Adaptation efforts refer to the actions principal undertake according to their internal and external conditions in response to the self-reported role ambiguity.
5.4.1 Active learning
Learning appeared as a prevalent subtheme across the whole data set. The categories belonging to this subtheme were peer support, learning by doing, training and
self-development. All the respondents were very eager in self-self-development. They responded to their challenges at work place with a positive learning attitude which included participating in training, research and personnel exchange programs.
Trainings were sought according to the individual needs at different stages of the career in different forms. Three principals, who had not taken administrative roles before principalship, chose training programs from local municipalities or the local educational institute. All of them attended in-service training apart from their work.
More often, the respondents tended to help themselves. Peer support was a very common and effective practice among principals. The following two extracts depicted vividly the peer support culture locally.
“Then on the first day when I was sitting in the principal’s chair and in the first hour, I took a telephone and I called. His name is Z. ‘Z, it’s D calling. Now I’m a principal what I have to do? It’s your fault that I am sitting here. [laugh] Tell me what to do!’ And he was really, really (a) big help for me! He helped me in the first day, first step. And he was just laughing,
‘Ok. First sit down and relax!’” --Principal D
“I was reading. And I visited different principals’ meetings, national and international. I tried to teach and I tried to learn always. And I always believe that you have a problem and you believe that someone knows. So why don’t you ask? You don’t lose your faces. And I have never met a principal who says that ‘I know but I don’t tell’ [laugh]”—Principal E
Apart from asking for help, Principal D told learning from daily experience was also important, as “the work itself helped”. Principal C felt that as he became more experienced, the ambiguity had been eased gradually. The principals seemed to have a consensus that principalship is a life-long process and they would never be good enough for this job and that was why they had to learn always.
Principals agreed that different types of trainings had been useful for them.
However Principal E emphasized that training could not replace the real teaching experience in schools.
5.4.2 Communication and cooperation
Communication and cooperation were frequently reported as strategies when the respondents met difficulties in their work. The categories included sharing information, discussion, teamwork and networking. The principals valued the importance of the feeling of their colleagues and students. They were interested in knowing what they believed was good in their schools and what was not.
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“I know most of them (the expectations). I speak a lot with my teachers. I have individual discussions between my teachers, quite a lot. And then I have individual sessions with my boss and we were speaking about our school my school and about the city and these things.
So this some kind of good communication is really important.” –Principal D
The principals told that they dealt with external expectations through different communications strategies such as meetings and surveys. Principal B gave a good example of her communication tactic. She told that teachers were her closest ones to communicate in her school. She often went to talk to them like friends talking together during the breaks. Each year in her school they would organize a big survey for the students and their parents. The survey covered questions about the services in the school, the quality of teaching in classroom, the opportunities to choose different subjects, the safety and food at school and so on. Students were also welcome to talk directly to her and it happened sometimes. In fact, she interviewed all her students individually when they entered the school and when they were in their last school year. Teachers were given a questionnaire to reflect on how they experienced her leadership. The parents had her telephone number and they were welcome to call and ask.
The principals also told they always shared information with their colleagues.
For them keeping information for themselves was not the practice at work. Meanwhile, cooperation with individuals or different authorities was often sought by the principals when they had difficult tasks. The respondents told they had reliable administrative teams around them in their schools. They also had a well-connected principal network where they often sought for support.
“You must have network around you. Here, it’s good experience. I had 4 other secondary principals here. 6 principals was the most. We are a good team. We try to specialize, so that we know that he knows school laws. He concentrates the laws. He concentrates the learning process. He concentrates organizations. He is more interested in continuing education. And when I had a problem, I call him. And when they had some problem in some case they call me.
And if I don’t know it’s my responsibility to find it out. So it was divided, loyal team. And not always just formal questions, sometimes just sitting down and talking, what’s your feeling.”—Principal E
Although networking activities seemed to be beneficial in solving principal’s problems, one respondent revealed it also consumed a lot of time and energy which should be saved for the classes and discussing lessons with their teachers.
5.4.3 Self-evaluation
As external evaluation was not so common in Finland, principals tended to evaluate themselves in terms of their self-expectations and performance against the external
expectations on a frequent basis so as to help them be on the track. The principals were mostly satisfied with their performance. The accuracy of their self-evaluation was reported to increase alongside their accumulating field experience.