<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Whilst extensive research has been undertaken concerning educational leadership and management, there is a paucity of scholarship regarding the merit-selection of school leaders other than principals. This is especially true of principal-led merit selection panels convened to recruit middle-level school leaders, namely deputy principals, assistant principals and head teachers. Meritocratic discourse holds that merit-based selection should, ostensibly be an objective, fair and equitable process enabling applicants to compete on a level playing field via a comparative assessment of their capabilities, talents and attitudes. This paper explores the extent to which government school principals in the state of New South Wales Australia, consider the school-based merit selection process they lead is objective and bias-free. Hence, the findings reported here reveal that despite the New South Wales Department of Education (NSWDE) promulgating the primacy of merit in its school-based selection paradigm, non-merit variables (factors having little to do with merit) exert considerable influence over the appointment decisions made by NSWDE principals when assembling their respective school leadership teams.</p>
</abstract>

Whilst extensive research has been undertaken concerning educational leadership and management, there is a paucity of scholarship regarding the merit-selection of school leaders other than principals. This is especially true of principal-led merit selection panels convened to recruit middle-level school leaders, namely deputy principals, assistant principals and head teachers. Meritocratic discourse holds that merit-based selection should, ostensibly be an objective, fair and equitable process enabling applicants to compete on a level playing field via a comparative assessment of their capabilities, talents and attitudes. This paper explores the extent to which government school principals in the state of New South Wales Australia, consider the school-based merit selection process they lead is objective and bias-free. Hence, the findings reported here reveal that despite the New South Wales Department of Education (NSWDE) promulgating the primacy of merit in its school-based selection paradigm, non-merit variables (factors having little to do with merit) exert considerable influence over the appointment decisions made by NSWDE principals when assembling their respective school leadership teams.

Promotion to leadership, not just merit, but insider knowledge: What do school principals say?

Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Whilst extensive research has been undertaken concerning educational leadership and management, there is a paucity of scholarship regarding the merit-selection...

Promotion to leadership, not just merit, but insider knowledge: What do school principals say?

Article Category: article

Published Online: Apr 23, 2021

Page range: 1 - 21

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/jelpp-2021-001

Keywords
Leadership, change, education, design thinking, systems thinking

© 2019 Kevin Steed et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Promotion to leadership, not just merit, but insider knowledge: What do school principals say?

Article Category: article

Published Online: Apr 23, 2021

Page range: 1 - 21

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/jelpp-2021-001

KeywordsLeadership, change, education, design thinking, systems thinking

© 2019 Kevin Steed et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Leadership, change, education, design thinking, systems thinking