SUBSTANTIAL VERSUS FUNCTIONAL PRINCIPAL AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE SUCCESS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF ALTERNATIVE LEARNING TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT IN HIGH SCHOOLS IN ISRAEL

Abstract

The article deals with two main types of school principals, a substantial principal and a functional principal, which were discovered during research, conveying the influence of principals’ different management styles on alternative learning, teaching and assessment processes in high schools in Israel. The full research was a two-phase research, a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase, carried out in 30 schools throughout Israel and included 30 principals, 340 teachers and 337 students. The main findings of the research indicated that a principal of an substantial type prominently and significantly promotes alternative learning and evaluation processes, while a functional principal does not bring a significant contribution, and even hinders this process. This can be clearly seen by examining the relationships between the different variables of the research, when, for example, strong, significant and positive relationships were found between a variable such as an substantial management style and variables such as teaching and learning using alternative methods or assessment using alternative methods, as opposed to strong, significant, but negative relationships between those last two variables, and a variable of functional management style of the school principal. The article also includes conclusions as well as recommendations for exposing school principals to their strengths, which must be preserved, and also indirectly to their weaknesses, which make it difficult to implement alternative assessment processes, in order to additionally train themselves in diverse management habits.

Keywords

• substantial manager
• functional manager
• alternative assessment