International school leaders tend to last about as long in post as top-flight sports coaches - think Premier League football managers in England or hockey coaches in Canada. At least, that’s the received wisdom.
When this was put to Dr Allan Morrison - who has worked in international schools since 2009 and is currently principal of secondary at DSC International School in Hong Kong - he decided to investigate because it, quite simply, did not ring true.
He was “hearing it everywhere” but “not necessarily seeing it”, he says in an interview with Tes.
And now the findings of his research have been published, they do, indeed, suggest that such depictions of the cut and thrust of international school leadership are dated - albeit, though, there is still room for improvement.
Morrison’s research - published in August and entitled Survival at the top: factors impacting tenure and reasons for departure of the international school head - shows that the average tenure of an international school head is now almost five years, based on a survey of 177 heads. A study in the mid-1990s put it at 2.8 years, and research in 2011 put it at 3.7 years.
International school heads staying for longer
His new research also reveals that sacking is uncommon - despite the perception that it is “endemic at this level of leadership within international schools”.
Just 5.7 per cent of the heads surveyed said they had been fired (five heads in total) and 10.3 per cent said they had experience of their contract not being renewed (nine in total). However, around half of respondents (roughly 90 heads) skipped these questions.
It is hard to say why so many respondents did not answer these questions, says Morrison. If the questions simply had no relevance to them then perhaps the proportion of heads with experience of termination could be even lower than the study suggests.
There is another possibility, however: the heads might not have wanted to admit to being fired or let go. But, given that the survey was confidential, Morrison doubts this.
His conclusion, therefore, is that the findings present a more positive reality than the often “very negative” portrayal of international school headship as “a precarious and dark industry” - with it even being described as “a vampire-like environment”.
The school board can be a problem
However, Morrison still has recommendations to address “the revolving door of headship”, which, he says, can create uncertainty and a lack of stability for school communities.
The research - which also involved nine in-depth interviews with heads of school - notes that while longevity in post for international school heads has improved, it still “lags behind other senior positions such as corporate CEOs”.
It also finds that “while tenure is now higher… heads of school face many of the same issues” as they did in the past, with the most common reason for heads quitting their previous post being “issues related to school governance”.
One head who took part in the survey speaks about the “living nightmare” of working with a school board where “vested interests” determined decisions; “everything was personal” and “short-sightedness and selfishness dominated”.
Morrison, therefore, makes recommendations specifically aimed at school boards.
The value of internal promotions
Significantly, he suggests that boards “consider recruiting from within” when it comes to appointing a head, as opposed to defaulting to external candidates.
External recruitment for the head position “is by far the norm”, says the research - 73 per cent of the heads surveyed reported being externally recruited to their current post.
However, Morrison finds that “both internally promoted and first-time heads have longer tenure”.
This could be because internal candidates have a better understanding of “the school culture, vision and mission” as well as “the clientele, and them having an established working relationship with key stakeholders”, he says.
The composition of the board was also found to be a factor in school leader tenure.
Larger, stable boards, with parents of multiple nationalities with children in the school, were associated with increased school leader tenure.
The research says: “One would expect that a complex board comprised of many members and many nationalities with children in the school might present challenges for a school head, with a multitude of differing agendas arising from competing sub-groups. Yet the results of this study did not support this scenario.”
But boards, the research goes on to warn, should not “over-extend their sphere of influence and control” - the research recommends ensuring that the board’s focus is on governance and not on operations of the school by provision of “appropriate professional development for board members”.
Of course, failure to gel with board members is not the only reason why heads leave.
Reasons for leaving
Other top reasons for heads moving on, according to the research, include salary and career considerations, family and personal issues, and political and social issues connected to the host country.
Indeed, the research says that the “challenges of living in some host countries...should not be underestimated” because social, political and economic conditions can make some postings tough, especially if things change rapidly as recently witnessed in several nations.
Underlining this, one head interviewed for the research said that some countries are considered to be “tremendous hardship posts”, with leaders not even lasting “until Christmas”.
Another head talks about having to leave a host country urgently because “civil war closed the school permanently”.
The research says: “If the social, political and economic conditions are not right for the head of school or their family, the need to move on and seek employment elsewhere is very strong.”
In the study, the Middle East ranked highest in terms of the lengthiest average tenure, at 5.5 years. This was followed by Europe at 5.1 years, then the Americas at 5 years, Asia at 4.7 years, and Africa at 3.9 years.
In terms of the nationality of the leaders themselves, American nationals had the longest average tenure at 5 years, followed by the UK (4.6 years), Australia (4.4 years) and then Canada (3.6 years). (Other nationalities were represented in the survey but were too small in number to allow for meaningful comparison.)
The average tenure was longer at not-for-profit schools than at for-profit schools (5.4 years compared with 3.3 years).
Ultimately, despite the way in which international school headship can be portrayed, Morrison says a key takeaway for him from his research is that, overall, school leaders really do enjoy the job. More than 40 per cent of his sample - 74 international heads in total - had been heads of school within the sector for a decade or more.
As one head who participated in the study put it, “There’s a lot more good than bad about being an international school head.”
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