Further, school leaders find the jobs leave little time or energy for personal lives, and the pay doesn t match the expectations. But I think increasingly we will find one additional reason that stems from the issues of accountability and authority. In education, responsibility is centralized, but authority is dispersed. When something goes wrong or answers are needed, the questions are aimed at the school leader. Yet there are many players in education with a slice of the power pie.
Teacher unions dictate many rules and working conditions.
School boards set policy. Increasingly, governors and legislators create mandates and lay down expectations. Judges limit latitude. And for good measure the community, parents and the students feel they have a legitimate right to spell out expectations while they set limits to collaboration. With the advent of the accountability movement things have gotten even more complicated.