School Leadership and the Professional Development of Principals in Inclusive and Innovative Schools: The Portuguese Example

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

On page 5, the authors mention the term "ethos." This concept is a significant area of research within education. It is recommended to replace it with a more precise term or clearly explain "ethos" and integrate it into the findings.

Additionally, I found the use of the term "situations", for example, in the sentence, "The main aim of this research was to understand the events and situations that contributed to the development of top leaders who are capable of thinking pedagogically and strategically about their organization in order to build more inclusive and innovative schools," to be somewhat vague. It is suggested considering the term "experiences" instead, as it may convey a more comprehensive term for the study.

On pages 2 and 3, where the discussion of the laws occurs, it is recommended either to cite the sources directly or to paraphrase the content to avoid any issues with plagiarism. This will ensure proper attribution and enhance the credibility of the work.

Lastly, the text in the figures is too small, and when zoomed in, it becomes pixelated, which affects readability. Improving the quality and size of the figures would enhance the presentation.

Author Response

Comments 1: On page 5, the authors mention the term "ethos." This concept is a significant area of research within education. It is recommended to replace it with a more precise term or clearly explain "ethos" and integrate it into the findings.

Response: Agree, we replace to culture on page 5, 12 and 18

Page 5 - Professional learning communities are spaces for constant learning; they are environments in which everyone learns around a common project and objective (Bolívar & Segovia, 2024) and from there, their school culture develops and the conditions are created for it to take root.

Page 12 - If, on the one hand, permanence in office directs the institution's history in a certain direction, it is this permanence that can also contribute to the rooting of processes and the creation of each school's culture.

Page 18 - After the resignification, TEIP is an opportunity for these teams to think about their school and start building their own culture and identity (Bolivar, 2014; Bolívar, 2019; Hallinger, 2018).

 

Comments 2: Additionally, I found the use of the term "situations", for example, in the sentence, "The main aim of this research was to understand the events and situations that contributed to the development of top leaders who are capable of thinking pedagogically and strategically about their organization in order to build more inclusive and innovative schools," to be somewhat vague. It is suggested considering the term "experiences" instead, as it may convey a more comprehensive term for the study.

Response: Agree, I replace on page 1, 6, 8, 9 and 20.

 

Comments 3: On pages 2 and 3, where the discussion of the laws occurs, it is recommended either to cite the sources directly or to paraphrase the content to avoid any issues with plagiarism. This will ensure proper attribution and enhance the credibility of the work.

Response: Thanks, we fix it on pages 1-5.

 

Comments 4: Lastly, the text in the figures is too small, and when zoomed in, it becomes pixelated, which affects readability. Improving the quality and size of the figures would enhance the presentation.

Response: We upload the images themselves.

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This small scale narrative approach study of the reported experiences of two school headteachers is of interest but not compelling intellectually or in terms of the authors' ambition to influence the training of top leaders. It has far too long a policy setting section. The literature review that follows is heavily dependent upon Spanish authors whose work is derivative from others. It needs to connect to the theme of 'change', which itself is missing from the article, despite its life course tracking. The literature review  is followed by a straightforward justification of the methodology. The mapping of the life courses of the two 'top' headteachers, each in 'turnaround' schools is promising but the author(s)  fail to recognise the 'discontinuities'  in what are presented as linear moments/milestones of the journey. So the results and discussion are superficial and risk being misleading. The adherence to 'pedagogical' leadership may be a constraint and the meaning of  'democratic' and 'inclusive' schools need to be explored further. Additionally, the associations of growth with the TEIP and PPIP participation, whilst important, again need to be explored more deeply, for example in relation to the coincidence of the school development phase and the dispositions of the headteachers. 

Author Response

Comments 1: This small scale narrative approach study of the reported experiences of two school headteachers is of interest but not compelling intellectually or in terms of the authors' ambition to influence the training of top leaders. It has far too long a policy setting section. The literature review that follows is heavily dependent upon Spanish authors whose work is derivative from others. It needs to connect to the theme of 'change', which itself is missing from the article, despite its life course tracking. The literature review  is followed by a straightforward justification of the methodology. The mapping of the life courses of the two 'top' headteachers, each in 'turnaround' schools is promising but the author(s)  fail to recognise the 'discontinuities'  in what are presented as linear moments/milestones of the journey. So the results and discussion are superficial and risk being misleading. 

Response: This study is part of the first author's post-doctoral research and was based on a previous selection of these two institutions for the work they have done in Portugal in presenting distributed and pedagogical leadership practices. The work carried out by these two headmasters is also evident in the academic results of their students. This work is recognised nationally by the other schools and by the Ministry of Education, which has included them in various pilot experiments in pedagogical innovation, school climate and mentoring between schools. As it is pointed out, the work carried out by these two headmasters is promising and so it is hoped that this work can contribute to building knowledge in this area. Despite being a study of the life stories of two people, it follows the methodological principles of this method, namely: the interviews with the leaders were structured in three cycles of successive semi-structured interviews, as proposed by Bolívar-Botía (2022): first interview: chronological exploration of the career, transcribed and analysed in the attached script through the parts childhood, training - in Teaching, the profession, the institution, the decision - to become a Middle Leader; training - in School Administration; the decision - to become a Headteacher; action - Leadership as Pedagogical Practice and the Relationship with the Guardianship; second interview: exploration of blank questions or in-depth study of some categories not explored in the first interview, as well as generalised reflection on the overall experience of the career, in this case - the decision - to become a Headteacher; the performance - Leadership as Pedagogical Practice and the Relationship with the Board.  This was then transcribed and analysed; and third interview: discussion of the interviews and reflection on the analysis carried out.

Alongside these cycles, the chronotopographical study allowed us to cross-reference professional development with the mobility that characterises teaching professionalism, as well as the educational policies in force at the time, which caused tensions in the way each professional sees themselves and how they think about their actions. This process of analysis allows us to reaffirm that the data collection technique associated with the life story method is biographical interviews or biographical accounts in which ‘the person interviewed recounts their professional or family life and the researcher induces and reorganises the elements in order to articulate a relationship between them’ (Bolívar-Botía, 2022, p. 181). This fulfils the need for the presence of the three characteristics proposed by Desmarais (2009-2010): the narrative, the temporal analysis of the narrative and the search for meaning on the part of the narrator and other actors involved (Bolívar-Botía & Segovia, 2019).

In order to make it easier to read the educational policies, we have followed the suggestion of one of the reviewers and included a table summarising them: Table 1 - Summary of the laws from 1989 to 2023 on school management, on pages 3-6.

The work done by Professor Antonio Bolívar is a reference in the area of management and pedagogical leadership, with published work on top leadership, middle leadership and building schools as professional learning communities, hence its use. Alongside this work, the same author has done significant work on the use of life narratives, which underpinned the entire methodological option.

We aagree with the comment about associations of growth with the TEIP and PPIP participation, whilst important, again needing to be explored more deeply, and we add more information on page 21:

As leaders of their institutions said, the TEIP programme provided structure because of the awareness of the experience gained and the importance of integrating schools with common problems into a network. The network of schools, the monitoring by the Ministry of Education, the accountability in terms of funding, which required a process of systematic monitoring of its results, actions and defined goals all contributed to the growth of the school, which had a very strong impact on the professional development of the directors.

And page 22:

This pedagogical experience had an extremely positive impact on the professional development of these principals due to the importance of the network meetings and the way in which these schools were challenged to reflect on the intentionality of their curricular and pedagogical choices, through moments of sharing and debate in small groups of schools. These meetings involved several teachers with middle management positions in these schools and encouraged their involvement and co-responsibility for the success of the project and their school. The analysis of the data shows the importance of school networks in the professional development of these principals and in the construction of their educational project.

We also add new information about pedagogical leadership, change, inclusion and innovation.

 

Thank you so much,

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Introduction

It is difficult to follow the various laws being detailed in the introduction. I would encourage the authors to create a table that outlines the various laws, when they occurred and what they aimed to do.

On page four you list several countries at the beginning of paragraph 2. You include California, which is not a country. I would also recommend spelling out USA and UK.

The various frameworks discussed on p. 4-6 are not well integrated how are these related and why are they being utilized in this study.

Materials & Methods

“The existence of a previous relationship of trust is a prerequisite for the success of the research itself.” When you write this it is misleading. While much of qualitative research requires building trust and rapport with participants it is not a prerequisite to have a prior relationship. If you could include a citation for this claim that would be helpful.

Scheme one has red underlines for some of the words. I’m not sure if this has any particular meaning.

Results

I like the way the narratives of the participants are interspersed with analysis.

I am not sure that the chronotoporgraphy timeline figures add much to the manuscript. I think that they detract from the more interesting constructvist analysis of the life stories.

Author Response

Comments 1: Introduction - It is difficult to follow the various laws being detailed in the introduction. I would encourage the authors to create a table that outlines the various laws, when they occurred and what they aimed to do.

Response: Agree, we included Table 1 - Summary of the laws from 1989 to 2023 on school management, on pages 3-6.

 

Comments 2: On page four you list several countries at the beginning of paragraph 2. You include California, which is not a country. I would also recommend spelling out USA and UK.

Response: Agree - Several countries (Spain, Peru, Chile, Canada, Australia, Scotland, United States of America and United Kingdom) present frameworks for school leadership action. Cabral et al.

 

Comments 3: The various frameworks discussed on p. 4-6 are not well integrated how are these related and why are they being utilized in this study.

Response: We add new information on page 6: The construction of a democratic school is fulfilled by its ability to serve its public. Portugal has low levels of school failure and absenteeism (1.6% in the 1st grade; 3.6 in the 2nd grade; 6.2% in the 3rd grade, 9.8% in secondary education) and the progress made in 51 years of democracy is internationally recognised. As research shows, the actions of school leaders have played a fundamental role in this change. Research (Gonzales et al., 2024; Leithwood et al., 2004; Ma et al., 2025; Marzano et al., 2001; Pina et al., 2015) has shown that not a single school improves without pedagogical leadership. If the teacher's action with their pupils is the greatest predictor of success, the action of the leadership comes immediately afterwards due to the impact they can have on the school's curricular and pedagogical management, influencing the teachers' direct action (Acton, 2021).

The profound transformations in Portuguese schools are representative of paradigmatic changes in the way we understand the role of the teacher, the place of the students and the methods and strategies that can potentially develop learning. The teacher is now tasked with promoting learning, rather than teaching, and this has shifted the discussion in terms of educational policies and pedagogical practices towards recognising the place, prior knowledge and characteristics of students. In order to meet the diversity that characterises schools today and the different ways of learning, teachers are now challenged to differentiate their pedagogical action in more challenging and stimulating teaching environments. It is in this sense that pedagogical leaders play a central role in the way they think strategically about their action and build the conditions for their educational community to recognise itself in the school project and actively contribute to its development

As well as some links on page 7.

 

Comments 4: Materials & Methods - “The existence of a previous relationship of trust is a prerequisite for the success of the research itself.” When you write this it is misleading. While much of qualitative research requires building trust and rapport with participants it is not a prerequisite to have a prior relationship. If you could include a citation for this claim that would be helpful.

Response: Thanks, we added on page 6 - Bolívar-Botía (2022, p. 183) argue that the methodological option of life stories requires a degree of reciprocal relationship between interviewer and interviewee, since the ‘quality and depth of the account obtained will depend on the degree of human significance (empathy) achieved’

 

Comments 5:  Scheme one has red underlines for some of the words. I’m not sure if this has any particular meaning.

Response: Thanks, we have fixed it.

 

Comments 6: Results - I like the way the narratives of the participants are interspersed with analysis. I am not sure that the chronotoporgraphy timeline figures add much to the manuscript. I think that they detract from the more interesting constructvist analysis of the life stories.

Response: The chronotopographies show how the experiences of these headteachers have been marked by a series of educational policies and how these, particularly the TEIP and PPIP experiences, have been significant for their professional development, their thinking about the school and the creation of their identity. At the same time, it has allowed us to cross-reference professional development with the mobility that characterises teaching professionalism, as well as the educational policies in force at the time, which have caused tensions in the way each professional sees themselves and thinks about their actions. This process of analysis allows us to reaffirm that the data collection technique associated with the life story method is biographical interviews or biographical accounts in which ‘the person interviewed recounts their professional or family life and the researcher induces and reorganises the elements in order to articulate a relationship between them’ (Bolívar-Botía, 2022, p. 181). This fulfils the need for the presence of the three characteristics proposed by Desmarais (2009-2010): the narrative, the temporal analysis of the narrative and the search for meaning on the part of the narrator and other actors involved (Bolívar-Botía & Segovia, 2019).

 

Thank you so much,