Managing the Drama: The Headteacher's Work in an Urban Primary School

Abstract

Previous studies of the work of primary school headteachers tend to adopt a fairly superficial approach to categorizing tasks and contacts. As part of an ethnographic study of teachers' work in an inner city primary school, I ‘shadowed’ the headteacher for three one-week blocks plus four interviews and numerous informal talks. Life at this school was intense and often dramatic. I develop an approach which suggests the headteacher's work contains ‘routines’, ‘events’ and ‘stories’ and give examples of each. Some ‘stories’ develop into ‘sagas’ or ‘social dramas’ and two instances are described. I examine how this headteacher not only copes with, but enjoys, what appears to be an increasingly stressful job.