Elementary School Principals as Boundary Spanners: Their Engagement with Parents
Abstract
The elementary school principal, the chief administrator at the local school level, occupies the boundary‐spanning role. One aspect of the principal′s role as boundary spanner is to engage with parents. The principals′ interactions with parents in terms of their boundary‐spanning functions are described. Interviews of 113 suburban elementary school principals suggest they are concerned with buffering and bridging between the school organisation and their parental clientele as boundary spanners. When buffering, principals mediate between angry parents and their superiors at central office and moderate the impact of complaining parents on their schools. When bridging, principals aim at obtaining parental support through promoting public relations.
Keywords
Citation
Goldring, E.B. (1990), "Elementary School Principals as Boundary Spanners: Their Engagement with Parents", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 28 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578239010138725
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1990, MCB UP Limited