Leading Small Scottish Primary Schools

Abstract

Between 1996 and 1998, research commissioned by the Scottish Office Education Department was undertaken on the management of small Scottish primary schools, the results of which were published in this journal (Wilson and McPake, 1998). This article reports the findings from a follow-up study of a sample of 100 schools that participated in the original study (Wilson, 2007). The aim was to explore whether the leadership and management styles of small school headteachers had changed in the intervening years. The research is based upon a postal survey of 100 headteachers of very small schools, i.e. those with rolls of fewer than 50 pupils, in 10 local authorities in Scotland, and also nine case studies. The researcher argues that although the style demonstrated by these headteachers is largely a contingent one that is appropriate to their situations as teaching headteachers, the pressures on them have increased in the intervening years. Questions regarding the sustainability of the role are raised.