Israel's Principal Preparation Policy

Abstract

This study explores the official policy of the state of Israel in regard to principal preparation programs, a topic which has hardly been investigated so far and has gone through significant change in recent years. Public documents from Israel were explored. Document analysis was a three-stage process--condensing, coding and categorizing. The analysis was based on interpretation of the documents collected, attempting to detect explicit and implicit meanings concerning the topic at hand. Findings show that the topics covered in principal preparation under the current policy are meant to be largely related to instructional leadership; the teaching methods are supposed to be based on active learning with a practical emphasis; and the participants are to be both carefully selected and encouraged to undertake the position of principal. This policy is consistent with the existing research; however, there are some concerns worthy of the attention of the authorities concerned.