Role and Responsibilities of a Catholic School Principal

Introduction
Early perception of Catholic Principal and school leadership has changed under old
administrative practices. Before the 1970s, Catholic school principals were primarily
responsible for maintaining organization of all aspects of a school's operations in
accordance to the Catholic Church, including managing the facility, scheduling
classes, and budgeting funds (Gabriel & Farmer, 2009). During the mid-1970's,
however, Catholic principals’ responsibilities shifted to managing teacher quality and
student achievement, which had been preceded by a thrust for them to hone in on
the development of teachers based on their progress. Rather than leading by simply
claiming responsibility for all of a school's operations, a successful principal instead
tailored their approach by modifying management strategies for teacher's needs and
their progress toward set standards or accomplishments (Leithwood & Riehl, 2003).
In this approach, a principal raises the bar of potential that provided for teachers a
model of effective mentorship, good instruction, sound observation, and the
opportunity to develop and reflect upon teaching practices (Lauzon & Begin, 2007).
This is because “Educational leadership is a concept that is contingent upon the
sociocultural and educational context in which it is enacted and exercised” (Fallon &
Paquette, 2014). As a result, the responsibility of a school’s principal has changed
from a superhero to an orchestra conductor, where they share leadership vision and
dispenses it throughout the school rather than assuming all responsibility (Hollinger
& Heck, 2002).
Following proposition structures this assignment:
1. Role and responsibilities of a Catholic school principal.
2. Transformational Leadership style to Support Catholic school leader.
3. Importance of having shared goal and vision to empower school resources
including the teachers.
The role of the Catholic principal as an instructional leader has a multifaceted part in
advancing significant staff improvement for teachers and also being associated with
the professional advancement process itself (Schools, 2008). Catholic Principals
must display, show, and celebrate long-lasting learning through “welfarism and
managerialism” (Barbara et al. 2013). This is because “the field is faced with the fact
that “new managerialism” which embraced managerial efficiency and effectiveness

through bureaucracy and accountability as key levers for reforming schools has
failed” (Kane, 1998) (Ehrich et al. 2015).
Students display what they watch grown-ups do. Grown-ups are grasping the idea of
deep-rooted learning model long-lasting learning for the students. The principal who
joins with the staff and students in learning exercises is the person who changes the
school culture into one that cultivates deep-rooted learning (Capra, 2004). A normal
for a positive school culture happens when grown-ups in the school as a learning
group exploit opening offered by the school, region, group, and state to upgrade their
scholastic information and bits of knowledge into responsibility activities and in
addition their mental, enthusiastic, and physical wellbeing to advance positive
associations with all partners (Schools, 2008). Professional advancement for school
leaders is important to enable them to build up the correspondence, put stock in
building, cooperative, critical thinking, and facilitative aptitudes required for
transformational leadership (Cossin & Caballero, 2013). The pace of progress and
the turbulence of hierarchical life require each leader to proceed with his or her
improvement in deliberate ways.
Professional advancement cultivates collegiality and professional discourse, enables
teachers to build up a typical instructive reason, and encourages synergistic
arranging, experimentation, and investigate of teacher hone. These aptitudes are
vital for making and maintaining a positive school culture. Extraordinary open doors
for professional advancement dwell under the schoolhouse rooftop, and the principal
can be an intense power in helping teacher growth (Harvey & Holland, 2011).
Professional growth alludes to teachers' observations that the principal gives them
chances to grow and grow professionally, learn ceaselessly, and extend their
abilities (Fullan, 2011). The four basic qualities of compelling professional
advancement are collegiality, shared reason, faith in consistent change, and proper
structures that incorporate parts, approaches, and hierarchical courses of action
(Fullan, 2011). The staff improvement must be seen both as a major aspect of a
more extensive approach concentrated on changing school culture and as the key
connection in such an approach between the classroom and the school.
Supporting teachers instructional, especially amid the execution of another program,
is the core of leadership and of cultivating a positive school culture (Capra, 2004).

For students to learn, teachers must learn. Principals endeavoring to actualize
school change activities must consider the school's way of life. School culture and
professional advancement communicate. Professional improvement for teachers and
managers is a successful procedure for creating exactness in information, abilities,
and day by day rehearses for enhancing learning. Limit building and professional
learning for teachers and principals are fundamental for school change activities to
be fruitful (Capra, 2004).
Participating in criteria building, which incorporates concentrating on the region and
school methodologies for accomplishing change, for example, creating school
change groups, reinforcing the part of the principal, helping schools create
community learning societies, and expanding appraisal for learning capacities at the
school and local level advances positive school societies (Barlow & Stone, 2011).
Professional improvement is basic in expanding student accomplishment. It is basic
for all teachers to take part in comes about situated professional advancement.
Powerful professional improvement comes about driven, gauges based, and inserted
in teachers' everyday work (Barlow & Stone, 2011).
School change designs must distinguish the squeezing learning challenges and the
professional advancement exercises in which the teachers need to take an interest
in. Strong teacher limit, aptitude, and responsibility are vital components for
guaranteeing successful teaching practices to raise student accomplishment
(Schools, 2008). Better than expected teaching could dispense with the
accomplishment hole on some state evaluations. Building limit expects regions to
execute a blend of sorts of professional learning for teachers. These sorts
incorporate the utilization of outer mastery, state-supported in-benefit sessions, and
school and framework professional learning groups (Mulford, 2008).
Teachers need to share in the formation of professional advancement that cultivates
student accomplishment. Principals ought to expect that teachers create yearly
professional improvement designs connected to school-or locale wide instructional
and student execution objectives, and not connected to regulatory and political
weights (Schools, 2008). The principal must help this desire by giving the opportunity
to teachers to execute the learning picked up from professional advancement

encounters. The asset of time is likewise basic in encouraging an abnormal state of
collegial help.
Leadership Styles in Instructional Institutes
The transformational leadership, that included building a reasonable vision, setting
up sense of duty regarding concurred objectives, empowering exclusive
requirements, being exceptionally visible to fortify desires while building up an
origination of leadership that was 'neither connected to status nor exemplified in the
activities of any single individual, yet rather scattered or shared all through the
school' (Cossin & Caballero, 2013). Given, nonetheless, that confirmation on
transformational leadership indicated just a little effect on student fulfillment, it should
have been joined with an instructional, academic or learning-focused leadership
approach. This incorporated an attention on the practices of staff that influence the
nature of teaching and learning (Mulford, 2008). For leaders, it included activity both
on association matters (to control limitations on the measure of time students spend
learning) and essentially on advancing and creating schools as learning-focused or
professional learning groups by acting themselves as lead learners (Mulford, 2008).
At last, on concerns and difficulties, school leaders detailed a growing multifaceted
nature and escalation in their work, combined with proceeded with outer difficulties,
for example, staff deficiencies and organization. Following Local Management of
Schools change from the late 1980s, schools apparently had turned out to be more
unpredictable to oversee particularly as far as spending plans, HR, professional
improvement, and organization. The making of training markets had additionally
affected, some of the time adversely, on school leaders and had about dependably
prompted a heightening in work. Therefore, school leaders were working extended
periods of time, and longer than their forerunners. Many likewise felt they needed to
take the lead on things about which they felt awkward – including on execution
related pay, parts of target-setting and aggressive outer promoting. For a few, the
combined impacts of financial hardship prompted material deficiencies and different
emergencies; while for a larger part, administration, exorbitant printed material, and
steady change made their employment less do-capable and less appealing.
The vision and mission combine the concentration of the whole school and reflect
accord and comprehension among all directors, personnel, staff, guardians, group,