Abstract
The principal is the school's decision-maker, responsible for its development and the quality of its pupils' results. In the Czech Republic, the public administration reform in 2000 led to the decentralisation of education from the state to regions, municipalities and the schools themselves, which gained legal subjectivity in 2003. The autonomy of Czech schools, which is higher than in other OECD countries, especially in organisational, personnel, curricular and financial matters, has given their principals much more power and therefore responsibility, which is also anchored in legislation in the Education Act.
The high degree of autonomy of schools puts strong pressure on their principals. School management requires a more holistic managerial perspective, unlike corporate management, as the school principal is not only the manager of the organisation but also a teacher, in the same position as some of his/her staff. School management requires an interdisciplinary approach, using knowledge from education, psychology, sociology, legal and economic disciplines, etc., in addition to general management knowledge.
A secondary school principal must meet the requirements for education, experience and, in the case of public schools, must have acquired knowledge of school management by completing a course of study for school principals. The principal performs roles as a leader, manager, and executor of the process. As a leader, he/she sets the direction of the school and convinces the staff of its correctness; as a manager, he/she ensures the achievement of strategic goals; and as an executor, he/she achieves the set goals and accomplishes tasks. Within these roles, he/she performs many work activities from the position of teacher, employer, economist, lawyer, psychologist, HR manager, etc. He/she is responsible for the smooth running of the school, which consists mainly of ensuring teaching and learning in terms of personnel and content. He carries out some of the activities himself and delegates others to subordinate staff.
The aim of the paper is to find out whether the activities performed by the principal himself belong to roles related mainly to strategic and conceptual activities, i.e. fulfilling the school's vision, and whether the delegated activities relate more to operational and administrative activities.
Research question: Which of the work activities does the high school principal perform himself, which of them does he delegate to subordinate staff, and what factors influence this?