A high proportion of NAPs (86.7 per cent), report that encouragement from others motivated them to pursue the position of principal in a primary school. There is
recognition among interview participants that included in the role o f school principal is a responsibility to promote future candidates for the position o f principal. Nora claims that:
Part o f the job was creating leaders. She [school principal] knew that she had to leave leaders behind. You know, you can’t just do your job and then go away, that there have to be people ready who are willing to take the ball and we very much had that with our principal (Nora, AP: 548-550).
That principals themselves play an important role in recruiting prospective leaders is witnessed by participants in their professional contexts when, as teachers, they benefited from the encouragement, support and advice o f principals within their own schools and
also outside their immediate professional contexts. For instance, Donal recalls that “principals would have encouraged me along the way. They were always mindful of the courses that teachers should be going on” (Donal, TP: 82-84). Sean relates how he was encouraged by two principals to pursue a principalship. They recognised in him some leadership attributes and encouraged him in his decision to pursue a principalship:
I sat down one night and spoke to three friends who were all older and wiser and were all principals and they said well we think you have it, we think you are cut out for it, so what are you waiting for? (Sean, TP: 39-41)
Patrick also states that he was encouraged by others to seek leadership training: Then two other principals I knew and they are both actually retired now as w ell... one of them actually showed me a few ads and that, and told me about courses for Masters for Leadership...with the specific aim for me to become principal. (Patrick, TP: 27-30)
There seems to exist in schools a purposeful drive by principals to encourage and support teachers they identify as future leaders based on interview data and also confirmed in the surveys. Just over half of the NAP survey sample group indicate that their leadership potential had been recognised and nurtured (See Figure 4.8, p. 158). This reinforces the idea that candidates may be identified as possessing leadership attributes during the course of their careers. Some interviewees mention that they were motivated to pursue the position o f school principal because o f strong encouragement from friends and colleagues in the teaching community. In other cases, participants acknowledge that they had not identified themselves as potential principals and that encouragement from others had “planted the seed” (Sean: 30-31) which led them to consider a principalship as a possible career pathway.
A high proportion of NAPs report a strong personal motivation to pursue the position o f principal leader (82 per cent). In most cases, the interview participants were highly self motivated to become school principals and had identified with this career goal early on in their practice as teachers. Sean for example, had always identified himself as a potential school leader stating that “1 had perceived that before I even left college. I had a very clear direction of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go in my career” (Sean, TP: 68-69). Similarly, Claire had viewed the principalship as a career choice from a young age. She reports that “since I was small that was my goal I suppose for many years I kind of latched on to that ambition of wanting to be a Principal, of wanting to be a leader” (Claire, TP: 61-64). This may suggest that leadership in some cases is sought for the prestige associated with the role rather than because o f a deep
understanding of the nature of the role.
Desire for career progress is also shown to be an important motivating factor in the survey sample (84.7 per cent). In Anna’s case, however, a contrasting story emerges. Anna outlines that her pathway to school principalship seemed to come about because o f a unique set of circumstances in her organisational context, rather than through strong self-motivation or encouragement from others:
So then in the school I am in basically the principal retired and I decided that I wouldn’t go for the principalship even though I was the deputy principal (...) and the girl who got the principalship got sick within three or four months and thus began my journey into principalship. (Anna, TP: 38-46)
Anna made it clear throughout her interview that she felt she was given little choice when it came to applying for the role of principal in her school. She felt duty bound because of her position as deputy principal in the school. She reports that:
I felt that I had little choice because you lost your deputy principalship
allowance if you didn’t act up. That is one thing you agree to when you become a deputy that if anything happens to the principal you agree to act up. (Anna, TP: 46-49)
Three o f the participants remark that their deputy principals did not seek the principal leader position when it became available in their schools. Joe outlines how his deputy principal restricted her own leadership development in order to avoid succession. He claims that “she didn’t even develop herself as a deputy principal for fear o f being coerced into going for the principalship at some stage” (Joe, AP: 301-304).