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ABSTRACT
New vice-principals (VPs) inevitably experience high levels of uncertainty when assuming the position, and undergo a process of socialisation, involving engaging with both professional and relational sources of support in schools, to adjust to their changing role. Drawing on socialisation theories, this exploratory study proposes that novice VPs would rely on the school’s structural feedback mechanism, peer affirmation and principal’s sponsorship in their adaptation process; the first of these is professionally oriented whereas the remaining two are relationally oriented. The study further argues that VPs would experience varying degrees of dependence on these factors corresponding to the stage of their development in the socialisation process. Findings of the study, informed by a Hong Kong data set covering VPs in their first, second, and third years of tenure respectively, support these propositions. Peer affirmation appears to be a continuous source of support to VPs in all tenure groups and it stands at odds with principal’s sponsorship. The effects of the structural feedback mechanism and principal’s sponsorship on VP’s transition are only evident in the 2-year group, with the former being positive and the latter negative. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Different terms, such as vice-principal, assistant principal, and deputy principal, are used for this position in different school systems. Schools in Hong Kong, in which the study is situated, use the titles of deputy principals and vice-principals interchangeably. For the purposes of this study, the term vice principal refers to persons who are holding the position of vice-principal, deputy principal, or assistant principal in schools.