Principals, politics and change : confronting school resilience to radical renewal

Governments expect school principals to lead and manage significant change to implement school improvement agendas. Research evidence suggests, however, that schools are slow to change (Evans, 1996; Duignan, 2006), that many teachers resist change (Marzano, Waters & McNulty, 2005), and that change is often cursory or short lived – not disrupting dominant cultures and existing arrangements (Johnson, 2004). This paper discusses the resistance to major change encountered by Australian principals, and their perceptions of its causes. Emergent themes demonstrate that the success or otherwise of change rests heavily on the political astuteness of principals, which suggests the need for ongoing professional learning and leadership support around the issue of leading and managing change.