Almost threeout of every four principals in the province will retire by 2007. Thepolicy challenge for the government is to determine what leadershipcapacity it wants to ensure is reflected in the next generation ofprincipals. Will the province continue to insist upon certificationrequirements that reflect the in-school leadership needs of yesterday,or will it think through its future leadership requirements? Thereplacement principals hired by school systems by 2010 will enable orconstrain con��strain?tr.v. con��strained, con��strain��ing, con��strains1. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object.See Synonyms at force.2. those systems for at least the next two decades. Continueddrift using decades-old approaches to running schools will potentiallymortgage schools' futures. The present certification requirements are also too time consuming.For example, they include: * an acceptable university undergraduate degree “First degree” redirects here. For the BBC television series, see First Degree.An undergraduate degree (sometimes called a first degree or simply a degree * five years of successful teaching experience * qualifications in three teaching divisions, one of which must bethe Intermediate division * two specialist qualifications; or a Master's degree master's degreen.An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree.Noun 1. or itsequivalent * one specialist qualification and one-half of a Master'sdegree. Contrast this to some other Canadian provinces such as Alberta thathave no formal provincial certification requirements. Can Ontario anylonger support a certification process originally designed to solvein-school leadership needs when the majority of the teaching force didnot possess baccalaureate degrees? The costs to candidates and theiremployers in terms of both money and time to become certified See certification. are by farthe most onerous on��er��ous?adj.1. Troublesome or oppressive; burdensome. See Synonyms at burdensome.2. Law Entailing obligations that exceed advantages. in the country. At the very least, in a government thatsubscribes wholeheartedly whole��heart��ed?adj.Marked by unconditional commitment, unstinting devotion, or unreserved enthusiasm: wholehearted approval.whole to the mantra mantra(măn`trə, mŭn–), in Hinduism and Buddhism, mystic words used in ritual and meditation. A mantra is believed to be the sound form of reality, having the power to bring into being the reality it represents. of public accountability, theprovince in concert with other stakeholders StakeholdersAll parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. needs to review and evaluatethe efficiency and efficacy of current principal certificationrequirements. Clearly, given the retirement profiles for principals inOntario, certification requirements that take most people in excess ofseven years to complete will not solve the problems associated with thelooming retirement wave. 3 The Ontario College of Teachers, the body charged with theresponsibility to administer certification of teachers, also developsand administers principal certification requirements. It is dominated bymembers of the teachers unions and they control (under power granted bythe government) the principal certification process. It does seemcurious that the very group (the teachers unions) from which thegovernment expelled principals continues to control principalcertification. The province should consider the establishment of anagency within the College to develop and manage principal certification.Members of this agency should be a majority of practising administratorsas opposed to teacher union members. 4 For some potential candidates in remote boards, given thegeographical vastness of the province, distance from training sites andthe associated costs of obtaining certification are barriers. Some meansof meeting the certification needs of these candidates should bedeveloped, perhaps with some small financial assistance from theprovince. For example, with provincial subsidies for a limited number ofyears, courses for principal certification candidates might be offeredin more remote areas even when the critical mass of students normallyneeded to run a course on a cost effective basis is not met. Suchprovincial interventions would go a long way towards increasing thecandidate pools in remote school boards. Local district school board initiatives As the employers ofprincipals, district school boards have a huge stake in ensuring anadequate pool of candidates. It is already clear that some school boardsthat are perceived to have excellent working conditions for principalsare successfully raiding other boards for candidates. There exists asellers' market for good principal candidates and that market willonly intensify in��ten��si��fy?v. in��ten��si��fied, in��ten��si��fy��ing, in��ten��si��fiesv.tr.1. To make intense or more intense: as retirement rates increase. There is certainly agrowing possibility of the emergence of 'have boards' whichhave an excellent, experienced pool of candidates and 'have notboards' that have seen their ranks depleted de��plete?tr.v. de��plet��ed, de��plet��ing, de��pletesTo decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out.[Latin d , not only by retirementbut also by departures for boards with more favourable workingconditions. Boards obviously need to do their utmost to make themselvesattractive to prospective candidates. As can be seen from the dataconcerning both principal dissatisfiers and deterrents to potentialcandidates, salary, although important, is not the highest rankedfactor. Rather conditions of work, including availability of financialand human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. as well as appropriate time to do the job, are muchmore highly ranked. Factors such as these will play a key role indiscriminating dis��crim��i��nat��ing?adj.1. a. Able to recognize or draw fine distinctions; perceptive.b. Showing careful judgment or fine taste: boards from each other as perceived good places forprincipals to work. 1 There is an urgent need for all school boards to develop andimplement a system leadership development strategy. Executive successionplanning is a fundamental responsibility of any well-run organisation.Yet an appalling number of Ontario school boards List of Ontario school boards: Public EnglishAiry and Sabine District School Area Board, Whitney, Ontario Algoma District School Board, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Asquith-Garvey District School Area Board, Shining Tree, Ontario do not have and do notfund a board-run leadership development program. (At the time of theOntario study, only about 60 per cent of public school boards had suchprograms (Williams, 2001a).) This drift or policy vacuum will almostcertainly result in a lack of qualified candidates emerging from withinthose boards and it may well also result in a migration of potentialcandidates to other boards prepared to invest in their development.Anecdotal evidence anecdotal evidence,n information obtained from personal accounts, examples, and observations. Usually not considered scientifically valid but may indicate areas for further investigation and research. is already appearing that this trend has begun. 2 There is a second district policy issue with the potential foreven longer-term local impact. The huge turnover of in-school leadershiprepresents an opportunity to fill leadership positions with individualswho have the tools and value orientation Noun 1. value orientation - the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or a social group; "the Puritan ethic"; "a person with old-fashioned values"ethic, moral principle, value-system to help the school districtmove towards some future board-developed vision. Unfortunately far toomany school boards in Ontario have focused all their attention in recentyears on meeting the budget cuts imposed by the province. They have, inessence, defined their mission as adapting current activities to fiscalexigencies or 'the bottom line'. Many have abdicated theirresponsibilities for strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. and, in so doing, failed to meetone of the fundamental responsibilities of trusteeship, to prepare theirorganisation for a planned future. A serious consequence is that, whenfacing a massive turnover of principals, many boards have virtually novision of the future for which they will be hiring their replacements.Without such planning, boards will inevitably hire individuals simply tofill the vacancy as it is currently exists, thus potentially building inan immediate obsolescence ob��so��les��cent?adj.1. Being in the process of passing out of use or usefulness; becoming obsolete.2. Biology Gradually disappearing; imperfectly or only slightly developed. to future developments. The strategic questionboards must face is: Do they recruit and hire replacements for theretirees who are clones of those they replace; or do they hire for somestrategically identified future needs?. Boards of any publicorganisation have the responsibility to plan for their future. This iscritical if they are to articulate the criteria their new leadershipmust meet. Given the massive turnover that is occurring, the personneldecisions made in the next five years will determine the character ofthe in-school leadership group of the province's school boards forat least the next 10 to 15 years. Simply allowing the nature of thatfuture to be determined by a combination of strategic default and purelyexpedient ex��pe��di��ent?adj.1. Appropriate to a purpose.2. a. Serving to promote one's interest: was merciful only when mercy was expedient.b. hiring would be a complete failure of trustee responsibility. 3 A third policy area requiring review is the processes used withinschool boards to select principals and vice-principals. There is astrong perception (in 25% of those who chose not to pursue aprincipal's career) that principal selection processes are biasedand characterised by 'cronyism'. Clearly boards need to audittheir processes to ensure that they are not screening out goodcandidates for the wrong reasons. Interview data suggest the perceivedbias relates predominantly pre��dom��i��nant?adj.1. Having greatest ascendancy, importance, influence, authority, or force. See Synonyms at dominant.2. to the belief that some superintendents willonly support the hiring of those who subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day"subscribe, takebuy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; their values. As oneinterviewee put it, 'Individuals who are seen to be critics of thestatus quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. need not apply'. 4 The policies for assigning as��sign?tr.v. as��signed, as��sign��ing, as��signs1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection.2. principals to schools and the amountof time principals are required to be out of their schools for meetingsneed review. a In an effort to be equitable equitableadj. 1) just, based on fairness and not legal technicalities. 2) refers to positive remedies (orders to do something, not money damages) employed by the courts to solve disputes or give relief. (See: equity) EQUITABLE. , many boards select a ranked pool ofprincipal candidates and then assign them to schools simply as vacanciesoccur. In most school boards in Ontario, given their huge size, this canrequire the appointees either to relocate re��lo��cate?v. re��lo��cat��ed, re��lo��cat��ing, re��lo��catesv.tr.To move to or establish in a new place: relocated the business.v.intr. or incur unacceptable traveltimes. These policies require immediate review and the development ofsome creative alternatives. Current principal assignment policies areresulting in large numbers (25%) of potential candidates not followingcareers as principals due to the personal and family costs they wouldincur by being forced to accept a position at a long distance from theircurrent residence. b Boards need to review the number of hours that principals arerequired to be out of their schools for central office meetings. Surelygiven modern technology, other ways of allowing administrative meetingsto occur can be found. 5 Finally boards must develop policies to ensure the professionaldevelopment of the huge number of 'rookie' administrators whowill be hired. Boards will need to invest heavily in in-servicemanagement development programs for their principals in order tocompensate for the unprecedented lack of experience in their schoolmanagement group. The loss of 70 to 80 per cent of current incumbentswill mean not only a severe loss of 'institutional memory' forthe organisation but also a loss in the capacity for new recruits to bementored by veteran administrators. Provincial responsibility for effective policy design * Provincial governments in Canada have the legal right andresponsibility to make education policy. Since the early 1990s, theprovincial government has become much more interventionist at theexpense of local district boards. Any level of government that has theright to develop policy also has the responsibility to insure Insure can mean: To provide for financial or other mitigation if something goes wrong: see insurance or . Or you may be looking for ensure or inshore. thatadequate attention is given to matters of implementation when designingnew policies (Pal, 1977; Patton & Sawicki, 1993). Without commentingon the substantive merits of the province's education policiesthemselves, it is clear that the Ontario government did not meet itsobligations to plan for successful policy implementation in many of thereforms it introduced. Interviews with senior civil servants indicatedthat this was due to the intense pressure from politicians to bringabout change within very sort time frames. * It is clear from the Ontario study that the manner in which theprovincial government chose to implement legislation that fundamentallyaltered the school system has had a deleterious deleteriousadj. harmful. impact. (See for examplethe top ranked dissatisfiers in Table 2.) Although a new curriculum hasbeen implemented, new school district boundaries imposed and new fundingformulae introduced, the impact on principals and their potentialsuccessors has been devastating dev��as��tate?tr.v. dev��as��tat��ed, dev��as��tat��ing, dev��as��tates1. To lay waste; destroy.2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. . As was seen from the data presentedearlier in this paper, the reality appears to be that the governmentimposed too much change, too quickly, while at the same time cuttingavailable financial and human resources. The government also chose tocouple these actions with what can only be described as a media campaignpublicly to denigrate den��i��grate?tr.v. den��i��grat��ed, den��i��grat��ing, den��i��grates1. To attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; defame.2. those employed as elementary and secondary schooleducators. Although these actions may have served certain political endsin the government's power struggle with teachers unions, theadversarial ad��ver��sar��i��al?adj.Relating to or characteristic of an adversary; involving antagonistic elements: "the chasm between management and labor in this country, an often needlessly adversarial . . . environment the government created served only to hinder hin��der?1?v. hin��dered, hin��der��ing, hin��dersv.tr.1. To be or get in the way of.2. To obstruct or delay the progress of.v.intr. thesuccessful implementation of many new policy initiatives. Good policy design always incorporates considerations ofimplementation. In the Ontario case, it would appear that the politicalexpedient of demonstrating the aura of dramatic educational change wasaccorded a much higher priority than the actual implementation of thesechanges. This caused those on the front lines of implementation--schoolprincipals--to bear the brunt brunt?n.1. The main impact or force, as of an attack.2. The main burden: bore the brunt of the household chores. of pressures associated with thegovernment's failure, in their design of the new policies, toconsider basic change management literature. Consequently therecurrently is a highly demoralised Adj. 1. demoralised - made less hopeful or enthusiastic; "desperate demoralized people looking for work"; "felt discouraged by the magnitude of the problem"; "the disheartened instructor tried vainly to arouse their interest" principals' cadre (company) CADRE - The US software engineering vendor which merged with Bachman Information Systems to form Cayenne Software in July 1996. , most of whomcannot wait until their retirement date approaches. Equally devastatingis the fact that many potentially strong future candidates for theprincipalship see the current incumbents of that role struggling toimplement policies that were inadequately designed. Given suchstruggling role models, it should not be surprising that large numbersof educators who have the potential to become school principals arechoosing not to follow careers in school administration. To quote onerespondent In Equity practice, the party who answers a bill or other proceeding in equity. The party against whom an appeal or motion, an application for a court order, is instituted and who is required to answer in order to protect his or her interests. in the Ontario study: Who needs it? Why would anyone want to do a job where you have not got the necessary time, money or staff to do what needs to be done and then have some cabinet ministers publicly portray us as not offering a good educational program! (personal interview) In Ontario, the government's objective would appear to havebeen, change at any cost! In the case of the Ontario principalship--theill-conceived or ignored change strategy has resulted in immense humanresource costs that have the potential to mortgage the educationalleadership future of Ontario's public elementary and secondaryschools. Summary The Ontario case is illustrative il��lus��tra��tive?adj.Acting or serving as an illustration.il��lustra��tive��ly adv.Adj. 1. of several themes. First is theneed for governments at all levels that are responsible for education toaccept the responsibility for leadership succession planning anddevelopment in their organisations. This is not simply a challenge ineducation systems. As Chambers, Foulon, Handfield-Nones, Hankin, &Michaels (1998) note: Companies are about to be engaged in a war for senior executive talent that will remain a defining characteristic of their competitive landscape for decades to come. Yet most are ill-prepared, and even the best are vulnerable. (p.46) This retirement problem in public education in Ontario Education in Ontario falls under provinicial jurisdiction. Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by the Ontario's Ontario Ministry of Education, while colleges and universities are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and is acute.The problem is systemic systemic/sys��tem��ic/ (sis-tem��ik) pertaining to or affecting the body as a whole. sys��tem��icadj.1. Of or relating to a system.2. . The implications of demographics The attributes of people in a particular geographic area. Used for marketing purposes, population, ethnic origins, religion, spoken language, income and age range are examples of demographic data. have beenignored. Management information systems at both the provincial and boardlevels that should have allowed for ample planning time to accommodatethe now recognised retirement rates did not, and still do not, exist.The provincial government has been conspicuous con��spic��u��ous?adj.1. Easy to notice; obvious.2. Attracting attention, as by being unusual or remarkable; noticeable. See Synonyms at noticeable. by its silence and lackof intervention concerning a systemic human resource deficiency forwhich it is ultimately responsible in partnership with its school boardpartners. This is certainly a strange abdication abdication,in a political sense, renunciation of high public office, usually by a monarch. Some abdications have been purely voluntary and resulted in no loss of prestige. of corporateresponsibility on the part of a provincial government that emphasisespublic accountability. The responsibility of governments to design and enact policy thatalso does due diligence Research; analysis; your homework. This term has caught on in all industries, because it sounds so "wired." Who would want to do analysis or research when they can do due diligence. See wired. to matters of implementation is a second majortheme. The Ontario government implemented a massive educational changeagenda. Yet it did so without sufficient lead time and resources andwithout a broad coalition to implement the changes. It could be arguedthat many of the Ontario government educational initiatives simplyignored much of the current organisational change literature. (See forexample the work of Kotter, 1996.) A consequence of this failureadequately to design and manage major change initiatives is ademoralised principal and vice-principal group--the very group that iskey to the actual operationalisation of the changes wanted by theprovincial politicians. Those responsible for the in-schoolimplementation of the new policies had to operate in an environmentpoisoned This article is about something other than the meaning of the word poison. For the meaning of the word, see Poison.Poisoned is a free peer-to-peer computer program for Mac OS X. by political, anti-education rhetoric from the government onthe one hand and union anti-government rhetoric on the other. It shouldbe no surprise that principals who have had to function in such a milieu mi��lieun. pl. mi��lieus or mi��lieux1. The totality of one's surroundings; an environment.2. The social setting of a mental patient.milieu[Fr.] surroundings, environment. want to retire as soon as the superannuation scheme allows, despite thefact that they are relatively young and have a number of potentiallyproductive years ahead--a loss of human capital at a time it isdesperately needed! A hidden cost of these policy weaknesses has beenthat a large group of potential successors to the retiring principalshave watched the implementation struggles of incumbents and concluded,'Who needs it?'. This further exacerbated the decline in thesystem's leadership pool. Finally, although most principalvacancies in the next five years will be filled, the policy questionremains: Will they be the fight people to provide leadership toaccomplish the strategic goals which boards must set for themselves. Inthe cases where boards have accepted their responsibilities forstrategic planning, the chances are there will be a good fit. However,because many boards have no strategic educational vision other than tobalance the budget and react to provincial vicissitudes vicissitudesNoun, plchanges in circumstance or fortune [Latin vicis change]vicissitudesnpl → vicisitudes fpl; peripecias fpl, any fit betweennew hires and future needs may be the result of chance. Finally there is the matter of principal training and development.The Ontario certification process is cumbersome cum��ber��some?adj.1. Difficult to handle because of weight or bulk. See Synonyms at heavy.2. Troublesome or onerous.cum , expensive and heavilytime consuming. Its content is not consistent with best practices inmanagement development in either the public or private sectors. It isunclear, given experience in other jurisdictions, whether certificationis even a necessity. Given the need in the rest of the decade for largenumbers of high quality candidates for applicant pools, the provincecannot afford certification processes whose content may not be directlyuseful and that take five to seven years for candidates to complete. In many public sector arenas, the difficulty is to get theappropriate agency or level of government to formulate formulate/for��mu��late/ (for��mu-lat)1. to state in the form of a formula.2. to prepare in accordance with a prescribed or specified method. policy to solveacknowledged problems. In the Ontario disappearing principal case, theissue is more basic--how to get people to acknowledge there is even aproblem that requires policy development! Keywords administrator selection certification leadership training principals recruitment retirementTable 1 Retirement plans of survey respondents by role--annual andcumulative percentages Retirement yearRespondents 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Elementary principal % of total 11.4 14.22 11.83 11.0 8.5 Cumulative % 11.4 25.6 37.4 48.4 56.9Elementary vice-principal % of total 4.1 4.6 4.1 5.1 8.2 Cumulative % 4.1 8.7 12.8 17.9 26.1Secondary principal % of total 12.1 9.5 15.5 9.5 13.8 Cumulative % 12.1 21.6 37.1 46.6 60.4Secondary vice-principal % of total 8.2 7.5 8.2 2.2 4.5 Cumulative % 8.2 15.7 23.9 26.1 30.6Ontario College ofTeachers projections % of total 13.2 23.2 32.4 40.9 48.7 Retirement yearRespondents 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010+Elementary principal % of total 7.6 7.2 4.4 5.1 18.8 Cumulative % 64.5 71.7 76.1 81.2 100Elementary vice-principal % of total 5.1 7.2 5.6 2.6 53.3 Cumulative % 31.2 38.4 44.0 46.6 99.9Secondary principal % of total 7.8 6.0 7.8 3.4 14.7 Cumulative % 68.2 74.2 82.0 85.4 100Secondary vice-principal % of total 5.2 7.5 5.2 5.2 46.3 Cumulative % 35.8 43.3 48.5 53.7 100Ontario College ofTeachers projections % of total 56.0 62.2 67.7 72.4 76.3Job dissatisfiersTable 2 Rank order of dissatisfiers TotalRank factor %1 Adequacy of time to plan for provincially 92 mandated changes2 Number of curriculum changes mandated by the 86 province3 Adequacy of time to work with students 834 Amount of in-school staff support given 79 principal workload requirements5 Amount of time the job requires 786 Human resources made available to meet the 77 school's educational needs7 Non-student reporting requirements 738 Financial resources available to meet the 73 school's educational needs9 Parent demands 6810 Accountability expectations for in-school 65 administrators11 Need to balance demands from competing 64 constituencies12 Adequacy of salary 6213 Changes in principal's legal status 6114 Amount of discretionary financial resources 56 available15 New requirements for increased parental 54 involvement through school councils16 Employee relations climate with board's teachers 4817 Support accorded to administrators by board 4618 Support for principals and/or vice principals 37 from senior management19 Amount of decision-making authority for 35 principals/vice-principals20 Respect for principals/vice-principals from 24 the community21 Threats the school may be a candidate 22 for closure22 Respect for principals/vice-principals from 15Table 3 Deterrents to seeking administrative position identified byinterviewees TotalRank factor %1 Perceived inability for principals/vice-principals to effect change 60.92 Lifestyle/family commitments 42.43 Government/media portrayal of public education 40.24 Removal of principals/vice-principals from the union 39.15 Perceived amount of time P/VP is off-site at meetings 30.46 Workload demands on personal time 29.37 Cost of obtaining certification 26.18 Travel time and cost to reach location of principalship 26.19 Perceived bias and cronyism of board selection processes 25.010 Lack of encouragement or support from management 23.911 Salary 23.9 References Chambers, E. G., Foulon, M., Handfield-Nones, H., Hankin, S. M.,& Michaels, E. G. I. (1998). The war for talent. McKinsey Quarterly,3, 44-57. Echols, F., Grimmett, P., & Kitchenham, A. (1999).The finalreport of the pilot study of the teacher supply and demand study in theprovince of British Columbia British Columbia,province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada.Geography . Victoria: Teacher Supply and DemandConsortium. Eckstrom, D. (1997). Principal needs for Alberta schooljurisdictions. Report to the College of Alberta School Superintendents Noun 1. school superintendent - the superintendent of a school systemoverseer, superintendent - a person who directs and manages an organization . Evans, R. (2000). Motivators and barriers for aspiring as��pire?intr.v. as��pired, as��pir��ing, as��pires1. To have a great ambition or ultimate goal; desire strongly: aspired to stardom.2. administrators. Unpublished major research project, Ontario Institutefor Studies in Education The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto is a teachers' college in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded in 1996 as a merger of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the Faculty of Education in the University of Toronto (which from 1920 to . Federation of Women Teachers Association of Ontario. (1992). Go forit--barriers to women's promotion in education. Toronto: FWTAO FWTAO Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario (Canada). Howard, A. (2001). Identifying, assessing, and selecting seniorleaders. In S. J. Zaccaro & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), The nature oforganizational leadership: Understanding the performance imperativesconfronting today's leaders. San Francisco San Francisco(săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden : Jossey-Bass. Kotter, J. (1996). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business School Harvard Business School, officially named the Harvard Business School: George F. Baker Foundation, and also known as HBS, is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. Press. McColl, C. (1999). Scarcity ScarcityThe basic economic problem which arises from people having unlimited wants while there are and always will be limited resources. Because of scarcity, various economic decisions must be made to allocate resources efficiently. of school-based administrators inAlberta and Canada. C.A.P. Journal, 8(3), 6-11 McKinnon, B. et al. (1999). Why would I want to become principal?C.A.P. Journal, 8(3), 4-5. Ontario. Parliament. (2001). Legislative debates, October 10.http://www.ontla.on.ca/hansard/housedebates/37parl/Session2/L048A.htm#P280 59615 Pal, L. A. (1997). Beyond policy analysis: Public issue managementin turbulent times. Scarborough: Nelson. Patton, C. V. & Sawicki, D. S. (1993). Basic methods of policyanalysis and planning (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Prentice Hall is a leading educational publisher. It is an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc., based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6-12 and higher education market. HistoryIn 1913, law professor Dr. . Steffenhagen, J. (2000, January 2000). Shortage of principals loomsin B.C.schools. Vancouver Sun, pp. A1, A8. Williams, T. (2001a). Unrecognized exodus, unacceptedaccountability: The looming shortage of principals and vice-principalsin Ontario public school boards. Toronto: Ontario Principals'Council. Williams, T. (2001b). The unseen exodus: Meeting the challenges ofreplacing Ontario's principals and vice-principals. O.P.C.Register, 3(3), 10-14. Tom Williams Tom Williams can refer to: Tom Williams (Australian rules footballer) Tom Williams (presenter), Australian television presenter Tom Williams (Irish Republican) (1924–1942), IRA member who was hanged Tom Williams (ice hockey b. is Professor in the School of Policy Studies,Queen's University Queen's University,at Kingston, Ont., Canada; nondenominational; coeducational; founded 1841 as Queen's College. It achieved university status in 1912. It has faculties of arts and sciences, education, law, medicine, and applied science, as well as schools of , 99 University Avenue, Kingston, Ontario Kingston, Ontario, is a Canadian city located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake runs into the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands begin.Kingston is the county seat of Frontenac County. , CanadaK7L3N6. E-mail: Professor Tom Williams <trwe@post.queensu.ca>