Aspiration and Succession Practices

Within the survey, there were four items exploring the relationship between present ASA succession practices and school leadership aspiration.

The first item (Item 9.33) aimed to assess the perception that a lack of quality preparation programs was a factor that influenced their unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions. The mean response for this item was 3.228, with a standard deviation of 0.827. This indicates that the majority of respondents perceived the present lack of preparation programs as a significant factor in their unwillingness to apply for school leadership roles. The relatively small spread of responses indicated that there was considerable agreement about this factor’s influence. The Kruskal- Wallis test for the hierarchical level comparison indicates that there is no statistically significant difference between the hierarchical levels (p = .751) in their perception of the impact of the lack of quality preparation programs within the ASA education system on their unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions.

The second item (Item 9.28) aimed to assess the perception of the present level of recruitment and leader socialisation processes and their impact on aspiration. Socialisation here is defined as “the process through which an individual learns or acquires the necessary knowledge, skills, and values needed to perform a social role in an organisation” (Bengston et al., 2013, p. 144). This can be described as ‘learning the ropes’ within a particular organisational role. The mean response relating to the inadequacy of the present processes and aspiration impact was 2.427, with a standard deviation of 1.046. This indicates that this was a medium strength negative influence on the respondents’ willingness to apply for school leadership positions. The

relatively large standard deviation suggests that there was some divergence of views of this factor’s influence across the respondents. The Kruskal-Wallis test for the hierarchical level comparison indicates that there is no statistically significant difference between the hierarchical levels (p = .516) in their perception of the inadequacy of present recruitment, training and induction processes within the ASA education system on their unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions.

The third item (Item 9.27) aimed to assess the perceived impact of the interview and application process on respondents’ unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions. The mean response relating to the interview and application process was 1.727, with a standard deviation of 0.847. This indicates that only a small number of the respondents perceived that these processes impacted their unwillingness to apply for leadership positions. The relatively small standard deviation for this item indicates that there was considerable agreement about this factor’s influence. The Kruskal- Wallis test for the hierarchical level comparison indicates that there is a statistically significant difference between the hierarchical levels (p = .027) in their perception of the interview and application process within the ASA education system on their unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions. This difference existed between the perceptions of classroom teacher and school-based administrator hierarchical levels. Even though all hierarchical levels rated this influence factor as minimal, the school-based administrators rated this lower than the classroom teachers.

The fourth item (Item 9.26) aimed to assess the perceived impact of the practice of, in some instances, bypassing formal succession practices of employee selection on the respondents’ unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions. The mean response relating to the bypassing of formal selection processes was 2.369, with a standard deviation of 1.107. This indicates that this was a medium strength negative influence on the respondents’ willingness to apply for school leadership positions. The large standard deviation, however, suggests that the practice of selecting the school leader prior to the advertising of the position, was seen as a considerable influence on the unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions for some, but for others it was not such a concern. The Kruskal-Wallis test for the hierarchical level comparison indicates that there is a statistically significant difference between the hierarchical levels (p = .012) in their perception of the impact of bypassing these formal selection processes within the ASA education system on their unwillingness to apply for school leadership positions. It was the classroom teacher hierarchical level that perceived that the practice of selecting school leaders outside of the formal selection process impacted their unwillingness to apply the greatest.

In summary, the lack of established formal preparation programs is a significant inhibitor of leadership aspiration, with no significant difference between the three

hierarchical levels. The lack of appropriate recruitment and socialisation processes, and the bypassing of formal selection processes, have a lesser impact than the lack of formal preparation programs, but still a noticeable negative impact on leadership aspiration. There is, however, a statistically significant difference in the perceptions across hierarchical levels, specifically with the classroom teachers registering greater concern about the filling of school leadership positions prior to the position being advertised than school-based administrators and system-based administrators. The actual interview and application process was not seen by a majority of respondents to have much impact on their leadership aspiration levels, and this was particularly the case for school-based administrators.

Importantly, what is noted from this analysis, is that ASA succession practices are perceived by all hierarchical levels to impact on ASA employee leadership aspiration levels.

4.7 SURVEY ANALYSIS: OPEN-ENDED RESPONSES