Head teacher perspectives on their changing role in TAFE NSW

There has been a strong research focus in recent years on the changing role of vocational education and training (VET) practitioners (for example Harris, Simmons and Clayton 2005, Mitchell 2008) and the need for new leadership qualities at various management levels in VET (for example Callan, Mitchell, Clayton and Smith 2008, Mulcahy 2004). This paper reports on a research study which focuses on the head teacher role in TAFE NSW. Previous research has suggested that head teachers, known sometimes as 'frontline managers', occupy a key role as 'discourse brokers' at the interface between management and pedagogy (Black 2005) and that their educational leadership role is threatened by the increased volume of routine administration they are required to undertake (Rice 2005). This paper represents the voices of a state-wide cohort of current head teachers in TAFE NSW Institutes on their changing work role. One hundred and nine head teachers responded to an email survey questionnaire featuring open and closed questions. Questions focused on how their role has changed in recent years, their levels of job satisfaction, and their comments on a wide range of head teacher issues. These included their changed responsibilities, use of electronic systems, overall workload, degree of autonomy in their work, professional development needs, levels of support from other TAFE staff, and how they think their work role can be improved. The survey findings have implications for current debates over the most effective role for head teachers in TAFE NSW. In particular, they suggest there is significant tension between the routine administrative workload involved in trying to ensure audit compliance and the current demands for head teachers to be educational leaders, innovative and commercially enterprising. Show less