Naslov
Principal activities and needs for development of soft/hard managerial skills: preliminary results of empirical research in Croatian primary school

Autori
Alfirević, Nikša ; Pavičić, Jurica ; Ćukušić, Maja

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

ISBN
978-86-80133-72-0

Skup
Montenegrin International Conference for Entrepreneurial Development

Mjesto i datum
Podgorica, Crna Gora, 17.09.2015. - 18.09.2015

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
school principal development; managerial skills; Croatia

Sažetak
Objective of the paper is to analyze the managerial activities of Croatian principals and review their potential relationship(s) with the perceived need for development of both soft and hard managerial skills. If the practice of educational management is associated with the perceived need for the managerial skills development, it could be argued that an effective system for principal development is in place. In the opposite case, the mismatch between the perceived needs for training and the activity patterns of Croatian principals could indicate that the entire educational management system needs a comprehensive overhaul. Methods used include the application of a range of statistical methods (factor analysis, t-test, correlations), performed on a dataset, obtained from a representative sample of Croatian primary school principals. The data has been collected by using the survey approach. Results of the analysis point to the conclusion that the perceptions of both soft, as well as hard skills requirements for the successful educational management in Croatia, are consistent (which can be concluded from the strong and statistically significant correlation values). Nevertheless, those requirements are not related to the patterns of managerial activities, which have been determined by using the factor analysis. The lack of any statistical association among the variables has been confirmed by using the correlation and t-test analyses. Conclusions which can be drawn from the presented research results indicate that: (a) the school principals’ perceptions, related to the needs for development of their managerial skills, do not have any significant relationships with their everyday activities, i.e. they are not grounded in the principals’ managerial practices ; (b) it will be, therefore, very difficult to use the self- assessment data for planning the school principal development. The presented research results could be also resulting from the limitations of the sample (excluding the secondary schools), or some other biases related to this study (and currently unknown to the authors), but do warn that additional checks of selfreported data should be included into both scientific and applied research in educational systems in Croatia. This is of special importance for the successful implementation of the ongoing education reform efforts.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija, Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA