The study explores the opinions and convictions of Heads of Schools on how they define ‘quality’ in schools. Qualitative data is collected from ten Heads of State Schools in Malta: five Heads of Primary schools; two of Middle Secondary Schools, and three of Senior Secondary Schools. Heads of Schools are the prime movers and facilitators in schools (Fullan, 2014). The way Heads of Schools define quality influences the whole school community since the way they conceive the concept theoretically, affects the Heads of Schools’ actions as practitioners. Through semi-structured interviews, ten Heads of Schools delineate the notion of quality in schools and offer justifications for their definitions. Additionally, they share how they translate their theoretical understandings of quality into the manner in which they manage and lead the school. Furthermore, they offer examples from the day-to-day running of the school that reflect their comprehension of what comprises quality within the school. Heads of Schools describe the challenges and the opportunities they encounter when striving for quality. The qualitative data collected from the interviews is analysed thematically, employing Lichtman’s (2017) 3 Cs. The emergent themes from the data are discussed within the wider corpus of literature. The findings emanating from the study offer a portrait of the discernment of quality from the Heads of Schools’ perspectives.

Authors:
Angele Pulis, Institute for Education, Malta

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Angele Pulis is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Education in Malta. She is currently working on an Erasmus+ project entitled DEEP, which focuses on Democracy for Educational Empowerment and Participation within school communities.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

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