Improving the Small Rural Or Remote School: The Role of the District (Company Overview) (Report‪)‬

Introduction For about a decade, we have been involved in research focusing on principalship with the general aim of analysing ways in which principals can work more effectively within the realities of schools as complex organisations. Some of our recent work has targeted beginning principals of small, rural and remote primary schools in the West Australian and Queensland government sectors. The complexity of leadership in small, rural and remote schools and the national imperative that all students be successful, regardless of their location, make these settings pertinent to the pursuit of sustainable school improvement. Our research has emphasised principalship and has sought to identify and conceptualise a range of influences on the work of teaching principals within the contexts of their communities to inform processes for their preparation and development. Through the International study of the preparation of principals (University of Calgary, 2009), we have sought to investigate the extent to which principals perceive that their preparation aligns with their professional needs in their first year of appointment.