Firefighters or deputy lead learners? Organizational, deputy and principal in-situ perspectives on the role of secondary deputy principals

Figures & data

Figure 1. Qualitative research design.

Table 1. Sample of system and policy leaders.

System and policy leader pseudonym	Highest academic qualification	Organisation and function
Fred	Masters	NSW Department of Education State regulator and operator
Jasmine	Bachelor Diploma Certificate in Adult Education	NSW Secondary Deputy principals’ Association State system, secondary deputy principal professional development organization
Susan	Masters	Federal regulator
Peter	Bachelor Hons	State regulator
Lesley	Masters (Leadership)	State regulator
Erica	Masters	Association of Independent Schools, NSW Assists and advocates for the NSW independent school system (AISNSW, n.d.)
Huck	Masters	Catholic Education Diocese of Sydney Metropolitan Area Manages this metropolitan diocese’s schools

Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF, n.d.; Cranston et al., 2002; Leaf, 2015).

Table 2. Cross case profiles.

Sandalwood Independent Boys K–12 Sydney metro	Marigold Lake Catholic Co-ed 7–12 Provincial	Wattle High Government Co-ed 7–12 Provincial	Camellia Catholic Girls 7–12 Sydney metro	Mimosa High Government Co-ed 7–12 Sydney metro
DP Ralph	DP Dennis	DP Denise	DP Flynn	DP Simon
Non-T&L	T&L role	T&L role	T&L role	T&L role
Unspecified DP
role		DP Theresa	DP Lily	DP Rosemary
		DP Nick (AE)		DP James (AE)
				DP Mark (AE)
1620 students	740 students	1044 students	1076 students	764 students
FTE 171.8 staff	FTE 58.8 staff	FTE 78.4 staff	FTE 75.5 staff	FTE 64.8 staff
ICSEA 1182	ICSEA 1049	ICSEA 981	ICSEA 1035	ICSEA 928

AE = above establishment deputies financed through school equity funding.

AISNSW = Association of Independent Schools of NSW; CEDSMA = Catholic Education Diocese of Sydney Metropolitan Area; DoE = Department of Education.

DP = Deputy Principal; FTE = full-time equivalent staff; ICSEA = Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage T&L= teaching and learning.

(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and reporting Authority, n.d.).

Table 3. Overview of principals’ and deputy principals’ profiles by case.

Principal and school pseudonym	Highest academic qualification	Teaching subject(s)	Teaching or non-teaching
Principal Tony, Sandalwood Independent	PhD	Maths, science, chemistry, physics, Christian studies	Teaching
Deputy Ralph	Bachelor, diploma	History	Teaching
Principal Victoria, Marigold	Masters, Hons	English,religious education	Non-teaching
Deputy Dennis	Bachelor, advanced diploma/associate degree	PDHPE	Teaching
Principal Colin Wattle High	Diploma in education	TAS	Non-teaching
Deputy Theresa	Bachelor	Mathematics and science	Teaching
Deputy Denise	Masters	PDHPE	Teaching
Deputy Nick (AE)	Bachelor	Mathematics and IT	Teaching
Pamela, Camellia Catholic	Masters	HSIE	Non-teaching
Deputy Flynn	Masters	PDHPE	Teaching
Deputy Lily	Masters	Economics,business studies, SOR	Teaching
Principal Andrew, Mimosa High	Bachelor	Maths, science, IT	Non-teaching
Deputy Simon	Bachelor, diploma	Geography	Non-teaching
Deputy Rosemary	Bachelor (Hons), diploma	EAL/D, LOTE	Non-teaching
Deputy James (AE)	Bachelor	Mathematics	Teaching
Deputy Mark (AE)	Bachelor	PDHPE	Teaching

AE = above establishment deputies financed through school equity funding. EAL/D= English as an Additional language or Dialect HSIE= Human society and its environment LOTE= Languages other than English PDHPE= Personal development, health and physical education SOR= Studies of religion TAS= Technological and appied studies

Profiling adapted from ‘Forgotten leaders? The role and workload of deputy principals in Queensland government secondary schools’, by Cranston et al. (2002) [Paper]. Australian Association for Research in Education, Conference, Brisbane, Australia: AARE.

Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF, n.d.; Cranston et al., 2002; Leaf, 2015)

Figure 2. Case studies’ codebook extracts.

DP deputy principal.

P principal.

Figure 3. Coding to theming: an example of theme development. Marigold Catholic College.

CRP = classroom practice; DP = deputy principal; P = principal.

Figure 4. Themes by system, policy leaders and school sample.

✓ A theme was generated.

× A theme was not generated.

At least one participant commented but remarks were not pervasive enough throughout the data to generate a theme.

Figure 5. Factors impacting the NSW deputy principal role.

PL = professional learning.

Association of Independent Schools of NSW. (n.d.). The diversity of AISNSW member schools. https://www.aisnsw.edu.au/about-aisnsw

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Australian Qualifications Framework. (n.d.). AQF qualifications. Retrieved March 19, 2020, from https://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf-qualifications

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Cranston, N., Tromans, C., & Reugebrink, M. (2002, December). Forgotten leaders? The role and workload of deputy principals in Queensland government secondary schools [ Paper]. Australian Association for Research in Education, Conference, AARE, Brisbane, Australia. https://www.aare.edu.au/data/publications/2002/cra02433.pdf

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Leaf, A. (2015). The instructional leadership role and professional learning of deputy principals in NSW high schools [ Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Sydney.

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Australian, Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). My school. https://www.myschool.edu.au/

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