Media Portrayals of the Principalship and Their Influence on Current School Leaders

Home , Clone High, The Maxx

MEDIA PORTRAYALS OF THE PRINCIPALSHIP AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON CURRENT SCHOOL LEADERS

DAVID CAMERON HAUSEMAN

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION

NIPISSING UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION NORTH BAY, ONTARIO

Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada

Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition

395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada

Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66779-8 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66779-8

NOTICE: AVIS:

The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. . The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author’s permission.

In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse.

While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n’y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis.

Abstract

This study examines how school leaders have been portrayed in 50 films and television programs and investigates whether the media are grounding their portrayals of the principalship in reality, or if it is disseminating a new definition of the role that could have detrimental effects on current school leaders who occupy the position in real life. In order to determine the authenticity of the film and television representations of school leadership included in the study, the actions, duties and roles of these media principals were observed and compared to those expected to be performed by competent school leaders on a daily basis. It also provides an excellent foundation for a number of next steps in the research process including screening these films and television programs to an audience to determine the extent to which these portrayals contribute to the public‟s perception of the principalship and the school system as a whole.

Acknowledgements

Both the most heartfelt and genuine thanks are reserved for my family. My wonderful parents should be commended for always supporting and encouraging me to pursue my dreams – no matter how outlandish or heedless they appeared at first glance. Jaime, I could not ask for a better sister. Thank you for always being there for me. I could not have accomplished this task in such a condensed time span without the unwavering love and guidance I received from all of you.

My thesis supervisor, Dr. Paul Begley, also deserves a great deal of thanks both in regards to the completion of this paper and for allowing me a number of opportunities to grow as both a scholar and a person. You are a class act. Thank you for your mentorship and sharing your expertise during the course of my adventures in graduate school.

I would also like to acknowledge the time and effort spent by my remarkable committee members throughout this process. Thank you to Dr. Carolyn Crippen, Dr. Ron

Wideman and Dr. Heather Rintoul for all your support, guidance and constructive criticism.

All of it has been much appreciated.

A massive thank you is also reserved for all of my friends and colleagues at Nipissing

University‟s Brantford campus. It was a privilege to work with such a talented and creative group of educators.

I would be remiss not to thank Professor Mark Wilson. I am forever in your debt for igniting in me a passion for theatre, film and the arts as a whole during my time as an undergraduate student at York University. This undertaking would not have been possible otherwise. A special thank you is also reserved for the people who made the films and television programs included in this study and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program.

Table of Contents

Abstract...... iv Acknowledgements...... v Table of Contents...... vi List of Appendices...... viii List of Tables and Figures...... ix

Chapter One: Introduction and Rationale for the Study Rationale ...... 2 Research Questions ...... 3 Significance...... 3 Organization...... 5

Chapter Two: A Review of the Relevant Literature The Media as a Socialization Agent ...... 7 Examining Representations of Educators in Films and Television Programs ...... 11 Depictions of Principals on Film ...... 15 The Role of the Principal ...... 18 Visions of Successful School Leadership ...... 22 Alterrnate Images of Effective School Leadership ...... 29 The Influence of Social Expectations on Principals and their Leadership Practices ...... 31

Chapter Three: Methodology Context...... 35 Research Design...... 36 Conceptual Framework ...... 38 Data Collection ...... 41 Data Analysis ...... 43 Critical Analysis Using Deconstruction Theory ...... 43 Reliability and Validity ...... 44 Ethics and Limitations ...... 47

Chapter Four: Findings Research Question #1: In what ways are principals depicted in the media? ...... 51 Research Question #2: Do these portrayals mirror the actions, duties and roles of their real- life counterparts?...... 70 Research Question #3: What Implications do these Media Portrayals Have for Current School Leaders ...... 82 Summary ...... 87

Chapter Five: Conclusions and Implications Conclusions ...... 90 Implications for Current School Leaders ...... 94 Next Steps and Implications for Future Research...... 96 A Final Word ...... 99

References...... 101

vii

List of Appendices

Appendix A: List of Films and Television Programs Included in this Study...... 112

Appendix B: Database of Film and Television Representations of the Principalship...... 114

viii

List of Tables and Figures

Figure 1: Arenas of Leadership...... 33

Figure 2: Arenas of Influence on School Leadership Practices...... 34

Chapter One: Introduction and Rationale for the Study

My personal experiences studying the media are products of my short-lived career as a professional actor in Toronto, Ontario, and my time spent as a pre-service teacher and graduate student in Nipissing University‟s Schulich School of Education. As an actor, I viewed the media and its global reach in a positive light. I perceived films, television programs and the whole of the mass media machine as both engaging entertainment and as a vehicle that I could drive towards fame, fortune or a decent living as a performer. I watched films and television programs in an effort to observe and learn from the talented actors I was seeing on screen, and had little regard for any negative consequences that could result from consuming so much popular culture. By no means was I “raised by the television”, but like most children born in the mid-1980s, I have spent a great deal of time playing video games, watching films and television programs and surfing the internet.

It was not until working as a teacher candidate that I began to question the positive, limited and rather naive view of the media that I had maintained since my youth. I initially became interested in the effects the media has on one‟s perceptions, and particularly how school principals are portrayed in the media and the implications of these depictions for current school leaders while teaching critical media literacy to a group of grade five and six students in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. This lesson occurred during my practice teaching placement while enrolled as a student in Nipissing University‟s Bachelor of Education program. To complete my lesson plan assignment for the day, I was required to document the specific curricular expectations that applied to that particular lesson. The Ontario

Ministry of Education‟s Language Arts curriculum document (2006) states that “(media)

texts abound in our electronic information age, and the messages they convey, both overt and implied, can have a significant influence on student lives” (p. 13). In fact, the document‟s (2006) media literacy strand lists 14 specific expectations for Grade 6 students.

Consulting these expectations led me to investigate the effect that these cultural texts were having on my worldview. If these media portrayals can have a significant impact on the lives of elementary school students, it is not unreasonable to presuppose that these representations can have a similar impression on people of all ages. Being an educator, I am concerned that the media portrayals and depictions of educational leaders may be sending students and other members of the general public the wrong messages about the principalship and the current state of schooling. The perceptions of average citizens may be shaped by unrealistic portrayals of schools and educators found in films and television programs.

Rationale

Over the last century, the advent of films and television programs has fundamentally altered the lives of people around the world. While these media have come to be viewed as harmless forms of entertainment, there is a growing interest in the ever increasing influence that films and television programs are having as socialization agents in the lives of youths and adults alike. The purpose of this study is to determine whether school principals depicted in films and television programs are portrayed in an authentic manner, or if the media is propagating and disseminating a new definition of the principalship that is in opposition to the meta-values that guide the profession. The study also examines the ways in which these depictions impact and influence current school leaders and the general public.

Research Questions

The modern principalship is a position that continues to undergo changes in its roles, purposes and practices both in Canada and abroad. While there is a massive research base that examines the role of the principal, successful school leadership practices and their place in school reform efforts, there has been a dearth of literature that examines how school leaders are portrayed in films and television programs. Likewise, there has also been very little research conducted that investigates how educators (ie. teachers, support staff, as well as principals) have been depicted in popular culture. As an initial step towards better understanding this topic, it is important to examine the effects of media culture, the role of the principal and the ways that school leaders have been depicted in films and on television both at present and in the past. With that in mind, there are three research questions which structure this inquiry:

1. In what ways are principals depicted in the media?

2. Do these portrayals mirror the actions, duties and roles of their real-life counterparts?

3. What implications do these media portrayals have for current school leaders?

Significance

This particular research study adds to the current body of literature by forging links between the effect of the media on one‟s perceptions, the role of the modern school principal and how school leaders are portrayed in films and television programs. The findings presented later in this study could easily be used to develop a graduate level or principal‟s qualification course that deals with identifying authentic leadership practices while examining the potential effects that media representations of school leaders have on the public‟s perceptions of their role.

Furthermore, my research findings carry significance for a number of stakeholders.

One of the main beneficiaries of this study could be boards and/or districts of education, teachers, students and everyone else who calls for more effective school leadership. It has been suggested by a number of scholars (Breault, 2009; Beyerbach, 2005; Swetnam, 1992;

Thomsen, 1993) that negative depictions of educators found in films, on television, and in other pieces of popular culture may be driving potential teachers away from the profession.

It is not presumptuous to assume that some of those potential teachers were prospective principals, and that perhaps inauthentic media representations of the principalship are one of a number of factors that douse the flame of passion that many current teachers may have for the position. Real-life principals currently working in the school system may also benefit from this study as it will make them aware of how they are being portrayed in the media, while also allowing them to reflect on and examine how media portrayals of the principalship may have affected how they view their role and position in the school. Glanz (1997) supports this notion by stating that media images of the principalship “influence not only how principals are perceived by others, but how principals themselves understood their own identity” (p. 295). From a research standpoint, this study could inform any future inquiries that deal with the pervasive aspects of media culture, the role of the school principal, how educators are depicted in the media/popular culture, and the way the public perceives the school system. This research is important considering that very few people who are employed outside of a school setting are familiar with the current state of the principalship and may come to rely on some inauthentic, immoral and misrepresented school leaders depicted in films and television programs to inform their view of the position and the school system as a whole.

Organization

This thesis has been organized in such a manner as to provide the reader with appropriate background knowledge on the media‟s role as a socialization agent, past and current depictions of educators in films and television programs as well as the role occupied and successful practices employed by current school leaders. The rationale for the study, an introduction to this topic and its personal significance are all included in Chapter One.

The second chapter offers a review of relevant literature that pertains to this study.

The theories of McLuhan (1960) and Baudrillard (1994) are explored in the first portion of this literature review which begins with an examination of the media‟s role and power in socialization, both historically and in the 21st Century. After exploring past and present portrayals of educators in films, television programs and popular culture as a whole, the literature review switches its focus to educational leadership by specifically looking at the role of the principal, successful school leadership practices and some of the social expectations that can influence what principals do. This section uses Leithwood, Jantzi and

Steinbach‟s (1999) six broad models of school leadership practices as a framework from which to address successful school leadership, while also outlining Begley‟s (2006, 2008b) onion figures that explore the relationship between valuation processes and administrative actions, and the social expectations that influence school leaders, respectively.

The methodology used in the study is outlined in Chapter Three. A thorough and comprehensive description of how the data were collected, how it was analyzed and how the results are displayed are all included in this chapter. Data collection consisted of direct observation of 50 school leaders found in films and television programs obtained from all over the English-speaking world. The title, context, plot, and year of production for each

6 film or television program has been recorded in a both a table and database entry that also notes the race, class, gender, name, characterization and media archetype of each media principal observed. This tables and these database entries play a similar role to that of the standard observation forms that are used by researchers to ensure that the inferences they glean from their observational data are accurate and can be found in both Appendix A and B, which is located at the back of the study. The data were analyzed using deconstruction theory to conduct a critical analysis of the images and archetypes portrayed on screen. This led to the final results reported in Chapter Four. Chapter Three ends with a brief discussion of any limitations and ethical concerns related to this study.

Chapter Four uses the research questions listed above as a guide to display and discuss the data that was collected for this study. In addition to offering a detailed description of the data that were collected throughout the study, also included in Chapter

Four are a number of key themes and ideas emerged during the data analysis phase that provide support for the research questions.

The final chapter concludes the study with a summary of findings, a look at any additional implications that this study will have on the leadership styles and practices of school leaders and any next steps and future research projects that may arise from the work conducted for this study.

Chapter Two: A Review of the Relevant Literature

In order to provide an appropriate foundation for this study, it is important to investigate and examine literature and research that addresses the media‟s power as a socialization agent, how educators have historically been portrayed in films and television programs and the role of the contemporary school principal. The literature review that follows is divided into three sections. The first section of this literature review will discuss how the media has become an instrument used to socialize both youths and adults alike. The goal of this section is to inform the reader that there is evidence to suggest that visually digesting films, television programs and other forms of digital media is a process that can affect one‟s perceptions and alter their worldview. The second section will explore how media educators have been depicted in the past and present. The final portion of this literature review will explore the role of the principal, how it has changed over time, visions of successful school leadership and how social expectations influence what principals do. It is important to note that each segment is divided into a number of subsections to elaborate further on each element included in this literature review.

The Media as a Socialization Agent

To claim that the media can alter one‟s perceptions, and in the process have a significant impact on how people view the world of work and various professions, is neither new nor revolutionary. From the moment television sets became a fixture of the North

American household in the 1950s, a number of scholars (Baudrillard, 1994; De Fleur, 1960;

McLuhan, 1960) have voiced their concern about the serious effects that uncritical

viewership can have on an audience. In fact, the cultural studies are a whole academic discipline that emerged out of this debate.

Historical context. Socialization refers to the process of inheriting and adopting societal norms, customs and ideologies. Canadian communications guru Marshall McLuhan

(1960) was one of the earliest scholars to explore the media‟s power as a socializing agent on its audience. He wrote that pieces of electronic media (like the films and television programs discussed in this study) fundamentally alter how one perceives the world. He further argued that the media has the power to brainwash people. In the same study, McLuhan also postulated that electronic media is addictive. This is particularly troubling because the more films and television programs one consumes, the more libel they are to adopt dominant discourses and power structures that are disseminated through forms of mass media. This is especially true when people equate the depictions of reality that they see on screen with what is actually real. In Understanding Media (1997), McLuhan adds that, “the film form is not just a puppetlike dance of arrested still shots, for it manages to approximate and even surpass real life by means of illusion” (p. 290).

De Fleur (1964) was inspired by McLuhan and determined that television and other forms of mass media act as a learning source for children and help them gain knowledge about specific occupations. This was due in part to the unplanned, incidental learning that takes place in front of the television and the increased amount of time that children spent watching television. It is safe to assume that children growing up in the early 21st Century spend more time absorbing electronic media than their peers from 40 years ago, and that film and television representations of the working world are having an even greater effect on how youth of this generation view potential occupations. De Fleur elaborates on his point by

9 stating that “television seeks to entertain, to excite, and to move the viewer away from realities rather than towards them” (p. 72), and declares that film and television programs disseminate unrealistic occupational information that nonetheless mislead viewers and socialize them into perceiving that what they are watching is a true depiction of the profession in question.

In his seminal Simulacra and Simulation (1994), Baudrillard argues that images, like those seen in films and broadcast on television are responsible for blurring the boundaries between what is real and simulations of reality that people perceive as being real (ie. characters in a television program). Baudrillard elaborates on this by suggesting that films, television programs and other forms of mass media have become the main tools of socialization in contemporary society. He states, “Everywhere socialization is measured by the exposure to media messages. Whoever is underexposed to the media is desocialized or virtually asocial” (p. 80). This seems to suggest that people are not only influenced by the various images, depictions and portrayals they see in films and television programs, but that these simulations of reality may inform society‟s collective perception of the real-life occupations (ie. those of school principals and other educators) they see represented on screen.

The media as an agent of socialization in the 21st Century. Many Contemporary authors have expanded on the work described above. Giroux (2000) argues that films and television programs are a commodity that produces powerful narratives that exercise a pedagogical force over one‟s relationship with themselves and others. Furthermore, he describes electronic media as a “site where identities are constructed, desires mobilized and moral values shaped” (p. 132).

Similarly, after an investigation of popular culture‟s effects on students in a high school classroom, Savage (2008) found that “the lives of young people continue to be sonorously driven by popular culture” (p. 52). He also claims that the subjectivities of young people, and, in fact, their everyday lives are relentlessly influenced by the addictive pangs of media culture. An interesting research finding of this inquiry that is particularly relevant to this study, is Savage‟s discovery that students are not only absorbing more popular culture knowledge and artifacts in the 21st Century than in the past, but that traditional text forms like books and magazines, along with television news programs were almost absent from the lives of the high school students that comprised his study. He also found that in this high school setting, students‟ social worth rested on how well he or she could produce a version of their identity that mirrored the popular culture norms disseminated through various films and television programs. Those who deviated from these norms faced serious social consequences and were often excluded from the dominant group. To gain acceptance, students were forced to adapt their interests and personality to match the dominant, media saturated discourse at this particular high school. It is quite possible that the particular high school classroom studied by Savage is quite representative of the media‟s impact on most

North American adolescents and their socialization processes.

Savage‟s (2008) work reveals the pervasive aspects of media culture. As was stated above, students face becoming social pariahs if they decide to read a book instead of keeping up to date on the latest popular culture happenings. The media is affecting the socialization of these students as their perceived relationship with the popular culture norms that are disseminated through films and television programs manipulate their social groupings. If

Savage‟s students allow the media to have this kind of an impact on the construction of their

11 individual identities, the media must have some sort of sway in how they perceive principals, educators and other aspects of their lives at school.

In a similar vein, Berry (2000) explains that the mass media are a major constructor of knowledge, values, history, institutions, power and what people ultimately think is important in their everyday lives. He goes on to describe a paradigm shift in the type of knowledge valued by society, stating, “Where, at one time, people quoted law, classics, experts, church and academics, they now quote the Anita Hill or OJ Simpson trials, Jerry

Seinfeld, ER, situation comedies, soap operas and, of course, Oprah!” (p. 72). Adding fuel to that proverbial fire is Real (1996), who argues that whether intentional or unintentional, people incorporate the semiotic signifiers found in films, television programs and commercials into their reality and construct meaning and perceptions based on what they watch on television.

As digital technologies continue to play a larger role in both the personal and professional lives of people of all ages, it is not foolish to suggest that it will continue to play a part in the socialization process and persuade the perceptions of those who consume media.

This means that the public‟s (and possibly some school leaders‟) visions of the principalship could be influenced by media depictions in films and television programs. With that in mind, it is now important to examine some portrayals and representations of educators that have occurred in recent films and television programs.

Examining Representations of Educators in Films and Television Programs

Considering the rather powerful statements referenced above about the media‟s power to socialize people and influence one‟s perceptions, it is rather surprising that there is such a dearth of literature investigating how educators are depicted on screen. All of the research

12 cited below uses at least one of a variety of data collection methods associated with cultural studies, a qualitative research tradition rooted in critical theory. As explained by Giroux

(1997), “cultural studies is largely concerned with the relationship among culture, knowledge and power” (p. 232).

Kaplan (1990) found that media depictions of educators are rarely inspiring and that real stories about the education system are infrequent. This led him to recommend that it is the job of current principals and other school leaders to act as role models for their students and the community as a whole in order to disseminate a positive image of their occupation and the larger education system.

Epstein, Rosenberg, and Smith (1991) also contend that the media portrays educators in a negative manner. None of the educators in the nine films that comprised their study could be seen as a role model as the performances did not shine a positive light on the profession and would be unlikely to inspire young people to pursue a career in education.

Taking a critical stance, Brunner (1991) argues that films and television programs about schools act as a form of social critique that seeks to end mundane schooling practices that dehumanize the students they are supposed to serve. She points out that “popular media tend to show us one vision of schooling and it is powerful. That vision, despite all of our efforts to change it, is largely negative, authoritarian, skill driven, uncaring” (p. 2). As will be noted later, media stereotypes of an authoritarian school system filled with similarly minded educators have the ability to shape the public‟s opinion of teaching, schooling and the principalship.

Swetnam (1992) determined that the media propagate a number of stereotypes that could be detrimental to the education sector and those that work there. In particular, she

13 noted that the vast majority of educators are depicted in the media as unprofessional and ill prepared. She also found that women are underrepresented in administrative roles in films and television programs that portray a school environment.

Thomsen (1993) argues that the American public began to view their educators and the state of their education system in very similar ways to how both were depicted by

Hollywood. In his study, Thomsen found that teachers, principals and essentially every character found in films and television programs set in a school environment were seen as being uncommitted, ill prepared and incompetent. Furthermore, he noted that principals and administrators were apathetic and ran equally incompetent schools that reeked of a lack of discipline.

Thomsen‟s (1993) conclusions about how educators are portrayed in films and television programs are the result of his research. After analyzing depictions of teachers, administrators and the American education system in a number of films dating back to the

1930s using a fantasy theme analysis, he looked for a correlation between these media representations of the profession and the results of the yearly Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa Poll used to determine the public‟s opinion towards education. Thomsen found that “repeated exposure to the myths and themes of movies on teachers and teaching should eventually influence an individual‟s perception of teachers, schools and the reality of the schoo l system”

(p. 23). One of his more interesting findings revealed that parents are likely to give their local educators relatively good reviews, but tend to condemn schools at a national level.

Perhaps this indicates that an independent variable, such as the media‟s representations of teachers and school leaders, could be influencing their version of reality.

Breault (2009) is another scholar who has written about how media-driven stereotypes of educators can be a powerful force among the general public. He notes that

“when a variety of filmmakers over a long period present a similar view of schools, be it positive or negative, it is possible that the perception they put on film closely reflects that held by a large segment of the public” (p. 306-7). He furthers this assertion by proposing that school leaders can use films and television programs that depict the profession as a cultural barometer to determine how schools are viewed from the outside, while noting that educators are rarely shown doing their respective jobs. Breault calls for an authentic representation of educators to be depicted in the media.

After using deconstruction theory to conduct a critical analysis of over 50 films,

Beyerbach (2005) suggests that the race, gender and socioeconomic status of the vast majority of educators in the school films that comprised her study were not at all representative of teachers in the real world. She also noted that the mostly negative representations of educators in the media may adversely affect teacher and principal recruitment efforts and simultaneously water down the pool of talent willing to take on work in these careers. If children and young adults are indoctrinated with these harmful and unrealistic views of teaching and the principalship, she warns that they may decide not to enter the teaching profession based on these media portrayals alone.

Similarly, the three films analyzed by Grant (2002) were found to promote myths and stereotypes about learning and culture. These stereotypes were so pervasive and prevalent in films about schools and teaching that Grant recommends pre-service teachers view and critically analyze how teachers and administrators are represented in the media so they can become conscious of their own preconceived notions about the profession. Otherwise, she

15 fears that beginning teachers will unconsciously mimic the actions they have seen performed by educators depicted in films and television programs when they get their own classrooms.

New school leaders may also unconsciously allow media representations of the principalship to inform both their leadership practices and their understanding of the position.

Depictions of Principals on Film

Glanz (1997) notes that the 20 media principals analyzed for his study fit neatly into three distinct archetypes based on their leadership practices. The three archetypes are: (a) the authoritarian, (b) the bureaucrat and (c) the principal-as-numbskull. Unfortunately, none of them are particularly flattering or representative of the roles and responsibilities undertaken by modern, real-life principals. The following sections present each archetype in turn.

The authoritarian. The first type of principal commonly depicted on film and television is that of an authoritarian who will use force and intimidation to maintain control over both the students and teachers at their school, while viewing the world through hierarchical and patriarchal lenses that legitimizes their draconian behaviour (Glanz, 1997).

An excellent depiction of the authoritarian principal is Steven Harper on Boston Public

(Kelley & Schlamme, 2000). A black, middle-class, male, Principal Harper is seen yelling at students, parents and members of his teaching staff on five separate occasions in the pilot episode alone. The program opens with Harper becoming engaged in a yelling match with the parent of a star athlete who has been suspended from the football team because of poor grades. He then shouted at a group of concerned parents, raised his voice as a method of intimidation when dealing with a completely burned out teacher with a history of mental illness and had the audacity to inform another teacher that he had the vice principal to thank for his job, because he wanted to terminate him. However, both the least realistic and most

16 troubling action committed by Principal Harper occurred when he slammed a school bully into a row of lockers and informed him that if his usual target, a student named Anthony

Ward, “gets so much as a hangnail, I will take your head off!” (Kelley & Schlamme, 2000).

Harper found the time to threaten and intimidate five different people or groups of people in an hour long television program that is representative of one school day. Rather than tending to the best interests of his students, the chief concern for Harper seems to be consolidating his own power within the school through intimidation and scare tactics.

Farber and Holm (1994) are quite critical of this media-constructed archetype of the principalship, and discuss the shortcomings of Joe Clark, an authoritarian media principal depicted in the film Lean on Me (Avildsen, 1989). Based on a true story, Lean on Me documents Clark‟s well publicized battle to reform a struggling inner-city school by instituting totalitarian measures like mass expulsions. Farber and Holm take offence to this film‟s deification of Clark and his authoritarian style of educational leadership as they argue that he gave up on the hundreds of students expelled from his school in the midst of his own personal reform effort. They go on to note that this cultural text is framed by various filmmaking conventions that entice the viewer to think that Clark and his extreme measures are a viable solution to what ails the school.

Authoritarian schools run by severe and dictatorial administrators characterize the three films that comprised Gale and Densmore‟s (2001) study. They note that the respective film directors went to great lengths to reify their understanding of the events in each film and have left little room for the audience to stray from their personal interpretation of the events depicted on screen. This is particularly damaging and problematic for school leaders as they

17 were seen as always being depicted in an inauthentic and authoritarian manner that painted them in a negative light.

The bureaucrat. Another common image of the principal disseminated through films and television programs is that of the bureaucrat. Principals of this archetype are primarily concerned with administrative tasks like budgeting and scheduling at the expense of the individual needs and best interests of the students who attend the school and the teachers who work there (Glanz, 1997). These principals also have a tendency to use democratic leadership techniques to avoid making tough decisions.

Principal-as-numbskull. The final media archetype of the principalship is what

Glanz (1997) calls the “Principal-as Numbskull”. These media principals make highly questionable decisions regarding all aspects of running the school, and are typically portrayed as mindless fools who are being outsmarted and lampooned by students half their age.

A common criticism found in many of the studies cited above (Beyerbach, 2005l

Breault, 2009; Glanz, 1997; Swetnam, 1992; Thomsen, 1993) is that the images of teachers and school principals disseminated through films and television programs are inauthentic and do not represent the tasks, duties and roles that have to be performed by modern educators on a daily basis. This is rather troubling because, as it was discussed earlier, the media can have an impact on how people perceive various professions, including those in the education sector (De Fleur, 1964). In order to determine the authenticity of the media portrayals of principals that will be examined in this study, as well as uncover multiple discourses embedded within the cultural texts themselves, it is important to explore the role of the

18 principal, successful school leadership practices and any social pressures that may be exerting some form of influence on the principalship.

The Role of the Principal

In the wake of numerous school reform efforts in North America and around the world, there has been an explosion of literature concerning the principalship and the role of the contemporary school leader (Leithwood et al, 1999). Even with an abundance of competing theories of effective leadership and the changing nature of the principalship due to these reform efforts, the role of the principal is still largely defined by the legal terms and conditions of their employment. This is usually determined by the jurisdiction in which they work.

When discussing the responsibilities of contemporary school leaders, it may be helpful to start with the legal definition of their role. In the Canadian province of Ontario, the responsibilities and duties that school principals are legally required to perform are nested within a piece of provincial legislation called the Education Act. According to section 265 of

Ontario‟s Education Act found in Faraday (2009), principals in this province are legally required to perform 16 duties within their school, which are listed as follows:

1) maintaining proper order and discipline

2) develop co-operation among staff members at the school

3) register pupils and record attendance

4) maintain, retain, transfer and dispose of school records

5) prepare a timetable and conduct the school according to that timetable

6) report student progress to her or his guardian if the student is a minor

7) promote students and issue a statement thereof

8) ensure that all textbooks used in the school have been approved by the school board

or Minister of Education

9) prepare reports for the school board regarding the condition of school property,

student progress, or any other matter affecting the interests of the school

10) give attention to the health and comfort of all students, as well as maintaining the

cleanliness or the school, operation of the physical plant and maintaining the

condition of school property and all teaching materials

11) report to the Minister of Health if there is reason to suspect the existence of a

communicable disease in the school

12) refuse admission to the school of anyone who could have a communicable disease

13) refuse to admit anyone whose presence in the school or classroom would be

detrimental to the physical or mental well-being of students

14) maintain a visitor‟s book in the school

15) develop and implement a plan to provide co-instructional activities

16) consult the school council at least once per year (p. 206-207)

The duties and role of the principal painted by Ontario‟s legal obligations of the profession are almost solely associated with the more bureaucratic and management oriented aspects of educational leadership (filing reports, maintaining a safe and well-kept learning environment, etc.). Even though the legal definition of the role of the school principal places a primary focus on those management-oriented duties, it is now widely agreed-upon that school leaders are much more than the mundane middle-managers of the education sector. In fact, a number of scholars now agree that principals exert a considerable amount of influence

20 on student achievement and the overall success of their school (Crevola, Hill, & Fullan,

2006; Day, 2004; Jones, 1999; Leithwood et al., 1999).

How the role of the principal changes over time. A survey of principals conducted by

Statistics Canada in 2004-2005 and summarized by Blouin (2006) revealed that the principalship is an increasingly complex and demanding position that evolves over time.

Considering that only 37% of principals were either satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the impact of their job on family life and only 47% felt the same about their workload, the results of this national survey suggest that the principalship encompasses much more than the legal definition of their role that was mentioned earlier. According to this particular study,

“(principals) provide leadership for teaching staff, are the chief administrators of the school, have responsibility for student discipline, and ultimately are responsible for the school‟s relations with parents and with the wider community” (para. 30).

This is consistent with work done by Goodwin, Cunningham, and Eagle (2005).

They state that:

The principalship has been strongly influenced by the reform efforts of the last 20

years and by powerful economic and social challenges, principals repeatedly assert

that their work has changed both in its complexity and the amount of time the work

requires. (p. 1)

Goodwin et al. (2005) argue that the role of the principal is not necessarily evolving, but instead has been further complicated in recent times by an accumulation of expectations.

They also track some of the changes in the role and expectations of the school principal in the United States since the early 1800s.

“Principal Teachers” began to gain prominence in the early 1800s and were solely responsible for what would now be termed the instructional leadership aspects of the modern principalship. Duties and responsibilities like balancing the budget, staff hiring and other administrative tasks became a fixture of the position as schools grew larger and became organized by grade level (Goodwin et al., 2005). By the 1900s, Goodwin et al. note that the principalship had gained national recognition and was seen as a position akin to that of a professional manager found in a variety of different organizations. More recently, collaboration, facilitation and an increased focus on instructional leadership have been added to the crowded plate of tasks, responsibilities and leadership practices that contemporary principals must perform and display on a daily basis. When describing the challenges faced by current school leaders, the authors argue that the position is more complex and demanding than in the past because, “the contemporary principal faces increased expectations for school improvement, demanding social pressures, and conflict between the role of instructional leader, organizational leader, and strategic leader” (p. 7). They end their study by recommending that “principals must be accorded the respect that the role demands, and the role must be reconfigured to relieve the unprecedented stress and the overwhelming amount of time” (p. 12).

In the introduction to Changing Leadership for Changing Times (1999), Leithwood et al. echo the notion that the principalship is a contentious position that has changed over time.

While there are some enduring leadership qualities that can pass through time and different settings or contexts, the authors counter that “productive leadership depends heavily on its fit with the social and organizational context in which it is exercised” (p. 1). To stay effective over time, leaders must change their practices to reflect amendments to societal norms. This

22 is especially true in a contentious arena like education, which is subject to the pendulum swings of public opinion and partisan politics.

Visions of Successful School Leadership

Leithwood and Day (2007a) synthesized successful school leadership practices using data gathered from 63 different schools in eight nations. They distilled their findings into four broad categories of successful school leadership practices which they labeled: (a) building vision and setting directions, (b) understanding and developing people, (c) designing the organization and (d) managing the teaching and learning program.

While the first three are all downloaded from the business sector and can be applied to leadership in a number of different contexts independent of a school setting, Leithwood and Day‟s (2007a) fourth category of successful school leadership practices is specific to those employed in the education sector. This category, titled managing and teaching the learning program, very much has aspects of instructional leadership nested within it. This was confirmed by the authors at the end of the book when they added a subdimension to the category named “introduces productive forms of instruction to staff” (Leithwood & Day,

2007b, p. 192). Both the title and intentions of this subdimension smack of a vision of the principal embodying an instructional leadership approach to running their school. They also added another broad category of leadership practices, but it too focused on the more managerial and bureaucratic facets of the principalship.

This vision of successful school leadership being encapsulated within instructional leadership practices is consistent with the views of Cunningham and Cordeiro (2009). After synthesizing and examining a great deal of literature that identified effective school leadership practices, they determined that “school leaders need to understand and articulate

23 instructional practices not only in regular education settings, but they also must understand practice for children with special needs and those whose first language is not English” (p.

229). Not only do they call for an instructional leader, but one that is equitable and in tune with social justice issues as well.

In addition to instructional leadership, Leithwood et al. (1999) recognized five additional broad models of school leadership found in a literature review of 121 peer-reviewed articles from four different English-language academic journals that deal with research in educational administration. In addition to the aforementioned instructional leadership model, the approaches to school leadership identified by the authors are: transformational, moral, participative, managerial and contingent in nature.

Instructional leadership. Whereas school managers tend to focus on discipline, fiscal resources, and compliance with district or school board policies, principals who are instructional leaders put student learning at the top of their list of priorities. Some of the chief concerns of an instructional school leader are professional development (both personal and that of the teaching faculty and other staff), as well as keeping teachers up to date on best practices and ensuring that they have the resources necessary to perform their job to the best of their abilities. Cunningham and Cordeiro (2009) offer that “instructional leadership provided by the principal is a contributing factor to higher student achievement” (p. 146) and that “principals need to incorporate these practices that are responsive to the most crucial needs of their schools with regard to raising student achievement” (p. 146). They also caution that while research suggests that effective principals must be instructional leaders, they still need to show competence in attending to the managerial aspects of the position.

Crevola et al., (2006) offer their Critical Learning Instructional Pathway (CLIPs) model as an effective way to provide instructional leadership in schools. This model uses assessment to drive instruction (what the authors refer to as assessment for learning) and help teachers provide students with meaningful feedback in an efficient manner. CLIPs are also intended to offer principals “guide maps” of sorts when facilitating the work of the school‟s professional learning community, which is another instrument that can be used by instructional leaders to improve such things as student achievement and the dissemination of best practices.

Stewart (2006) argues that instructional models of school leadership can be problematic for two reasons. The first of those obstacles being that there are a number of schools where the principal is not the educational expert. These school leaders view their role to be one purely associated with administration and distance themselves from the classroom. It is not uncommon to hear of school leaders who pursued a career in educational administration to “escape” the rigors of teaching on a daily basis. Some of the research discussed earlier focused on the increased workload and time constraints faced by many modern principals. Time, or lack thereof, is the second obstacle preventing principals from adopting instructional leadership qualities and practices mentioned by Stewart in this study.

He cements this position by stating that “many school principals are so engrossed in the managerial and administrative tasks of daily school life, that they rarely have time to lead others in the areas of teaching and learning” (p. 6).

Transformational leadership. The following is a definition of transformational leadership offered by Leithwood, Begley and Cousins (1994):

The term „transform‟ implies major changes in the form, nature, function and/or

potential of some phenomenon; applied to leadership, it specifies general ends to be

pursued although it is largely mute with respect to means. From this beginning, we

consider the central purpose of transformational leadership to be the enhancement of

the individual and collective problem-solving capacities of organizational members;

such capacities are exercised in the identification of goals to be achieved and

practices to be used in their achievement. (p. 7)

Similarly, Leithwood et al. (1999) echo the quote above when they assert that “this form of leadership assumes that the central focus of leadership ought to be the commitments and capacities of organizational members” (p. 9). Unlike instructional leadership, which seems to place a great deal of authority solely in the principalship, distributing power and authority to staff members who are best able to inspire others to achieve common goals is key to transformational leadership.

Stewart (2006) notes that the transformational approach to school leadership and the practices it espouses are products of the accountability movement and large scale reform efforts that have been fixtures of the education sector since the mid 1980s. A central tenet of transformational leadership, both then and now, is the idea that staff members will experience increases in both productivity and effort if they have a personal, vested interest in accomplishing the organization‟s goals. It is for that reason that transformational leaders and similar models of leadership in an educational setting are concerned with wrestling absolute power from the principal and allowing others to have a say in the direction of the school.

It is assumed that the more voice one has in the future direction of the school, the more they will be want and willing to put forth the time, effort and dedication necessary to make that vision a reality.

Moral leadership. In his seminal text on organizational leadership, Barnard

(1938/1968) defined leadership as being composed of both technical and moral components.

As expected, moral leadership places its focus on the latter. Hodgkinson (1991), one of the most prolific and best known scholars of this orientation, proposes that “values, morals and ethics are the very stuff of leadership and administrative life” (p. 11) and goes on to state that, “everyone would agree that our acquisition of values, however it occurs, is an integral part of our education, and the teaching-learning of values is certainly subsumed within the larger concept” (p. 16). Similarly, Branson (2007) emphatically calls out for, and offers a definition of moral leadership, by stating that:

people want their leaders to act morally whereby they will not produce harm but

rather will show the virtues of doing good, of honouring others, of taking positive

stands and of behaving in ways that clearly show their own self-interests are not the

driving motivation behind their leadership. (p. 471)

Considering that the Ontario Principal‟s Council has adopted the ethical standards of professional practice enacted by the Ontario College of Teachers, it would be foolish not to acknowledge that there is a moral imperative to practicing leadership in a school setting.

As shown in Figure 1, Begley (2006) provides an “onion figure” to serve as a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between valuation processes and administrative actions. At the center of Begley‟s (2006) onion figure is the self, which is surrounded by five concentric rings that focus on the motives, understandings (knowledge

27 acquired through life experience, professional training, reflection, etc.), the actual values held and displayed by an individual, their attitudes, which are described as “the predisposition to act specifically as a result of values or value systems acquired previously and elsewhere” (p.

577), and finally, the observable actions of the individual. It should be noted that Begley

(2006) does make it clear that ethical frameworks can be used to further unethical and socially unjust aims. Simply adopting an ethical framework does not make one‟s intentions or actions grounded in moral concerns. He offers critical thinking and moral literacy as two potential solutions to this problem.

Participative leadership. Leithwood et al. (1999) use the term participative leadership to describe approaches to school leadership that focus mainly on the decision- making processes of the group. A case can definitely be made for participative leadership in an educational setting. Considering that most Ontario teachers are highly skilled, professional workers who in the majority of cases have obtained multiple university degrees, it may benefit instructional practices and the overall morale in the workplace to involve staff members in all aspects of the school‟s decision-making processes. Authority and influence are quite mobile in this conception of school leadership. Any stakeholder can grasp authority within the group based on having expert knowledge in a subject area, a critical role in implementing decisions or by simply exercising their democratic right to choose. Leithwood et al. (1999) note that the most fully realized conception of participatory leadership is found in the site-based management approach to schooling. Rather than adhering to jurisdictional policies that guide all educational institutions in a given region, in site-based management theories all key educational decisions are made at the school level. The principal acts as a

28 site-manager who controls resources and is ultimately accountable for the success of the school (p. 12-3).

Managerial leadership. In an educational context, those school leaders who practice managerial leadership are chiefly concerned with having subordinates complete their tasks and duties in an efficient manner so that other members of the organization can do the same.

Those who subscribe to this form of leadership will also focus on student discipline and adhere to an organizational hierarchy which places power and authority in the hands of those who are employed in positions that traditionally carry prestige and status. In this scenario, the students report to the teachers, who report to the principal, who reports to the superintendent or director of education, who reports to the school board. Based on personal experience, managerial conceptions of leadership leave very little room for, and care very little about subordinate voice. Decisions are made by those at the top of the organization with little input from others. All those who occupy lower positions on the organizational hierarchy are expected to do what they can to adhere to corporate procedures and policies while trying to following orders.

Contingent leadership. Rather than subscribing to a favoured approach to leadership, contingency (or situational) leadership theorists believe that effective leadership is context-based, and that different situations require different forms of leadership.

Cunningham and Cordeiro (2009) suggest that “time available, task specificity, competence and maturity of staff, need for involvement, authority, and dynamics of the situation determine what style should be used” (p. 199). For this reason contingent leaders must be well versed in a number of different approaches to leadership and flexible in their use of those models. Contingent leadership can be problematic. Critics of contingency and

29 situational leadership argue that “the unpredictable nature of shifting styles provoke suspicion, distrust, deceit and confusion” (Cunningham & Cordeiro, 2009, p. 200).

Cunningham and Cordeiro also argue that contingent leaders have been accused of ignoring the Pygmalion effect (which states that people often become what the leader wants them to become) and creating situations that are best suited to their preferred form of leadership (p.

200). For instance, those leaders who are afraid of making important decisions may invoke a participatory or democratic model of leadership as an excuse for inaction.

Alternate Images of Effective School Leadership

Even though Leithwood et al.‟s (1999) six broad categories of successful school leadership practices are based on a rather exhaustive literature review, it does omit some alternative images of effective school leadership which will be briefly discussed here.

Lakomski (2001) takes a critical stance when she argues that the concept of leadership has done nothing to help us understand change, performance and other complex organizational processes and interrelationships. In fact, she offers that well structured tasks can negate the need for leadership and advocates for abolishing the concept altogether. This view is in stark contrast to all of the research discussed in the school leadership portion of this literature review.

While Blackmore (1989) does not take issue with modern conceptions of effective educational leadership, she notes that much of the literature is based on the experiences of men, and that “leadership in organizations has been historically associated with particular characteristics which are more frequently depicted as „masculine‟ than „feminine‟ – aggressiveness, forcefulness, competitiveness and independence” (p. 67). In response to the gendered and phallocentric discourse that she thinks dominates educational administration,

Blackmore offers a feminist reconstruction of leadership. Such a reconstruction would place value in egalitarian notions of community, and would be committed to participatory democracy while also recognizing “both familial and friendship connectedness and acknowledge the civic as well as the personal importance of friendship” (p. 82). Rather than simply viewing schools as institutions of formal learning, Blackmore‟s feminist reconstruction of school leadership is rooted in reconceptualizing the school as a community that cares deeply for all of its members.

As stated earlier, a number of authors (Leithwood et al., 1999; Leithwood & Day,

2007a, 2007b; Branson, 2007) have been quick to point out the changing nature of principalship. Jones (1999) is no different. Although the findings of her work are excluded from Leithwood et al.‟s (1999) six broad categories of successful school leadership practices, she does note that all of the principals that participated in her study argued that their role had changed significantly in the past decade. Jones‟ work shines a light on principals who view effective leadership in their schools as akin to taking on a role traditionally associated with that of a counselor. The main mechanism for this alteration in school leadership practices offered by both Jones and her research participants is an increase in communication between the principal and the parents of students who attend the institution.

Offering a very interesting and compelling vision of successful school leadership is

Day (2004). He argues that all effective leaders must be passionate about what they are doing. It is this passion that is vital to the leader‟s success. He notes that “passion is not a luxury, a frill or a quality possessed by just a few individuals. It is essential to all successful leadership” (p. 426) and adds that “(passion) is a driver, a motivational force emanating from strength of emotion…being passionate generates energy, determination, commitment and

31 even obsession in people” (p. 426). Day then explains that successful school leadership can be conceptualized through the leader‟s passions for achievement, care, collaboratio n, commitment, trust and inclusivity. He concludes the study by pointing out that the leaders who comprised his study were courageous and persistent in creating their own successful school reform efforts that were infused with the motivating passions listed above.

The Influence of Social Expectations on Principals and their Leadership Practices

Begley (2008b) proposes some of the only work that examines the impact of social expectations on school leaders. He argues that while academic research is influential in the formation of effective school leadership practices, it is “the cultural influences derived from the community and the greater society” (p. 30), which play a more direct role and even a more important part in the formation of successful school leadership practices. This is not surprising considering that in recent decades school leaders have learned the importance of grounding their leadership and management practices in the broader context of the community outside the walls of the school. I would not hesitate to include the mass media as one of the cultural influences mentioned above.

Figure 2 showcases another “onion figure” used by Begley (2008b) to show the various arenas of influence on school principals. The self occupies the middle of the figure.

Concentric rings fan out from the centre, with one dedicated to each of the five other arenas of influence which Begley (2008b) argues are the social expectations that exert influence on the school leadership practices of contemporary principals. Those arenas of influence are the group, profession, organization, culture and transcendental. It is the fifth ring, culture, which is of most concern to this study. The importance of culture, including forms of popular culture like the films and television programs that will offer the data for this study, cannot be

32 underestimated. This is especially true with Begley (2008b) noting that “the increasing diversity of our societies and a general trend towards globalization has highlighted society and culture as relevant areas of administrative activity” (p. 32). School leaders should be aware of the impact that each arena of influence can have on their leadership practices.

In order to determine the authenticity of these media principals and understand the role that film and television depictions of the principalship have on society‟s collective definition of the position, it is important to begin with the investigation of school leaders as they have been represented in films and television programs.

Figure 1. Arenas of Leadership (Begley, 2006).

Figure 2. Arenas of influence on school leadership practices (Begley, 2008b).

Chapter Three: Methodology

The purpose of this study is to examine how school leaders have been portrayed in 50 films and television programs and to determine if the roles, duties and actions of these media principals mirror those of their real-life counterparts. As stated earlier, this study also looks at the implications that these portrayals have for current school leaders and investigates the extent to which these media representations of the position contribute to the growing public mistrust of educators and the school system as a whole. After a thorough review of the relevant literature, the following research methods and techniques were employed to answer the research questions that guide the study and form a solid theoretical foundation from which to analyze these media representations of the principalship.

Context

As mentioned above, 50 films and television programs that take place in a school setting and feature a principal or another discernable school leader (i.e. a headmaster) were included in this study. All of these films and television programs utilize the English language as the primary method of communication and interaction amongst their respective characters. I made a concerted effort to include cultural texts produced all over the English speaking world. The vast majority of the films and television programs studied were produced in the United States, but the media‟s vision of the principalship found in Canada,

Australia, and the United Kingdom are all represented to varying degrees. This was done in an effort to determine if these media portrayals of school leadership are trans-national in nature. Because this study focuses on how humans are portrayed in films and

television programs rather than the experiences of real people, approval from Nipissing

University‟s Research Ethics Board (REB) was not required to conduct this research.

Research Design

After reviewing the literature, it is clear that qualitative research methods were employed in all of the studies that examined how teachers, school leaders and other educators were portrayed in films and television programs. The literature that examined the role of the media as a socialization agent used similar research techniques. It is suitable to use qualitative research methodology to guide this study as it will be focusing on the actions, duties and roles of individual characters represented on screen.

The qualitative research tradition hosts a variety of data collection methods, including interviews, observations, and the use of primary sources. As defined by Gall, Gall, and Borg

(2005), qualitative research is any “inquiry that is grounded in the assumption that individuals construct social reality in the form of meanings and interpretations, and that these constructions are transitory and situational” (p. 555). With that being said, when looking at qualitative research it is important to keep the context of the study in mind at all times as it has a great influence on how the data are analyzed. It should also be pointed out that in qualitative research “the dominant methodology is to discover these meanings and interpretations by studying cases intensively in natural settings and by reflecting the researcher‟s own experiences in what they report” (p. 555). Qualitative research is best suited for this study as it focused on observing, analyzing, interpreting and discussing the actions, duties, and roles of fictional principals portrayed in films and television programs.

Sample / text selection. I used a strategy called purposeful sampling to find, obtain and include various pieces of media in this study. Gall et al. (2005) note that purposeful sampling is “the process of selecting cases that are likely to be „information rich‟ with respect to the purposes of a particular (qualitative) study” (p. 554). Purposeful sampling was used in an effort to uncover connections and themes between the various films and television programs included in the study.

The study focuses on media produced in the last decade (2000-2010), but an effort was made to incorporate examples of how principals were portrayed in films and television programs produced as far back as the 1930s. Gathering data from such a large time period helped determine whether the negative depictions and representations of the principalship that were discussed in the literature review are still occurring and if they have been a mainstay of films and television programs set in a school environment, or if this is a more recent development related to the public‟s growing mistrust of educators and the education system as a whole. Media produced in various parts of the English speaking world were also included in this study to establish whether the negative depictions of the principalship described above and found in the literature review are isolated to North America, or if this is a larger problem on a global scale. This was done to include a number of culturally and historically diverse perspectives in the study and obtain a representative sample of how the principalship has been portrayed in films and television programs over time and around the world.

This study examined 50 films and television programs to see how they portrayed the principalship, and to a much lesser extent, the state of modern schooling. A large sample of how school leaders have been depicted in popular culture was sought out in an effort to

38 increase the reliability of the study. Trier (2001) notes that there are well over 100 films set in a school setting. The particular films and television programs that comprised this study were chosen for their focus on a principal, headmaster, or any sort of discernable schoo l leader. Media that simply used a school setting as a backdrop for coming of age stories or crude humour was, for the most part, excluded from this study.

Cultural studies. Gall et al. (2005) describe the cultural studies as a qualitative research tradition that is associated with critical theory. The cultural studies are usually devoted to analyzing and making people aware of the dominant discourses that are disseminated through cultural texts and artifacts like literature, art and the many forms of mass media. A cultural studies perspective provided me with the appropriate distance from the characters found in the films and television programs included in the study. Viewing cultural texts, like films and television programs using a cultural studies lens allowed me to maintain objectivity and critique when analyzing and deconstructing media while avoiding falling into the trap of becoming a passive member of the audience (Barker, 2004).

Conceptual Framework

I am interested in studying and comparing the actions, roles and duties performed by these media portrayals of the principalship in an effort to determine whether or not they are representative of those required by real-life principals on a daily basis. Considering that I do not have any personal experience as an administrator to reflect on, and because there has been very little research done that evaluates the relationship between these media principals and their real-life counterparts, Begley‟s (2008a) School Leadership in Canada, 4th Edition handbook seems to be a most appropriate model for conducting such a comparison.

In 2008, Begley and a writing team consisting of eight current or former administrators published the School Leadership in Canada: Fourth Edition handbook. The handbook (2008a) outlines a profile of Canadian school leadership practices and puts forward five dimensions that are seen as vital to school leadership. Both competent and highly ideal practices for each dimension and subdimension of leadership are described in detail. The competent levels of professional practice were used as a measuring stick to determine if the leadership practices of the media principals in this study bear any resemblance to the way real-life principals run their schools. Although this particular handbook was produced as a guide for school leaders in Canada, Begley (2008a) notes that similar profiles have been conducted all over the world and “suggests that there are important similarities in the principalship in many countries” (p. 18). With that being said, these dimensions should be applicable to the principals found in media from a number of nations, including the United

States, where the vast majority of the television programs and films studied were produced.

The five dimensions of school leadership proposed by Begley (2008a) that were used to evaluate the authenticity of the media representations of the principalship that provided the data for this study are: (a) Organizational Management, (b) Planning and Instructional

Leadership, (c) School-Community Relationships, (d) Visionary Leadership and (e) Setting

Directions, and Ethical Leadership

Organizational management. Begley (2008a) describes effective organizational management within an educational context as ensuring that the resources within the school are used and distributed in an efficient and equitable manner and that the appropriate policies and procedures are consulted and applied pertaining to the operation of the school.

Planning and instructional leadership. This dimension of school leadership deals with ensuring that all students have an opportunity to learn and improve their academic achievement. Subdimensions of this area include inclusive education and staff development

(Begley, 2008a). In their synthesis of educational leadership literature, Leithwood et al.

(1999) explain that “most conceptions of instructional leadership allocate authority and influence to formal administrative roles (usually the principal)” (p.8).

School-community relationships. An effective school leader has the ability to establish and maintain partnerships with members of the larger community (Begley, 2008a).

Begley (2006) elaborates on this notion by pointing out that modern “school leaders have learned how important it is to lead and manage with proper reference to the broader environmental context of their community” (p. 578). Cultivating and maintaining such relationships are important because otherwise unforeseen academic and social successes can materialize when schools make an effort to create and foster partnerships with local businesses, universities and community organizations.

Visionary leadership and setting directions. Exemplary school leaders have the ability to negotiate and determine an appropriate shared vision for their school and faculty.

They have the skills necessary to not only communicate that vision to their colleagues, but to act as a change agent with the power and enough school-level support to transform the learning environment in a positive manner.

Ethical leadership. This dimension of school leadership is very similar to

Leithwood et al.‟s (1999) broad category of school leadership practices titled “Moral

Leadership” that was mentioned in the last chapter. Competency in both categories is centred on the administrator ignoring their own self-interests and making decisions based on the best interests of the school and its students. Begley (2008a) notes that in reference to this dimension of school leadership, the school leader “anticipates, mediates, interprets and responds ethically to issues relevant to the school and extended community” (p. 35).

The actions, duties and roles of the media principals studied have been compared to the five dimensions of school leadership listed above in an effort to determine if their leadership practices are authentic and rooted in current practice, or whether the production studios that create these forms of media are simply “making it up as they go along” and offering inauthentic representations of the principalship in an effort to create compelling programming that leads to higher ratings and increased profits.

Data Collection

Gall et al. (2005) note that interviews, observations, films, television programs, books, diaries, paintings, drawings and newspapers are just some of the many data sources that can be tapped by qualitative researchers. For the purposes of this study, using direct observation to view films and television programs allowed for the most effective method of collecting, analyzing and making meaning out of the data. This also allowed me the opportunity to situate myself in the study. Data sources included cable television, DVD movie rental outlets, television series DVD boxed sets and visits to York University‟s Sound and Moving Image Library in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The first part of the data collection process involved finding and obtaining the 50 films and television programs that would be included in the study. While friends, family and colleagues were more than willing to offer their suggestions, finding 50 films and television programs that focused on a school principal was much more difficult than initially anticipated. After compiling a list of approximately 30 potential data sources to be included and analyzed in the study, I started turning to suggestions from friends, family and colleagues as well as internet search engines, like the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) to find an additional 20 films and television programs.

After I was able to identify and obtain fifty films and television programs that featured a school principal in a school setting, the second portion of the data collection process began. The study places a focus on the actions and duties undertaken by characters in pieces of fiction. Consequently, it was impossible for me to have any contact with the

“subjects.” It was, therefore, determined that direct observation of these media principals and the work they do would provide the most accurate description of how school leaders are portrayed in films and television programs. Gall et al. (2005) note that direct observation is

“the collection of data while the research participants are engaged in some form of behaviour” (p. 548). Using direct observation allowed me to see how school leaders are depicted in these particular films and television programs and compare these media principals, and their actions, duties, roles, and leadership practices to Begley‟s (2008a) five dimensions of school leadership practices. This was done in an effort to determine the accuracy, and authenticity of these media depictions of the principalship. The title, context, storyline, and year of production for each film or television program has been recorded as a database entry that also notes the race, class and media archetype of each media principal

43 observed. These database entries play a similar role to that of the standard observation forms that are used by researchers to ensure that the inferences they glean from their observational data is accurate. These database entries can be found in Appendix B at the end of this thesis document. Appendix A displays this data in a table for easy reference and is also located at the back of this document.

Data Analysis

After all of the data had been collected, it was vital that effective data analysis methods were employed to provide a textured and reliable interpretation of the behaviour of each main school leader found in the films and television programs included in this study.

Effective data analysis is just as important as sound and ethical data collection. By an analysis, I refer to a process whereby complex information is broken down into smaller bits to gain a better understanding of what it can mean (Gall et al., 2005). Data were being analyzed and interpreted throughout the course of the research process.

The film and television principals that compose the research subjects of this study and their respective media texts were observed (viewed) during the months of October, 2009,

November, 2009, December, 2009, January, 2010 and February, 2010. The data was transcribed while watching these cultural texts and I immediately began interpreting and analyzing the data to note down any key concepts, themes or trends that emerged during this process.

Critical Analysis Using Deconstruction Theory

By using deconstruction theory to conduct a critical analysis, I refer to a process in which the media representations of principals and the tasks and duties they perform on screen are examined within a social structural context to reveal hidden messages and unstated

44 assumptions found within the given film or television program. For instance, Beyerbach‟s

(2005) critical analysis of over 50 school-based films revealed that films set in a school environment were disseminating problematic stereotypes of educators that could be seen as unrealistic, classicist, sexist and racist in nature.

Deconstruction was a term first coined by Derrida in his seminal text, Of

Grammatology (1998), and has its roots in literary and philosophical criticism. Key to deconstructing films and television programs using a critical analysis approach is the acknowledgement that these cultural texts lend themselves to multiple readings and can be interpreted in a number of ways. No single understanding, interpretation or reading is privileged over any other. Barker (2004) explains that deconstruction seeks to expose blind spots and unacknowledged assumptions upon which texts (like these films and television programs) operate. By embracing deconstruction theory to conduct a critical analysis of the popular culture representations of the principalship found in these films and television programs, I was able to uncover a number of potentially harmful dominant discourses embedded in these texts while simultaneously collecting and analyzing new data throughout the research process.

Reliability and Validity

Even though the data are being provided by one source (films and television programs that feature a school leader), and there was only one method of data collection used in this study (direct observation), I have gone to great lengths to ensure that these data and findings are reliable and valid. Among the methods used to increase the validity of this particular qualitative research study were triangulation, soliciting feedback, and constructing a database of media archetypes of the principalship found in Appendix B which consist of

45 what are essentially “polished” versions of some observational notes that were transcribed during the data collection process.

As mentioned above, triangulation was a method used to increase the validity and reliability of this study. Maxwell (1996) notes that triangulation involves “collecting information from a diverse range of individuals and settings, using a variety of methods” (p.

93). To allow for triangulation among the various media texts, an effort was made to include multiple sources of data and a large sample of diverse films and television programs that varied in genre, length, year of production, intended audience and country of origin. In addition to increasing the reliability and validity of the study, including this variety of films and television programs allowed for the nature and images of the principalship in the media to be tracked across time and national borders.

I also welcomed friends, family, colleagues, and university faculty members to offer feedback and suggestions when searching for new data sources to include in the study and confirm the validity of films and television programs that had already gone through the data collection process. This feedback proved invaluable as it enabled me to confirm the viability of a number of data sources already included in the study while also broadening the pool of data sources beyond the school films that I grew up watching. For instance, one day in late

January 2010 I asked both my parents and fellow graduate students to help me compile a list of films and television programs that take place in a school environment and could potentially be included in the study as obtaining a full 50 data sources was proving much more difficult than anticipated. A number of viable data sources emerged from these casual brainstorming sessions including Up the Down Staircase (Pakula & Mulligan, 1965),

Blackboard Jungle (Berman & Brooks, 1955) and an episode of Welcome Back, Mr. Kotter

(Mittleman & LaHendro, 1975). I also found that whenever I brought up this research topic to university faculty members or friends outside of the Nipissing University‟s Schulich

School of Education these people would ask the names of some of the media included in the study and offer suggestions on alternate films and television programs that they thought would be an ideal fit for the study. These informal chats also led to the inclusion of Charlie

Bartlett (Hofmann, Horberg, Perini, Toll, & Poll, 2007) and Hamlet 2 (Berger, Brady,

Fleming, Flynn, Lesser, Yerxa, & Fleming, 2008). These two films were previously unknown to me before conducting the study. While offering these suggestions, these friends, colleagues and faculty members also described their readings of the media principals they mentioned which proved invaluable since the material in these films and television programs lends itself to multiple readings. Taking these suggestions and feedback also allowed me to stray outside of my own sensibilities and genre preferences when selecting data sources, which helped to increase the reliability and validity of the study as a whole. Maxwell (1996) also supports this strategy and notes that “soliciting feedback from others is an extremely useful strategy for identifying validity threats, your own biases and assumptions, and flaws in your logic or methods” (p. 94).

As stated earlier, I have produced a database entry which lists the title, context, plot and year of production for each film or television program included in the study. The race, gender, class, name and media archetype of the main school leader found in each of those texts is included in Appendix B. Including the whole of this database as an appendix to this study helps to increase the reliability and validity of the study as these entries offer evidence that supports the accuracy of the my observational data and how they have been interpreted.

Ethics and Limitations

This study does not involve research on human subjects and was not subject to approval by Nipissing University‟s Research Ethics Board (REB). For that reason, there are no discernable ethical implications that arise from this study or its findings.

However, it is imperative for researchers to recognize that there are limitations to particular research studies. Although this study examines how school leaders have been portrayed in a diverse selection of 50 films and television programs, the results of which may not necessarily be generalized to the countless other examples of how the principalship has been depicted in popular culture.

While I did watch all of the 50 films and television programs included in this study, another limitation that greatly affected this study was the availability of data sources that were “information-rich” in nature. After selecting approximately 20 films and television programs to include in the study because of their seminal nature (Goodbye Mr. Chips, The

Simpsons, etc.), identifying, obtaining and viewing the other 30 proved a much more tedious, time consuming and difficult undertaking than I had initially anticipated. In order to find 50 media principals that were suited for this type of critical analysis and comparison to Begley‟s

(2008a) key dimensions of school leadership, I had screened approximately 100 films and television programs by the time the research process reached its completion. Most of the films and television programs left out of this study were excluded because they did not place a focus on the principalship or school leadership in any manner whatsoever. Some of the media excluded were school films or television programs that simply lacked a character who occupied the principalship. However, most of the films and television programs that I watched and excluded from the study contained a school leader, but they were usually one-

48 dimensional, ancillary characters with little screen time or dialogue who were written into the script in an effort to increase the believability of the school setting the producers, writers and directors were trying to portray. Because the media principals excluded from the study offered very little observable behavior that could be interpreted by the audience, analyzing their actions would have provided insufficient data to answer the research questions that guide this inquiry.

It is also worth pointing out that some potentially rich examples of how school principals have been portrayed in films and television programs from other English-speaking nations were excluded from this study because I was unable to find a DVD or VHS copy of the media in question.

Gall et al. (2005) emphasize that the direct observation method of data collection chosen for this study can be problematic because the researcher tends to unintentionally change the situation being observed. In order to preserve both the reliability of the data and my interpretations of them, maintaining an unobtrusive distance and developing a detached perspective from the research subjects was pivotal. Considering that I was observing and commenting on characters found in films and television programs instead of observing real people, this did not prove difficult, especially when viewing the data through a cultural studies lens.

Another potential limitation of this study resides in the use of Begley‟s (2008a) five dimensions of school leadership found in his School Leadership in Canada handbook as a conceptual framework. It was impossible to conduct a complete leadership profile for each media principal because they were rarely seen performing duties related to their profession in their respective films and television programs. This mirrored findings reported by Breault

(2009), Beyerbach (2005), Trier (2001) and Swetnam (1992), who all experienced similar limitations when conducting their studies. Rather, how various media principals perform in the dimensions that pertain to their actions on screen have been described in detail. It has also been determined whether these portrayals are representative of the work and duties performed by real-life principals, which is represented by the competent standards of practice outlined for each dimension in the handbook.

It is important to situate the researcher in the context of this study when discussing its limitations. Firstly, I recognize that the cultural texts included in this study will not be interpreted in the same way by everyone who reads this thesis. The use of deconstruction theory as an analytical tool allows for multiple readings of texts, some of which are offered when discussing the data.

Before discussing the data and they have been read and interpreted, I want to be clear about my own position, interests and perspectives in relation to the study. I am a white,

Canadian educator in my mid-20s with a background in and training as a professional actor.

I also carry with me many of the middle-class sensibilities that are common to most in the teaching profession (Fisher, Harris & Jarvis, 2008). Currently, I am a full-time graduate student. These factors, as well as my keen interest in both critical theory and educational leadership undoubtedly shaped my own social and intellectual history and must have influenced the films and television programs chosen to be included in this study. My understandings, readings and interpretations of the data were also influenced by these factors.

Even when I try to consider multiple readings of the films and television programs included in this study and view them from different perspectives, it would be naïve not to

50 acknowledge that my own upbringing, past experience and current worldview have undoubtedly shaped my interpretations of the data.

Chapter Four: Findings

Chapter four offers a discussion of the findings of this study. The research questions tabled earlier have been used to structure this chapter and compartmentalize the data that was collected and analyzed throughout the course of the study. The research questions will be answered using the data collected from the direct observation of school leaders portrayed in the films and television programs included in this study. As was mentioned in the last chapter, Begley‟s (2008a) School Leadership in Canada: Fourth Edition handbook will be used as a conceptual framework in order to effectively answer my second research question,

“Do these portrayals mirror the actions, duties and roles of their real-life counterparts?”. Any themes and concepts that emerged while collecting and analyzing the data will be explored when addressing the third research question, which reads, “What Implications do these

Media Portrayals Have on Current School Leaders?”.

Research Question #1: In what ways are principals depicted in the media?

In selecting this question, I aimed to examine how principals, headmasters and other discernable school leaders have been portrayed in the fifty films and television programs analyzed for this study. Naming, defining and discussing the media‟s archetypes of the principalship will be the focus of this section. Similar to research conducted by Glanz (1997) and Hauseman (2010), few of the media principals studied were particularly flattering or representative of the roles and responsibilities undertaken by modern, real-life school leaders.

After collecting and analyzing the data, it was determined that the media represents school leaders in films and television programs using four distinct archetypes based on their leadership practices. Pertinent examples of school leaders that fit these media archetypes are

52 discussed below. For a table that displays full listing of how the principalship is represented in all 50 films and television included in this study please refer to Appendix A.

The authoritarian. The first and easily most prevalent school leader depicted on film and in television programs is that of the authoritarian. These principals put individual student needs and interests on the proverbial backburner and are much more concerned with consolidating their own power within school. In addition to Steven Harper on Boston Public

(Kelley & Schlamme, 2000), a number of depictions of the authoritarian principal emerged from the data. For instance, observation of Principal Foster, a character found in a short- lived, yet genre-defining teen drama called My So-Called Life (Tanner & Herskovitz, 1994) revealed that he is very similar to the aforementioned Harper, both in his demeanour and physical appearance. Both are black, middle-class men who are charged with running terribly underfunded, decrepit schools that are literally, socially and academically falling apart. In an episode titled “Guns and Gossip”, Foster proves that he will do anything, including the use of draconian and totalitarian measures like intimidation and scare tactics in an effort to determine the identity of a student who brought a handgun to school.

After hosting a parent council meeting where he declared “We will not tolerate violence in our schools. We will not live with it, will not accept it” (Tanner & Herskovitz,

1994). Foster set out on a wild goose chase to find the shooter amid heavy pressure from the local media, the school district and angry parents who were worried about the safety of their children. Much of this episode focuses on three meetings that Foster had with an honour roll student and possible future valedictorian named Brian Krakow. Foster had heard rumours that Brian saw the shooter and went to great lengths to get him to talk. Foster‟s first tactic revolved around using Brain‟s social standing as a good student with college and career

53 aspirations to get him to reveal the identity of the shooter. He insinuated that unless they have a productive conversation, his good grades will not stick and his post-secondary choices will be very limited. When that failed to work, Foster further asserts his authority over this scared young man by inviting the police department into his school for the specific purpose of pressuring Brian into lying, and consequently implicating a fellow student. Any leads or pertinent information about the shooting would presumably save Foster from having to continue to deal with mounting calls for action from parents, the authorities and the media.

This principal is clearly willing to mortgage this student‟s potentially bright future just to save himself a headache.

During their third and final meeting which took place a day later, Principal Foster informed Brian that he was going to be expelled because he stuck to his story that he did not see anything and refused to reveal the identity of the shooter. At this point, Brian turned the tables on Foster and his entourage of police officers and used some scare tactics of his own.

He emphatically stated that he would retain legal counsel and sue Foster, the school district and the police department if they once again tried to tie him to the shooting. Foster responded to this rebuttal and the shooting as a whole by installing metal detectors at the school‟s main entrance. This supposed solution to the school‟s chronic issues with violence and intolerance did nothing but further the culture of fear instilled by Foster. While both installing metal detectors at the school‟s main entrance and his repeated interrogations of

Brian Krakow could be read as a principal taking drastic measures that were necessary to protect his staff and students, it appeared that Foster‟s intention was to protect his own skin rather than look out for the best interests of his students. This is especially true when it is revealed that one of the gay students at the school had been carrying the gun because he felt

54 threatened. The administration had done nothing to quell those fears, or punish those who had been relentlessly tormenting him on a daily basis, so this student felt the need to protect himself. Principal Foster being represented as an autocratic despot is particularly troubling because My So-Called Life (Tanner & Herskovitz, 1994) was billed and advertised as a realistic look at life inside a modern (1990s) high school.

This authoritarian view of the principalship is also depicted on One Tree Hill

(Schwawn & Gordon, 2003). Principal Turner is another black, middle-class male who rules his rural school with an iron fist. He is also quite corrupt. The first time the viewer encounters Turner, he is seen lambasting a group of students and their parents with this strongly worded speech after discovering that the basketball team had stolen the team bus as part of victory celebration:

Some of you parents see this incident as tomfoolery, a little prank. Personally, I see

breaking and entering. Chief Wayman sees possession and consumption by minors

and a smidgen of grand theft auto. That said, I think it‟s time to send a message...

(Schwahn, & Gordon, 2003)

Turner reaffirms his power within the school by expelling all but one of the players involved in the incident from the basketball team. This was a very harsh punishment, especially when it was revealed that Turner did not expel the mastermind of the celebration because he was the best player on the team and, more importantly, the son of a high profile school booster. Like Principal Harper on Boston Public (Kelley & Schlamme, 2000) and

Principal Foster in My So-Called Life (Tanner & Herskovitz, 1994), Turner is a black, male administrator who raises his voice in an effort to silence his critics and uses scare tactics like

55 the references to criminal offences in the speech quoted above to maintain the school‟s current power structures.

It is not just black men who are portrayed as authoritarian school leaders. For instance, in a 2004 episode of Malcolm in the Middle (Kaplan & Cranston) titled “Dirty

Magazine”, viewers are introduced to the title character‟s school principal. The fact that

Principal Block (an older, white, middle-class male) is played by Kurtwood Smith, an actor who has been type-cast as an angry, no-nonsense and somewhat crotchety father figure foreshadows both his leadership style and actions in this particular television program. After

Malcolm, the title character and editor of the school newspaper, published a controversial piece in the school‟s newspaper, Principal Block called him into his office and informed him that the column was being censored because he thought it was “pornography” and that there was nothing literary about it. A defiant Malcolm called in the American Civil Liberties

Union (ACLU) and took the case to court, where it was ruled that the column would be published in the school newspaper. Not to be outdone by one of his students, after the ruling

Principal Block turned Malcolm into a social pariah by canceling all athletics and extra- curricular activities (including the prom). He then, as sarcastically and condescendingly as possible, announced over the school‟s PA system that he had just posted a copy of Malcolm‟s class timetable on his office door so that every student would have an opportunity to thank him for contacting the ACLU and “forcing” him to take these drastic measures. One could definitely interpret Block as a school leader who censored the column because it did not mesh with the values of the larger community. However, when he made that announcement and essentially informed the whole of the student body that they would not face any sort of

56 punishment for bullying Malcolm, Block tossed aside the ethic of community and made this a personal issue.

Because Malcolm stood up for another student‟s right to be heard and subsequently challenged his authority in the process, Block made sure that he would have to endure abuse

(physical and otherwise) from his frustrated classmates. He tried to convince Malcolm to compromise his morals through intimidation and abuse. When that did not work, Block called the student‟s mother and misinformed her that her son was trying to ruin the school by publishing a subversive story. Block also informed Malcolm that he tried to expel him, but that the school district had barred that decision. Malcolm refused to sign a phony letter stating that the story did not meet the school newspaper‟s writing standards and it would be not published for that reason. In response, Block got the writer of the piece to turn her back on Malcolm, an editor who had endured weeks of abuse from students and faculty after he decided to stand up for her right to speak because the field hockey team had been cancelled.

Even though Malcolm did end up signing the letter in question and resigning his position as editor of the school newspaper, Block‟s high-handed tactics caused this student to further challenge his authority by creating a “free press” newspaper that would be distributed just outside school property. It turned out that Block‟s authoritarian style of leadership that placed on emphasis on embarrassing the very students that he is paid to protect ended up causing more controversy and was his undoing.

Principal George Feeny in Boy Meets World (Kendall & Trainer, 1994) is another example of a school leader who holds a grudge. In an episode of this television program called, “Back 2 School”, it seems like Principal Feeny is out to get a new, progressive teacher named Mr. Turner because he assigned comic books as reading homework. Feeny, an older,

57 white male with upper-middle class sensibilities that match his perennialist views on education repeatedly questioned Turner‟s judgment. After chiding him for approximately 1 minute of screen time, Principal Feeny ends their conversation by saying, “Mr. Turner, I think it will be an interesting school year” (Kendall & Trainer, 1994). Principal Folsom on

Fillmore! (Guzelian & Roman, 2002), Principal Kidswatter (Kid-swatter) in a Canadian television program called Wayside (Derevlany & Durante, 2007) and Principal Tuckerman on the web-based series, My Alibi (Restivo & Kaplan, 2008) are three more recent examples of the media‟s authoritarian archetype of school leadership.

The media‟s dissemination of this authoritarian view of the principalship is not new.

In fact, it has been a mainstay of school films since the release of the seminal Goodbye Mr.

Chips (Saville & Wood) in 1939. This heartwarming look at a strict, yet endearing educator is set at the prestigious Brookfield School in the United Kingdom. This private boys school, founded in 1492, is filled with all the pomp and circumstance expected at an institution that catered to the wealthy during the early 20th Century. Headmaster Wetherby, the first school leader portrayed in this film, is the embodiment of a perennialist educator who believes more in the power of the strap than effective teaching methods. After walking in on a class tormenting their new teacher with misbehavior, Wetherby informed each student that he would cane them in alphabetical order at the end of the day. He then sat Mr. Chipping down in his office and gave him this piece of advice: “Our profession is not an easy one, Mr.

Chipping. It requires more than a university degree. Our business is to mold men…above all it requires the ability to assert authority” (Saville & Wood, 1939). Wetherby sought to indoctrinate this beginning teacher with his authoritarian views on teaching and discipline during the latter‟s first day on the job. While Wetherby‟s authoritarianism seems to be a

58 product of the times rather than a mean disposition, it is important to point out that this has been a dominant media archetype of the principalship for over 70 years.

Mr. Wemeke, a white, upper-middle class, male principal found in Blackboard Jungle

(Berman & Brooks, 1955) is another early version of an authoritarian principal. Wemeke rules with an iron-fist in an effort to draw attention away from the school‟s problems. For instance, when a new teacher sheepishly asks him about the school‟s reputation for having a discipline problem, Wameke interrupts his new hire, inches closer to him and vehemently retorts, “There is no discipline problem in this school, Mr. Dadier, as long as I am principal”

(Berman & Brooks, 1955). He grasps his ruler like a king might hold his scepter, and is convinced that ruling the school in a stern, hierarchical manner will instill discipline in his students.

All of the authoritarian media archetypes of the principalship that have been discussed thus far have recounted the observable actions of men who have occupied the role.

However, there are a number of examples of women being depicted as authoritarian principals in films and television programs including Amanda Durst on Strange Days at

Blake Holsey High (King, 2006) and Headmistress Higgins in Legally Blondes (Berrisford,

Hickman, Papish, & Holland, 2009). In the latter film, Higgins is plagued by a natural mistrust of her students. We first encounter her forcing two new students to sign an honour code agreement. When one of the students tells the Headmistress that she tries not to sign anything she cannot read (the viewer can see that the entire contract is written in dreaded

“small print”), Higgins barks back at her, “I‟m not here to be your friend. I am only here to educate you” (Berrisford et al., 2009). This upper-class, white, female headmistress has enacted very strict student behavior policies at her private school which is equal parts

59 prestigious and pretentious. After telling these students that the honor code agreement they just signed, “merely enumerates the myriad ways in which students might be tempted to plagiarize, lie, cheat and/or steal. (And that) Failure to avoid these temptations results in explusion” (Berrisford et al., 2009), Higgins hands them their own personal copies of the school handbook, which resemble an unabridged version of the King James Bible. After a misunderstanding causes two students to be expelled because it was thought they had cheated on their American History exam, the law club discovered a loop hole in the school charter which forced Higgins to hold an investigation into these allegations before enacting any sort of punishment on the parties involved. It is during this investigation that Headmistress

Higgins further affirms her spot at the top of the school hierarchy by creating a mock courtroom in one of the classrooms and appointing herself judge, jury and executioner for the hearing. She was hardly impartial in her dealings with the defendants. When it is revealed that the two students in question were framed, Higgins reluctantly recants their expulsions, but fails to waver from her preferred authoritarian style of leadership by expelling the students who tried to set up the defendants as it was their actions that violated the school‟s honour code. While watching this film, it became clear that Higgins was determined to expel someone for something by the time it was over. In this regard, she mirrors Principal Prickly of the television program titled Recess (Bannos & Sheetz, 1998).

The bureaucrat. Another common image of the principal disseminated through films and television programs is that of the bureaucrat. Principals of this archetype are primarily concerned with administrative tasks, like budgeting and scheduling at the expense of the needs and best interests of the students who attend the school and the teachers who work there (Glanz, 1997). These petty bureaucrats often give in to internal pressures when

60 forced to make tough decisions and rarely provide any sort of authentic leadership that could be used as a model for real-life principals.

The Degrassi: The Next Generation (Yorke & Scaini, 2004) episode titled “Time

Stands Still: Part 2” is one of the television programs produced outside of the United States included in this study. Yet, it too conforms to the practice of representing the principalship in an inauthentic manner by featuring an ineffective bureaucratic principal. In this episode,

Degrassi High was the site of a school shooting by a student who was tormented by bullying on a daily basis. Many felt this tragedy could have been prevented had Principal Raditch awakened from his paperwork induced coma to address the chronic bullying problem that plagued the school. After being asked to search the shooter‟s email account for any warning signs, a teacher named Mr. Simpson openly criticized Raditch and his “20/20 hindsight policy” (Yorke & Scaini, 2004). He then revealed that Raditch had spoken to the shooter twice in the 2 days prior to the shooting and opined that the tragic event could have been prevented had the principal shown some foresight.

Another bureaucratic media representation of a school leader who failed to install an anti-bullying program is Principal Duvall in the film Mean Girls (Messick & Waters, 2004).

Duvall‟s suburban high school was plagued by a “burn book”, which was full of insults that most people would hesitate to say in public because they would have to deal with the repercussions of saying very hurtful things to their fellow classmates. This book and the pandora‟s box of invective “burns” locked inside of it caused irreparable damage to the self- esteem of the vast majority of girls at Duvall‟s school and practically tore the school community apart at its seams.

Emma Wiggins, the white, middle-class, female principal portrayed on the television series Teachers (Tarses & Burrows, 2006) is another example of the bureaucrat. Instead of trying to cultivate a professional learning community or even develop a small sense of camaraderie amongst her staff, she hides behind paperwork and uses administrative tasks as an excuse for absenteeism and an apathetic demeanor. Wiggins‟ indifference for the profession has seeped into the core of the school. This toxic work environment can be seen in her uncommitted and ill-prepared teachers who care more about having a good time at school rather than teaching their next lesson. When a faculty chair position opened up at the school, Wiggins decided that the staff would conduct an informal vote to determine who would fill the position rather than rewarding the only dedicated teacher on her staff with a promotion. While this could be seen as a form of democratic leadership, it is later revealed that Wiggins was using collaboration as an excuse for inaction as she was too busy to interview the candidates and had no appetite to complete the required paperwork because she was already swamped with other administrative tasks. In this regard, Wiggins has much in common with Mr. Rivelle in Teachers (Russo & Hiller, 1984), Principal Hendricks in

Election (Toffler & Payne, 1999) and Principal Huffy in Miss Guided (Williams & Holland,

2008).

An Australian television series produced in 2007 called Summer Heights High (Lilley

& McDonald) is also home to a prime example of the media‟s bureaucratic school leadership archetype. Margaret Murray, the principal at Summer Heights High is another white, middle-class female who is actually played by a former real-life school leader. This makes her lack of effective leadership in this television program all the more disconcerting. The pilot episode begins with Murray concerned about making sure that her public school was

“up to snuff” in the eyes of a private school exchange student. The exchange was expected to garner heavy media attention and Murray wanted to make sure that the private school student had nice things to say about her school. Unfortunately, this private school student, a self-absorbed adolescent girl named Ja‟mie King lambastes the public school system, and

Summer Heights High in particular, at a press conference/assembly in the school gymnasium announcing the exchange. Murray did nothing, and was powerless to defend both her school and Australia‟s publicly-funded school system against Ja‟mie‟s flawed assumptions and terribly classicist behavior. She even let Ja‟mie further lift herself on a pedestal in this assembly when she announced that private schools create better quality citizens who are more likely to get into university and make loads of money. This is contrasted by her assertion that rapists and wife beaters nearly all went to public schools. Throughout this episode Principal Murray seems much more concerned with making cuts to the drama department‟s budget than dealing with Ja‟mie‟s insults against the school and her ineffective leadership skills in the process. Perhaps if Murray had spent more time attending to the needs of her staff and students, Summer Heights High might not have been subject to such a thrashing from Ja‟mie at the press conference. One could argue that Murray was apprehensive about disciplining Ja‟mie because she wanted to make sure she felt at home and made a successful transition during the exchange, but that should not have come at the expense of the principal‟s dignity or the school‟s reputation.

Like the authoritarian media archetype of the principalship discussed earlier on in this chapter, the media has also been disseminating an image of the bureaucratic school leader for an extended period of time. The earliest film or television program included in this study that features a bureaucratic principal is Up the Down Staircase (Pakula & Mulligan), which

63 was released in 1965. In this film, the principal is a white, middle-class male named Mr.

Bestor. Bestor is a by-the-book supervisor who puts his bureaucratic mandates ahead of the ethical and academic concerns at his school. Glanz (1997) refers to Bestor as a

“snoopervisor” who is equally disliked by his students and faculty alike while reinforcing an image of educational administrators as petty, penny-pinching bureaucrats.

The idiot. Another principal archetype that is prevalent in films and television programs is the idiot. These media principals make highly questionable decisions regarding all aspects of running the school. They are typically portrayed as mindless fools who are constantly being outsmarted by much younger students (Glanz, 1997).

Principal Cinnamon J. Scudworth in a Clone High episode titled “Episode Two:

Election Blu-Galoo” (Lord, Miller, Collyer, & Harris, 2002) is a prime example of an idiot.

Scudworth is a white, middle-class male who makes a number of stupid decisions in his managing of a private high school. Multiple examples of Scudworth‟s questionable decision making are on display in this episode. Rather than embracing differentiated instruction or the thought of inclusive classrooms, Scudworth decided to dig a moat around the special education portable so he would not have to deal with the school‟s exceptional students.

Scudworth then allows the school to be used as a test market for a profit hungry corporation‟s new energy drink for a $2 million fee. His scheme is thwarted and he loses his fortune when a student reveals that the energy drink‟s sole ingredients are blue house paint and pancake mix. At the end of the episode, Scudworth lost the respect and confidence of his superiors after putting a price tag on the health of his students.

Taking a light hearted look at portraying the school principal as an idiot are the creators of Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide (Berin, Saric, & Judge, 2006). Principal

Irving Pal, a cryptically old, middle-class male is featured in an episode titled “Reading and

Principals”. Principal Pal fills a slapstick comic relief role in the series as he acts like a cross between a senile grandfather and Mr. Magoo. In between forgetting the names of his students and pinching their cheeks, Pal runs into a wall and falls down three times in a ten minute segment of the episode which suggests that he may also be suffering from some sort of dementia. “Not with that handshake you‟re not” (Berin, et al, 2006), is his response to a female student telling him that she is a girl and not a boy, and he says that he is retiring because, “I‟m old, I‟m sick of this school and I‟ve always dreamed of roller skating across

Africa” (Berin et al., 2006). Principal Pal may have been an exemplary school leader in his prime, but as depicted in this television program he is about 20 years passed retirement, which is much too old to keep up with the busy schedule faced by contemporary principals.

This is especially apparent when Pal starts having World War II flashbacks during a food fight in the school cafeteria (which would not have even happened in the first place had there been effective school leadership), which continues during another scene where he is seen roller skating down the hall. At some point near the end of the episode Pal loses his pants and is seen marching up and down the halls of the school like an infantry soldier. Depictions of school leaders as walking corpses that suffer from dementia-induced hallucinations in films and television programs does not bode well for the public‟s perception of the principalship. The fact that Principal Pal is well past retirement age and still in charge of the school could sending a message to the audience that school leadership is unappealing and nobody wants the job – otherwise, how could the students and teachers at this school put up with a bumbling idiot like Pal on a daily basis?

One of the seminal idiots in all of popular culture is Principal Seymour Skinner from a very successful television program called The Simpsons (Oakley, Weinstein & Anderson,

1994). In fact, Principal Skinner is the foremost example of the idiot principal depicted in films and television programs. This is both a product of Skinner constantly being the target of practical jokes by Bart Simpson and his cohorts as well as the perpetual popularity of this particular television program. With The Simpsons now in its 21st season with no signs of being cancelled, it seems like Seymour Skinner will be the prototypical example of the media‟s idiot archetype of the principalship for some time to come.

A season five episode titled “Sweet Seymour Skinner‟s Baadasssss Song” was examined for this study. The viewer‟s first glimpse of Skinner in this episode is of him being chewed out by the superintendent for refusing to allow one of his students to go home early to celebrate Yom Kippur. Shortly thereafter, Skinner is informed that Bart Simpson‟s pet dog is stuck in the school‟s vents, and that the superintendent will also be paying the school a visit. He is so nervous about the impending visit from his superior and the fact that a dog is stuck in the vents that he starts to hiccup repeatedly, which caused the whole of his staff and students to laugh at him. If this was not embarrassing enough, it is at this point that the superintendent storms into the field house and begins berating Skinner in front of everyone with this monologue: “I have had it. I have had it with this school, Skinner. The low test scores, class after class of ugly, ugly children…Seymour, you are in very, very big trouble”

(Oakley et al., 1994). After hearing that the dog is in the vents, and that Skinner sent the school‟s groundskeeper after him, the superintendent fires him. Even though Skinner ended up getting his job back at the end of the episode after the superintendent objected to his

66 replacement reciting a Christian prayer in a public school, one could not help but think that he would continue to be the laughing stock of the community for some time to come.

Mr. Belding on Saved by the Bell (Engel, Tenowich, & Barnhart, 1989), Principal Ed

Rooney in Ferris Buehler’s Day Off (Chinich & Hughes, 1986) and Principal McVicker in

Beavis and Butt-head (Judge, 1997) are three more examples of infamous idiot principals that are constantly outsmarted by students more than half their age. All of these principals allow various aspects of their schools and sanity to suffer while trying to foil the plans of the charismatic and underachieving protagonists found in each example.

An authentic image of the principalship. While the three archetypes described above are neither flattering nor representative of the actions, roles and duties performed by school leaders on a daily basis, there does seem to be an authentic image of the principalship that is beginning to emerge in some films and television programs. This authentic image of school leadership is in stark contrast to the authoritarian, bureaucrat and idiot archetypes described above. While these media principals do have their flaws, it is their desire to help every student and meet their individual needs that makes them and their actions authentic.

The earliest example of an authentic media principal included in this study is found in

American History X (Carraro, Peak, Tisch, Turman, & Kaye, 1998). It might be argued that

Dr. Bob Sweeney, the principal at Venice Beach High in this film could be classified as an authoritarian. The first time the viewer encounters Dr. Sweeney he is seen yelling at a student named Daniel Vinyard because he decided to write a book report on Mein Kampf.

However, Sweeney did not yell at Vinyard just to hear his own voice. In the film, Venice

Beach High is at the centre of race-related gang violence, and Dr. Sweeney is doing everything in his power to end that violence while preaching tolerance and understanding in

67 the community. It is this intent to make life better for his students and the larger community that makes Dr. Sweeney an authentic media-based representation of the principalship. It also made him a role model for the larger community. For instance, early on in the film it is learned that Dr. Sweeney had established a connection with the local police department in an effort to stop the racially motivated violence that was tearing his community apart. He even reached out to Derek Vinyard, Daniel‟s older brother who was spending time in prison for murdering two black men. Dr. Sweeney, a physically imposing, black, middle-class male, could have expelled Daniel for writing a paper that glorified Hitler and his disgusting doctrine. However, he realized it was in the best interests of Daniel, his other students, and the community as a whole for Dr. Sweeney to take a chance on this bright and troubled young man. During their first meeting, Dr. Sweeney confides in Daniel and tries to relate to him by stating:

There was a moment…when I used to blame anything and everyone…for all the pain

and the suffering and the vile things that happened to me. That I saw happen to my

people. Used to blame everybody. Blamed white people, blamed society, blamed

God. I didn‟t get no answers because I was asking the wrong questions. You have to

ask the right questions…has anything you‟ve done made your life better? (Carraro et

al., 1998).

Dr. Sweeney then becomes Daniel‟s personal history teacher and offers him an opportunity to avoid expulsion by completing a paper for the next day about how his brother‟s incarceration has affected his life and that of his family. It is this overarching concern for the well being (both physical and mental) of his students and community that separates Dr.

Sweeney from the authoritarian principals discussed earlier who were more concerned with

68 maintaining their own power and traditional hierarchical relationships within their schools.

Yes, Dr. Sweeney‟s school is rife with racially motivated hate, which reaches a fever pitch when Daniel is gunned down by a black student at the end of the film, but it is clear through his partnership with the local police department and his reaching out to both the Vinyard brothers that he is doing everything in his power to overcome those problems and make his school a safe place where students of every race, religion and ethnicity can learn in peace and experience success.

Tami Taylor, a white, middle-class female took over the principalship at West Dillon

High School in a season three episode of Friday Night Lights (Katims & Reiner 2008) called,

“I Knew You When”. Like Dr. Sweeney, whose observable actions were described above,

Principal Taylor is definitely not perfect. This episode highlights her difficult first week as an administrator at a rural Texas high school. She struggles to finish the budget on time, has to deal with the school‟s ancient air conditioning system breaking down and arranges alternative transportation to school for students who were on a bus that also broke down.

Principal Taylor also confides in a colleague that she had to lay off four teachers because of budget cuts. West Dillon High School is definitely a negative example of the American public school system. One look at this school and its decaying infrastructure, burnt-out teaching faculty and lack of resources would definitely encourage debate about the system used to fund schools in Texas and across the United States. Even though she stepped into a toxic work environment, Principal Taylor was not satisfied with the status quo and immediately tried to change the culture at her school. At her first staff meeting, Taylor asks her teaching staff to offer any suggestions or constructive criticism of the budget and her leadership practices, and afterwards was able to successfully stop a student from skipping

69 class while simultaneously convincing her that university is a real option that she could work towards.

Near the end of this episode, Principal Taylor faces a difficult ethical decision. After hearing that another one of her teachers quit because a school in another county was able to offer her smaller class sizes, Taylor is approached by a wealthy booster for the school‟s football team who hands her a large cheque, whose funds were earmarked to pay for building a new state-of-the-art scoreboard at the school‟s athletic field. Adding to Taylor‟s ethical dilemma is the fact that she is married to the school‟s successful football coach. Rather than succumbing to immense pressure from the powerful boosters, her husband, the townspeople and even some students, Principal Taylor ends up reallocating the scoreboard funds to academics so that she will have the fiscal resources necessary to rehire the four teachers that were laid off, buy new textbooks that were not published during the Cold War era, as well as purchase other basic resources the school desperately needed. Taylor stood up to public pressure and made a tough decision, like the ones faced by real-life principals on a daily basis.

Characteristics of the authentic media archetype of the principalship. Three out of the fifty school leaders found in the films and television programs included in this study could be considered to fit into the authentic archetype of the principalship that emerged from the data. While these three principals, Dr. Bob Sweeney in American History X (Carraro et al., 1998), Tami Taylor in Friday Night Lights (Katims & Reiner 2008) and Jack Rimmer in

Waterloo Road (McManus & Southcombe, 2006), are all demographically very different people, three characteristics shared by each of these authentic representations of school

70 leadership were identified when observing and analyzing these films and television programs.

1. All three of these principals are charged with running chronically under-funded

schools in areas of low socio-economic status. Even though these three schools are

located in totally different parts of the world (urban California, rural Texas and urban

England), their school leaders are all seen struggling to muster the resources (fiscal or

otherwise) necessary to keep the doors open and maintain their place in building the

community.

2. Each one of these principals illicit feedback from their colleagues in an effort to

improve their leadership practices. For instance, when grabbing a pint at the local pub

after his tough first day as a headmaster, Jack Rimmer in Waterloo Road (McManus &

Southcombe, 2006), asked a number of his teaching faculty how he could be a better

administrator. Even though he was complaining about being unexpectedly inserted into

the role, he nonetheless was trying to improve his leadership capabilities by appealing to

the needs and sensibilities of his staff. As mentioned earlier, in Friday Night Lights

(Katims & Reiner, 2008), Principal Taylor asks the same of her teaching faculty during

her first staff meeting as a school leader. Likewise, in American History X (Carraro et al.,

1998), Dr. Sweeney can be observed asking a former student named Derek Vinyard how

he can make Venice Beach High a safer school.

3. Each of these school leaders also acts as a moral compass for staff, students and the

school community as a whole. Dr. Sweeney took a troubled student under his wing in an

effort to end his association with the vocal and visible white supremacist group that was

sending him down the wrong path. Principal Taylor refused to sit idly by and approve

the building of a new (and rather expensive) scoreboard for the football stadium while the

rest of the school suffered due to a lack of funds, and Headmaster Rimmer convinced his

newly hired Deputy Head not to press charges against a student‟s father who struck him

in the face, as such action would have booked the child‟s ticket to a life spent in foster

care.

While it has been determined that there is an authentic archetype of the principalship emerging in some recent films and television programs, the vast majority of school leaders depicted in the media are portrayed either as iron-fisted authoritarians, petty bureaucrats or bumbling idiots. It is now important to examine whether the actions, duties and roles performed by these media principals are representative of those performed by their real-life counterparts on a daily basis.

Research Question #2: Do these portrayals mirror the actions, duties and roles of their real-life counterparts?

This question was designed to determine if the media is disseminating a realistic view of the principalship, or if it has created a new definition of school leadership that is in opposition to the successful leadership practices discussed in Chapter Two. In 2008, Begley and a writing team consisting of eight current and former administrators published the School

Leadership in Canada: Fourth Edition handbook. The handbook (2008a) outlines a profile of Canadian school leadership practices and puts forward five dimensions that are seen as vital to school leadership. Both competent and highly ideal practices for each dimension and subdimension of leadership are described in detail. It is the competent levels of professional practice that will be used as a measuring stick to determine if the leadership practices of these media principals bear any resemblance to the way real-life principals run their schools.

Begley‟s five dimensions of school leadership which will structure the findings of this research question are: (a) Organizational Management, (b) Planning and Instructional

Leadership, (c) School-Community Relationships, (d) Visionary Leadership and (e) Setting

Directions, and Ethical Leadership.

Organizational management. Begley (2008a) describes effective organizational management within an education setting as ensuring that the resources within the school are used and distributed in an efficient and equitable manner and that the appropriate policies and procedures are consulted and applied pertaining to the operation of the school. Even some of the authentic principals that emerged from the data were shown failing this dimension of school leadership.

For instance, the aforementioned Jack Rimmer, a white, middle-class, male principal found in a British BBC Drama called Waterloo Road (McManus & Southcombe, 2006) does exactly is a prime example of an authentic media principals who fails Begley‟s (2008a) organizational management dimension of school leadership. While Rimmer comes across as an authentic principal who is doing his best to create a safe and positive learning environment for his staff and students, he lacks the organizational management skills necessary to make this happen. Based on the pilot episode alone, it would be difficult to give

Rimmer anything above a fail in the Personnel Supervision subdimension of Begley‟s

(2008a) organizational management dimension of school leadership because of his questionable hiring practices. Shortly after having the principalship thrust upon himself after the untimely nervous breakdown of his predecessor, Rimmer decided to take a massive risk by hiring a teacher from a prominent private school as his deputy head. While Andrew

Treneman brought very impressive credentials to the position, he soon realized that teaching

73 in a posh private preparatory college is much different than doing the same in a troubled comprehensive school in the Rochdale area of Manchester. Treneman, the source of three publicized media events in just his first day at the school, was definitely in over his head at this working class school where 70% of the students come from single parent homes.

Rimmer says this himself when he tries to get through to Treneman after one of these transgressions by stating: “Listen, Andrew. This school is bang-slap in the middle of hood kim land. It may not suit the educational psychologists to say it, but (the school) is half- fucked” (McManus & Southcombe, 2006).

It is also because of Treneman that Rimmer fails the Safe and Positive School

Environment subdimension of organizational management. After taking away a student‟s mobile phone in class, Treneman was confronted by the student‟s father who punched him in the face repeatedly. Treneman had planned to press charges until he realized the student‟s father was already on probation and would be sentenced to jail time if convicted, which would have left the student in foster care. Because Treneman had yet to be professionally socialized into the community and environment that surrounds Waterloo Road School,

Rimmer had to install a zero tolerance school policy that would immediately exclude any students whose parent assaults any member of his teaching staff.

Another media principal who had a great deal of trouble protecting his staff is Walter from One Eight Seven (Davey, McEveety, & Reynolds, 1997). Even after one of his teachers, a man named Trevor Garfield was threatened by a student who wrote “187 Garfield” o n his textbook (it is revealed that 187 is the police code for homicide), Walter does nothing to protect his frightened and apprehensive colleague. In fact, it is revealed that Walter informed the student that he was getting a fail in one of Garfield‟s classes, which violated the terms of

74 his probation and stamped his ticket back to juvenile hall. When Garfield inferred this and confronted his principal about these questionable actions that violated his personal safety, his worry was met with a chuckle from Walter who stated, “You know what your problem is…on one hand you think someone is trying to kill ya, and on the other hand, you actually believe kids are paying attention in your classes” (Davey et al., 1997). Walter‟s apathy for the school system has permeated his soul, so much so that his inability and unwillingness to address this issue and protect his teaching faculty led to Garfield being stabbed and nearly murdered by the student in question.

In the episode of Glee (Murphy, Falchuk, & Brennan, 2009) titled “Showmance”,

Principal Figgins displays his ineptitude in the finance sub-dimension of organizational management, even though all he seems to care about is the bottom line. He informs staff and students that he has cut corners in the maintenance of the school by laying off half of the janitorial staff and that the school cafeteria is serving prison food in an effort to balance the budget. Figgins blames his lack of organizational management skills on the economic recession. That excuse carries little weight as it was his bungling of the school‟s finances that put the health of his students at risk.

In a season three episode of South Park (Parker, Stone, & Stough, 1999) called

“Sexual Harassment Panda”, Principal Victoria allowed false accusations of teachers sexually harassing students to result in her school district being successfully sued by a conniving student for $1.3 million. In order to pay for the lawsuit, the school faced massive budget cuts and had to sell all of the desks and any other viable resources owned by the school. Students were forced to sit on the floor, and the teachers resorted to using rusty nails to write on the chalkboard. Considering those circumstances, it is clear that Principal

Victoria lacks the necessary organizational management skills required to be an effective or even semicompetent school leader. Her teachers and students had to pay a steep price because Victoria allowed herself to be outsmarted by a deceitful student more than half her age

Planning and instructional leadership. Begley‟s (2008a) second dimension of school leadership practices is called Planning and Instructional Leadership. As its subdimensions include inclusive education and staff development, it is safe to assume that this dimension places a focus on making sure that every student in the school has an opportunity to learn and improve his or her academic achievement. Unfortunately, the influence and authority displayed by these media principals could not be considered competent and leaves much to be desired.

For instance, Principal Carl Moss in a King of the Hill (Croston, Hall, & Garcia,

2008) episode called “No Bobby Left Behind” is an exemplar of questionable planning and instructional leadership practices. When the school district informed him that unless he achieved outstanding scores on the latest round of standardized tests in order to adhere to the

No Child Left Behind Act, the state would have the power to fire all of the staff at the school.

Moss then reveals to some of his staff members that he has not yet read the act because “I got a few pages in, and to tell you the truth, it‟s no Harry Potter. Then a new Harry Potter came out” (Croston et al., 2008). Rather than doing any real planning or implementing research- driven programs that have been proven to increase student learning and comprehension,

Moss and his inept and idiotic teachers looked for a quick fix. Among the suggestions from staff were to allow the dumb kids to cheat off the smart ones and planting marijuana in the exceptional students‟ lockers so that they could be suspended for the test. However, after

76 perusing the No Child Left Behind Act document for the first time, Moss realized that students with special needs are exempt from taking, and potentially failing the state‟s standardized tests. He then convinced his staff at Tom Landry Middle School that the easiest way to improve their test scores would be to label any lazy or uninterested students as

“special needs.” This became a school wide policy. When some of the students who had been inappropriately labeled special needs told Moss that they were going to complain to their parents, he bribed them by allowing their attendance on a field trip to an amusement park that was supposed to be reserved for the school‟s few honor roll students. After a number of these supposed “special needs” students almost died on one of the rides, Moss is informed by his superiors that he may be fired, and begs for his job by replying with, “I‟ve been a principal half my life. I‟m not qualified to do anything else!” (Croston et al., 2008).

At the end of the episode it is revealed that the school ended up failing the test. Principal

Moss was suspended by the school district and had to resort to selling pre-packaged steaks to make ends meet. In the pilot episode of Welcome Back, Kotter (Mittleman & LaHendro,

1975) titled “The Great Debate”, Principal Woodman is also seen struggling with the inclusive education subdimension. He placed the remedial “sweat-hogs” in a self-contained classroom and constantly tried to best them and their teacher at every opportunity.

Principal Cole in Donnie Darko (Ball, Barrymore, La Scala, Lowry, Ryder, Tyrer, &

Kelly, 2001) is also seen wrestling with his instructional leadership practices throughout the course of the film. Like Moss, Principal Cole is a white, middle-class, male who is clearly out of touch with the individual needs of his student body. Most of Cole‟s screen time occurs in his office, where he is seen hiding from his student body and disciplining members of his teaching faculty for dubious reasons. In one of these encounters, he terminates a young,

77 energetic teacher named Miss Pomeroy because she used unconventional teaching methods to reach some of the more eccentric, yet highly intelligent students at the school. Before being told to leave his office and clear out her classroom, Pomeroy tries to help Cole understand the error of his ways by vehemently stating “I don‟t think that you have a clue what its like to communicate with these kids. We are losing them to apathy…to this prescribed nonsense. They are slipping away” (Ball, Barrymore, La Scala, Lowry, Ryder,

Tyrer, & Kelly, 2001). Rather than embrace a teacher who stepped outside the boundaries of traditional and essentialist teaching methods to reach students who were at-risk, Cole fired

Pomeroy, and threw away any chance of becoming an instructional leader because he did not want to deal with any sort of controversy.

Principal Rocker in Hamlet 2 (Berger et al, 2008) is another white, middle-class, male principal who joins Cole in shrugging off his duties as an instructional leader to focus on shielding the school from any sort of media controversy. After hearing that the drama department‟s annual production may contain some scenes that could be considered risqué,

Rocker fired the drama teacher and had the school board issue a cease and desist order that would have him arrested if the performance took place as scheduled. Like Miss Pomeroy in

Donnie Darko (Ball et al., 2001), this drama teacher was punished for taking an interest in a number of at-risk students. Principal Rocker shows his true colors when he tries to run down

Mr. Marschz (the aforementioned drama teacher) in a pick-up truck hours before the performance.

Apart from the three examples of the authentic media archetype of the principalship discussed earlier, none of the other principals found in the films and television programs included in this study could be called competent instructional leaders. Unfortunately the

78 questionable practices of Moss, Cole and Rocker is the norm when it comes to the media‟s representations of the planning and instructional leadership dimension found in Begley‟s

(2008a) School Leadership in Canada handbook.

School-community relationships. While the aforementioned Dr. Bob Sweeney in

American History X (Carraro et al., 1998) has seemed to create a very successful and mutually beneficial partnership with the local police force, he is one of the few school leaders found in these films and television programs who has cultivated positive relationships with the organizations in the larger community that surrounds his school.

Unlike Dr. Sweeney, Principal Himbry in Scream (Maddalena, Weinstein, Weinstein,

& Craven, 1996) was unable to promote such a relationship with his local police department, an oversight which cost him and a number of his students their lives. Rather than attempting to obtain help from those outside the walls of the school, Himbry dons an authoritarian persona in an effort to maintain control over his school and keep his students safe from a serial killer that had attacked and killed some of the school‟s more popular students. This is evident when he immediately expels two students who are seen running through the halls mocking the murders, and especially when he lambastes these students by telling them

“fairness would be to rip your insides out and hang them from a tree so we can expose you for the heartless, desensitized little shits that you are” (Maddalena et al., 1996). Judging from this encounter, Himbry seems to suffering from an intense case of burnout.

Fisher, Harris and Jarvis (2008) note that while Himbry seems to have the best interests of his students in mind by using the school‟s PA system to remind them to be safe, he lacks the ability to effectively communicate with students and subsequently, fails that subdimension of the school-community relationship dimension that is vital to effective

79 school leadership. They note that “he is unable to connect with his students. To some extent, the PA messages act as an exemplar of this: he is talking to the air, not directly to people, and is largely ignored” (p. 50). Himbry pays a steep price for his failure in this sub-dimension of school leadership as his inability to communicate the urgency of this safety threat resulted in him being hanged from the uprights on the school‟s football field after being gruesomely murdered by the killer.

Even media principals that tried to amend some of the more damaging school- community relationships at their schools were either reprimanded by their superiors or their efforts were simply ignored. After a group of wealthy students in the “School Lies” episode of a teen drama called Gossip Girl (Rosenfeld & Wharmby, 2008) held a drug and alcohol- fuelled party inside the posh private school‟s pool, Headmaster Queller, a daunting white, upper-crust female was powerless to punish any of the students involved because many of them were the children of powerful benefactors who had filled the school‟s coffers with millions of dollars in donations. One student was suspended for 2 weeks because he lied to

Queller, while the mastermind of the party was given a powder-puff punishment that consisted of 25 hours of community service which she probably would have had to complete anyway. Even though Queller was making a concerted effort to clean up the school and eliminate the lucrative, yet shady school-family relationships that plagued Constance Billard

Prep, the school‟s board of directors decided to accept a multi-million dollar donation towards a new wing of the school‟s library from the mastermind‟s step-father, in exchange for allowing her to continue her studies there uninterrupted. By accepting this bribe, the school‟s board of directors exposed Queller as a relatively toothless administrator.

Visionary leadership and setting directions. Begley (2008a) describes a visionary leader as someone who can develop and communicate a vision shared by the whole of the staff that is built on trusting, inspiring and motivating all parties involved to reach and pass their educational goals. This dimension of school leadership was largely ignored by the public school principals found in these films and television programs, but was addressed by a number of those working in a private school setting. In a rare case of educational reality depicted on screen, in an episode called “The Rivals”, The OC‟s (Schwartz & Toynton,

2004) Dr. Kim did an excellent job of informing a student and his guardians that he was suspended because his morally questionable behaviour did not fit into the school‟s vision of itself and its students.

Headmaster Nolan, the perennialist educator in Dead Poets Society (Haft, Witt,

Thomas, & Weir, 1989) rules his school with an iron-fist and has a clear vision for the prestigious private school under his charge. He places a supreme focus on academic excellence and wants Welton Academy to be recognized as the premiere preparatory school in the United States. Nolan drills home this vision when he addresses the student body at

Welton Academy and tells them that the school opened its doors in 1853 and that the students sitting in front of him faced the burden of living up to all the great men that had come before them. Nolan‟s vision of Welton Academy, complete with his reliance on outdated teaching methods and a vestigial, unchanging curriculum, was stuck in the 19th Century. At the end of the film, Nolan ends up terminating Mr. Keating, a progressivist teacher whose “unorthodox” methods he had disagreed with from the beginning of his tenure. He even used Keating as a scapegoat so that the school would not be implicated as a factor in the suicide of one of their more prominent students.

Dr. Nelson Guggenheim, a stately academic who definitely looked the part with his wide selection of tweed blazers and ebony pipes, while working in an office filled with antique tiffany lamps and renaissance art envisioned a similar fate for the title school in

Rushmore (Anderson & Wilson, 1998). Guggenheim refused to bend the school‟s academic rules and revoked a promising student‟s scholarship because he would not give up any of his extra-curricular activities to focus on his studies.

Ethical leadership. While I kept waiting for a moral leader to emerge from at least one of the films and television programs studied, few of the media principals even partially fit that description. Harry Wilson in 90210 (Star & Piznarski, 2008) is an ethical mess. His past relationships with both the school‟s guidance counsellor and a member of the school council cloud his judgement when dealing with his staff and students. He seems to chip away at the little ethical armor he has left by showing academic and disciplinary favouritism to his children, both of whom are enrolled at West Beverly High School.

In a season four episode of Entourage (Weiss & Mylod, 2008) called “The Day

Fuckers”, Andrew Preston is the bureaucratic headmaster of a prestigious Los Angeles private school whose actions help send the audience the message that schools are part of the larger establishment and that educators are jealous of people who are able to achieve success in the private sector.

This is because Preston expelled the son of a wealthy and powerful Hollywood agent who questioned his leadership practices. Not only did Preston expel this student from his school, but he also made sure to black-ball the family by ensuring that their son would also be rejected from every other private school in Los Angeles County. While Preston is described as a “model human” later in the episode, he throws away his moral integrity when

82 he barters a deal that allows the student back into his school in exchange for the agent giving his dead-beat brother a lucrative position at his firm. This sort of patronage is not exactly ethical behavior either.

Strangers With Candy Similarly, Principal Onyx Blackman in Strangers With Candy

David, Nathanson, Roberts, & Dinello, 2005) is another example of an unethical school leader as he used school funds to pay off large personal gambling debts.

Principal Max Anderson in the film Billy Madison (Cady & Davis, 1995) also allows himself to be bribed, an action which almost had grave consequences for some of his students. Throughout the film Anderson lies compromised the academic well-being of a student because he was being blackmailed by a man who threatened to expose his controversial past as a professional wrestler who had killed another man in the ring. These allegations could ruin Anderson‟s career in education, particularly when he reveals that he does not even possess the academic requirements needed to occupy the principalship or even obtain a teaching certificate.

The combination of Anderson being both an ex-professional wrestler and having yet to obtain a teaching certificate could be telling the audience that almost anyone, regardless of their past transgressions or lack of education has the ability to step right into the classroom and have the skills necessary to be a school leader. This representation of school leadership essentially mocks all of the training, education and professional development that are prerequisites for the principalship (and even teaching) in most jurisdictions.

With the exception of a few outliers, it has been determined that the depictions of school leadership found in the 50 films and television programs that provided data for this study are not representative of the tasks and duties performed by real-life principals on a

83 daily basis. It is now important to investigate the implications that these inauthentic portrayals have for current school leaders.

Research Question #3: What Implications do these Media Portrayals Have for Current

School Leaders

This question was designed to focus on the implications that the representations of the principalship found in the films and television programs included in this study could have for current school leaders. A number of trends that could have implications for practicing principals emerged while collecting and analyzing the data.

Tracking media representations of the principalship across time. I was particularly interested in tracking how the principalship has been represented in films and television programs over time. Two trends emerged after collecting and analyzing the data.

The first trend and one of the more significant findings of this study is that the authentic media archetype of the principalship is a recent phenomenon. Based on observation of the films and television programs included in this study, the first appearance of an authentic school leader occurred in 1998 when the character of Dr. Bob Sweeney was featured in

American History X (Carraro et al., 1998). The second trend related to how school leaders have been depicted in films and television programs over time is that the other archetypes have all been fixtures of school films since at least the mid-1970s. Principals in these programs were initially depicted as authoritarians. Of which Goodbye Mr. Chips (Saville &

Wood), which debuted in 1939 provides an excellent example. The next media archetype of the principalship to surface was the bureaucrat, with the earliest example included in this study being Mr. Wameke in Up the Down Staircase (Pakula & Mulligan, 1965). The idiot archetype was the second last to surface when analyzing the data. Based on the data

84 collected, it is worth noting that these idiotic media principals first emerged with the appearance of Mr. Woodman on a television program called Welcome Back, Kotter

(Mittleman & LaHendro) which first aired in 1975. Perhaps the idiot media archetype of the principalship is a product of much of the social upheaval and subsequent mistrust of authority figures that occurred just prior to this programs release during the late 1960s and early 1970s in North America.

Tracking media representations of the principalship across borders. Obtaining media from a number of different nations proved much more difficult than initially anticipated. Films and television programs produced outside of North America are rarely available on Canadian cable television or in local DVD rental outlets. However, it is worthwhile to point out that all four of the archetypes used to represent school leaders in films and television programs were found in non-North American media included in this study. While each of the media principals discussed in this study are undoubtedly influenced by the unique regional context in the area in which they were created, very few regional differences were found when studying representations of school leaders produced in different parts of the English-speaking world.

Socio-economic status. It should be noted that all of the media portrayals of school leaders examined were seen as members of the middle to upper socio-economic classes. In this regard, the media has made an effort to have their representations of the principalship mirror reality. The socio-economic status of the school leaders depicted on screen seems to be grounded in reality. This is rare footage as there are a number of other demographic inconsistencies between the characters seen occupying the principalship in these films and television programs and the people who inhabit the position in real-life.

Gender. For instance, only 13 of the 50 films and television programs studied depicted a female principal. While the number itself is not at all encouraging, what is particularly troubling is that more than half of these female principals (7 out of 13) were portrayed as taking on the characteristics of an authoritarian in order to illicit obedience and co mpliance from both their staff and students, a role which has been associated with men. Whether intentional or not, these portrayals could be sending viewers the message that women can only gain the respect of their colleagues and peers if they act like a man while employed in a supervisory role. Examples of nuns running schools in a very strict and authoritarian manner, like Sister Aloysius Beauvier seen in Doubt (Costas & Shanley, 2008) and Sister

Helen in Grounded for Life (Martin, Schiff, & Kwapis, 2001), are part of society‟s collective consciousness. However, the vast majority of the authoritarian female principals in question are depicted as being employed in modern schools. Even though teaching and education is typically seen as a realm where women can succeed professionally, the lack of female school leaders depicted in these films and television programs may imply that there is a proverbial glass ceiling preventing them from securing and thriving in a supervisory role that is reserved for their immoral and possibly less qualified male colleagues. Considering that the viewers‟ perceptions can be altered by what they see in films and on television, the continued dissemination of the “male principal”, regardless of their actions on screen, could lead the public to assume that only men are qualified to perform the duties and tasks associated with the position. The lack of female school leaders depicted in films and television programs also seems to be part of a larger problem, as the media tends to exclude females from supervisory positions in other professions as well. Spears and Seydegart (1985) found that only 29% of working women depicted on Canadian television held a managerial position.

While women portrayed in a supervisory capacity were underrepresented in these films and television programs, for the most part the male principals depicted were not shown in a positive light either. These men, regardless of the media archetype of the principalship into which they fit (except the two authentic examples), are presented as individuals that lack sufficient intellectual capacity, have limited motivation and work with children because they are the only people naïve enough to give them any sort of respect or authority. This trend is particularly troubling because, whether intentional or unintentional, it sends viewers the message that those working in teaching were relegated to the education sector because they could not make it in any other industry. For instance, Principal Terrance Cutler in the Home

Box Office comedy, East Bound and Down (Best, Hill, McBride, & Green, 2008) definitely fits this mould. This trend is in stark contrast to the real reasons why many educators decided to work with children, which usually revolve around a fleeting generosity and selflessness that is becoming less and less valued in modern society.

Race. Another potentially problematic demographic trend that emerged from the data was a dearth of visible minorities depicted as school leaders. An overwhelming 41 of the 50 media principals studied were Caucasian. While some of this variance could be explained by the inclusion of some cultural texts that were produced 30, 40 and even more than 50 years ago, an era before affirmative action and when society was rife with racism, this argument carries little weight as more than half of the films and television programs included in this study first aired during the past decade. Similar to the implications surrounding the lack of female representations of the principalship found in this study, the scarcity of visible minorities occupying the position suggests that the media is disseminating a phallocentric and Eurocentric definition of school leadership that seeks to exclude anyone who does not fit

87 that mould, even if the people who have those desired demographic traits are not attractive applicants. The perpetual dissemination of this media-propagated dominant discourse of the principalship may have an unsightly effect on hiring practices at school boards and districts the world over.

Another trend that emerged when analyzing the data concerns the treatment of black men who work as principals in the films and television programs studied. While there were relatively few black men portrayed in these cultural texts, almost all of them ran their schools in an authoritarian manner and relied on their imposing physical stature, threats and scare tactics to induce their will on staff, students and parents alike.

Teacher recruitment efforts. An implication that these media portrayals of the principalship could have on current school leaders noted by much of the research discussed in the second portion of the literature review found in Chapter Two, is the potential effect that negative depictions of educators and school leadership can have on teacher recruitment efforts. Swetnam (1992), Beyerbach (2005) and Breault (2009) all emphatically stated that negative depictions of schooling could discourage children and young adults from pursuing a career in education.

Considering that the actions and duties performed by almost all of the media principals studied lacked competency in the five dimensions of school leadership that Begley

(2008a) and his writing team deemed vital to the role, similar conclusions can be drawn from this study. One has to assume that potential principals watching school films like Charlie

Bartlett (Hofmann et al., 2007), (where the high school principal spirals into divorce, alcoholism and severe depression because of the stress and thanklessness inherent in the position) would begin considering another profession as soon as the credits begin to roll.

The authentic archetype. With that being said, the emergence and existence of an authentic archetype of the principalship depicted in recent films and television programs could have a significant effect on how educators are viewed by members of the taxpaying public. These portrayals of school leaders wrestling with tough decisions that could have implications for all of the students enrolled at the school (and possibly the larger community) may educate the public about the changing nature of the principalship and difficulties faced by those who occupy the position. Furthermore, the media‟s framing of school leaders who lead with a moral imperative and act in a professional manner may send the audience the message that, while these principals have their flaws like every other person on the planet, they are trying their best to meet the individual needs of their staff and students, while also acting as a role model for the community as a whole.

Summary

While the authentic examples of the principalship that emerged from the data gathered from the films and television programs that comprised this study are very encouraging, it is evident that the vast majority of the media principals analyzed for this study fit into three distinct archetypes based on their leadership practices. Unfortunately, the authoritarians, bureaucrats and idiots portrayed on screen are not at all flattering, nor are they representative of the leadership needed from their real-life counterparts to successfully run a modern school. The three authentic examples of the principalship found in these films and television programs seem to be the exceptions that prove the rule, although their appearance is encouraging and could be a harbinger of things of come.

Begley‟s (2008a) School Leadership in Canada: Fourth Edition handbook was used as a conceptual framework to determine the authenticity of the school leaders depicted on

89 screen. After analyzing the actions, duties and roles performed by the principals depicted in the films and television programs that comprised the data for this study, it became clear that the media has created a new definition of the principalship that is inauthentic and not at all grounded in reality. Many of these media principals failed at least one of the five dimensions of school leadership that Begley and his writing team determined were vital to the role.

There were a number of themes and trends that emerged during the data analysis process that have implications for current school leaders and how they are perceived by the members of the general public who watch these films and television programs. These include how the media seems to be propagating a definition of the principalship that centres on the experiences of white, middle-class men, while seeming to exclude the knowledge, skills and understandings of those who have different demographic characteristics.

Furthermore, the dearth of female and visible minorities occupying the principalship in the films and television programs included in this study was particularly troubling. This is especially the case considering that many media representations of female principals were seen donning an authoritarian style of leadership that is traditionally associated with men in an effort to gain an adequate amount of respect and authority from their students and colleagues.

Other trends gleaned from the data include the negative effect that these portrayals could have on teacher and principal recruitment efforts, as well as the prevailing assumption that these principals were forced into a career in education because children are the only people innocent and naïve enough to give them any sort of respect or authority.

Chapter Five will offer final conclusions and implications that this study could have for further research related to educational leadership and the ways in which educators and the

90 education sector are portrayed in the media. In particular, this final chapter will look at any next steps that have been identified as a product of this research, and look at how this study could inform future research that explores the media‟s representations of school leaders.

Chapter Five: Conclusions and Implications

The purpose of this thesis paper was to determine how school leaders have been depicted in films and television programs and whether these portrayals were accurate and representative of the actions and duties required of and performed by modern principals on a daily basis. The study also examined the implications that these mostly negative depictions of the principalship could have for current school leaders.

Initially, the four research questions that follow were used to guide this inquiry:

1) In what ways are principals depicted in the media?

2) Do these portrayals mirror the actions, duties and roles of their real-life

counterparts?

3) What implications do these media portrayals have on current school leaders?

4) In what ways and to what extent do negative film and television representations of

school principals contribute towards (or even create) much of the public‟s growing

mistrust towards educators and the school system as a whole?

It became evident during the research process that there was insufficient data gathered from direct observation of the film and television principals included in this study to answer the final research question listed above. After collecting and analyzing the data, it became clear that I would need to tap an additional data source beyond the films and television programs themselves in order to answer this question in a worthwhile manner. With that being said, it does seem like determining the exact influence that these media portrayals have on public opinion is beyond the scope of this study, but is definitely an intriguing next step in the research process.

Based on the data, it became clear that the vast majority of school leaders depicted in these 50 films and television programs fit neatly into four distinct archetypes based on their observable actions and leadership practices in their respective schools. These media principals were mostly depicted as authoritarians, bureaucrats and idiots, although there was also an authentic media archetype of school leaders that emerged from the data. As the names of the first three suggest, those archetypes are not at all flattering and shine a negative light on the current school leaders.

The authoritarians rule their schools with an iron-fist and tend to use scare tactics, intimidation and fear mongering to consolidate their own power within the building. Rather than tend to the individual needs and best interests of their students, these media principals rely on preserving traditional hierarchical power structures to justify their questionable behaviour. This was, by far, the most prevalent archetype of school leadership found in these films and television programs.

Another image of the principalship frequently found in films and television programs is the bureaucrat. These principals are primarily concerned with administrative tasks like budgeting and scheduling, while placing little value in attending to the needs of their students and staff. These bureaucratic media principals follow company policies and procedures to a fault and often allow internal pressures to override their better judgment when making tough decisions that affect the welfare of their respective students.

The “idiot” media propagated archetype of school leadership was also common to a number of films and television programs included in this study. As the name of this archetype suggests, these principals act like idiots. They garner little respect from both the

92 staff and students at their schools and their decision making in a number of areas leaves much to be desired.

However, the key finding of this study revolves around the emergence of an authentic archetype of the principalship in films and television programs that take place in a school environment. Only 3 of the 50 films and television programs studied could claim to portray their school leaders in an authentic manner. While that number is quite small and not at all encouraging, it is heartening to point out that all of these cultural texts were produced in the past 12 years, which suggests that the people who produce school-based films and television programs are beginning to ground their representations of the principalship in reality. This also implies that portraying authentic school leadership on screen is a relatively new phenomenon, which could gain steam and, eventually, unseat the negative and potentially harmful images of schooling and the principalship that were (and still are) being disseminated to audiences watching the other 47 representations of school leaders seen in the films and television programs studied.

I initially thought these three authentic representations of the principalship were outliers because they did not fit into the three initial archetypes that were being used to classify the images of the principalship disseminated through these films and television programs. Upon further analysis of data, it was revealed that there are three characteristics common to the authentic examples of the principalship found in this study. These three media principals are: Dr. Bob Sweeney in American History X (Carraro et al., 1998), Tami

Taylor in Friday Night Lights (Katims & Reiner, 2008) and Jack Rimmer in Waterloo Road

(McManus & Southcombe, 2006) all (a) are charged with running chronically under-funded schools in areas of low socio-economic status, (b) ask their colleagues for feedback and

93 advice in an effort to become more effective school leaders, and (c) act as the moral compass from which their staff, students and larger community take direction.

As mentioned above, the identification of an authentic archetype of the principalship is very encouraging and suggests that perhaps the media may begin to construct and disseminate an image of school leadership that is entrenched in reality.

Conversely, after collecting and analyzing data provided by the observable actions and leadership styles of these media principals and comparing them to the five dimensions of school leadership that Begley‟s (2008a) School Leadership in Canada: Fourth Edition handbook defines as vital to the role, it became clear that even some of the authentic representations of the principalship lack the skills necessary to display competency in areas where effective school leaders are experts. Considering that almost all of the school leaders found in these films and television programs were seen failing at least one of Begley‟s

(2008a) dimensions of school leadership (which include organization management, planning and instructional leadership, school-community relationships, visionary leadership and setting directions and ethical leadership), it is safe to declare that these portrayals do not mirror the actions, duties and roles performed by real-life principals on a daily basis. In fact, it could be argued that apart from the authentic representations of school leadership discussed earlier, the media is disseminating a new definition of the principalship that is in opposition to the meta-values that guide the profession.

There did not seem to be any discernable regional differences in the depictions of the principalship in different parts of the English-speaking world. Media principals found in cultural texts produced in the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and

Australia were all seen struggling to deal with the increasingly complex nature of the

94 position. The portrayals of film and television principals as authoritarians, bureaucrats and idiots who very rarely perform the tasks and duties expected of real-life principals create perceptions among the public that shape reality. Whether intentional or unintentional, people incorporate these semiotic signifiers into their reality and construct meaning and perceptions from what they watch on television. Glanz (1997) argues that these media images of the principalship “influence not only how principals are perceived by others, but how principals themselves understood their own identity” (p. 295). This is particularly troubling as real-life schools would benefit from principals who embrace moral and authentic forms of leadership, not those who display traits consistent with the authoritarian, bureaucratic idiots described earlier.

Implications for Current School Leaders

A number of trends emerged from the data when attempting to answer the third research questions, which read “What implications do these media portrayals have for current school leaders?” These trends can have implications for practicing school leaders because they place a spotlight on the demographic composition of the principals found in the films and television programs that comprise this study.

While the media does seem to be grounding their perception of the socio-economic status of those who occupy the principalship in reality, the same cannot be said for many of the demographic characteristics seen when examining these films and television programs.

Only 13 of the 50 principals observed in these cultural texts were women, which could be implying that they are not as qualified for the role as their male counterparts. This is particularly troubling both because the vast majority of educators are women, and over half of the female principals depicted in these films and television programs took on an

95 authoritarian style of leadership which has traditionally been associated with men. Many of the black, male media principals studied also adopted an authoritarian style of leadership to intimidate anyone who stood in their way and relied much more on their imposing physical stature than their intelligence when dealing with staff and students.

Another trend that emerged when analyzing the data concerns the race of the school leaders depicted in the media. Years after affirmative action policies took hold in both the public and private sectors, only 9 of the 50 media representations of the principalship studied were visible minorities. An attempt was made to gather quite a large sample of media with a particular focus on films and television programs that have been produced over the past decade. Considering that 82% of these films and television programs depict white men in positions of authority at their schools and in the community, this leads one to believe that the media is propagating and disseminating a Euro- and phallocentric image of the principalship that seeks to exclude those who do not fit this restrictive mould. It was also noted that these negative depictions of school leadership could lead some potential educators and principals to start looking for an alternate career path. Very few of the principals studied could be considered role models, with many of them being numbskulls who fulfill an adolescent fantasy by allowing their personal and professional lives to be ruined by the students they are supposed to be educating.

Perhaps it would be advantageous to incorporate a film and cultural studies class into current principal qualification courses. Future and potential school leaders could become familiar with these mostly negative representations and construct an alternate image of the principal they wish to become and disseminate this positive image and discourse of school leadership amongst their colleagues and members of the general public. Future principals

96 must also be well versed in moral and ethical approaches to school leadership. Participating in the self-reflection activities advocated by Branson (2007) and developing a familiarity with the ever growing literature base on this form of leadership may help future principals avoid many of the immoral pitfalls experienced by almost all of the media principals studied.

Another way that principals can work to counteract and combat these negative images of the profession and correct public perceptions of the position is through the cultivation of a more supportive and “educated” public by inviting members of the community into their schools to serve as volunteers and mentors, and become involved in the school council so that they have an opportunity to see how an educational institution really operates (Swetnam,

1992). Constructing school-community relationship like those advocated for by Begley

(2008a) can also help to add a positive spin on society‟s collective vision of the principalship.

Current principals and school leaders who embrace these recommendations may slowly begin to shift the pendulum that is public opinion back towards a respect, trust and admiration for educators and the work they do on a daily basis, rather than sitting idly by while the media possibly feeds a growing public mistrust and apprehension towards teaching and the school system as a whole.

Now that some of the implications that the findings of this study could have for current principals and administrators working in the school system have been explored, it is pertinent to discuss the next steps in the research process.

Next Steps and Implications for Future Research

A number of implications arose from this study surrounding the media‟s portrayal of the principalship and authentic school leadership practices. I have also identified next steps

97 for further research on this topic and changes that would be made if conducting this same study in the future.

There has been very little research conducted on how media representations of educators and the principalship influence current school leaders and members of the general public as a whole. As mentioned earlier, it became apparent during the research process that the data sources (the films and television programs) would not provide sufficient information to answer the fourth research question that was initially proposed to help guide this inquiry.

If I had been able to foresee this prior to embarking on the study, multiple data sources, including screenings of these films and television programs with focus groups and interviews with practicing school leaders and members of the general public who have viewed these media texts would have been included in the study to augment the data presented in Chapter

Four and the appendices. It would be interesting to conduct a study of this kind. Although this would prove extremely difficult as obtaining copyright permission to screen these films and television programs to an audience may prove to be a complex and thorny process.

It may also prove fruitful to conduct a study similar to this one with a number of researchers from varied backgrounds. As I stated earlier, my male, middle-class and

Caucasian sensibilities guided my interpretations of the principals depicted in the films and television programs included in this study. Perhaps people who possess different demographic characteristics would offer multiple readings of the material that differ from those presented in this study.

Another implication worth addressing is the size and diversity of the sample. While there was a successful attempt made to obtain and include a large number of films and television programs that focus on a school and the principalship, it would have also been nice

98 to include more media from other parts of the English speaking world. The vast majority of the data sources were created in Canada or the United States, and each one is undoubtedly affected by the context and mood surrounding each nation‟s public education system at their respective dates of production. Unfortunately, only a limited selection of films and television programs produced in nations like the United Kingdom and Australia are available on DVD or broadcast on Canadian cable television.

The findings of this study definitely add to the dearth of literature surrounding media portrayals of the principalship and how they affect how people (both inside and outside the education sector) view the profession. Educational leadership is currently a hot issue due to the multitude of school reform efforts sweeping through North America, so it is surprising that this particular topic has failed to garner more attention from other researchers and policymakers. The second research question that guided this study was geared towards making a connection between current and effective school leadership practices and the lack of them depicted by the media principals included in this study.

It would also be interesting to conduct research that evaluates the extent to which beginning teachers and new administrators are professionally socialized by the mostly negative images of schooling depicted in the films and television programs included in this study. It was mentioned earlier that potential educators could be scared away from the profession after viewing the mostly inaccurate depictions of the principalship discussed at length in Chapter Four. It may be fascinating to investigate the ways in which films and television programs that depict schooling influence the principalship by comparing the actions and roles performed by real-life principals and the media principals that they watch or have watched on a regular basis.

A Final Word

It was determined that the media uses four distinct archetypes to guide their depictions of modern principals in films and television programs. The three found to be most prevalent in the films and television programs included in this study are: (a) the authoritarian,

(b) the bureaucrat and (c) the idiot. As the last title of these archetypes suggests, none of these depictions are flattering to either the profession or those who occupy the position in reality. Conversely, the final and least common archetype of the principalship found in the media studied is an authentic representation of school leadership. By comparing the actions of these media representations of principals in films and television programs to the roles and duties that Begley (2008a)‟s School Leadership in Canada: Fourth Edition handbook deemed vital to the success of real-life principals, it became clear that these media principals rarely mirror even the worst practices of current school leaders. While it is very encouraging that an authentic archetype of the principalship did emerge from the data, these portrayals were quite sparse and overwhelmed by their much more pervasive and potentially harmful peers.

Considering that the principalship is an increasingly complex and contentious position, it is important to recognize how it has been represented in the media and the effect that these portrayals can have on those who currently occupy the role and on the taxpayers who continue to call for more accountability from their educators. While current principals do not have the power or influence required to approach Hollywood producers and demand that the media produce cultural texts that give an accurate portrayal of the leadership practices and duties required of modern school leaders, they can work to counteract the negative depictions of the principalship currently disseminated through films and television

100 programs. This can be done by becoming familiar with the four media principal archetypes discussed above, embracing a moral and ethical approach to school leadership and building stronger school-community relationships so that members of the general public can see the workings of a real-life school rather than rely on inaccurate media facsimiles to guide their perceptions of reality.

References

Anderson, W., & Wilson, O. (Producers), & Anderson, W. (Director). (1998). Rushmore.

USA: Touchstone Pictures.

Avildsen, J. G. (Producer & Director). (1989). Lean on me. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Ball, C. J., Barrymore, D., La Scala, C., Lowry, H., Ryder, A., & Tyrer, W. (Producers), &

Kelly, R. (Director). (2001). Donnie Darko. USA: Pandora Cinema.

Bannos, S. (Writer), & Sheetz, C. (Director). (1998). Principal for a Day [Television series

episode]. In P. Germain (Executive producer), Recess. Glendale, CA: Walt Disney

Television Animation.

Barker, C. (2004) The sage dictionary of cultural studies. London, UK: Sage Publications.

Barnard, C. I. (1938/1968). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press.

Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan

Press.

Begley, P.T. (2006). Self-knowledge, capacity and sensitivity: Prerequisites to authentic

leadership by school principals. Journal of Educational Administration, 44(6), 570-

589.

Begley, P.T. (Ed.). (2008a) School Leadership in Canada: Fourth Edition. Hillsdale, ON:

Paul Begley and Associates.

101

102

Begley, P.T. (2008b) The nature and specialized purposes of educational leadership. In

Crow, G., Lumby, J., Pashiardis, P. (Eds) UCEA international handbook on the

preparation and development of school leaders (pp. 21-42). London, UK: Corwin

Press.

Berger, A., Brady, P., Fleming, A., Flynn, M., Lesser, E., & Yerxa, R. (Producers), &

Fleming, A. (Director). (2008). Hamlet 2. USA: Bona Fide Productions.

Berin, F., & Saric, L. (Writers), & Judge, J. (Director). (2006). Reading and principals

[Television series episode]. In S. Fellows, B. O`Dowd, & J. Westercamp (Executive

producers), Ned’s declassified school survival guide. Los Angeles, CA:

ApolloFilmScreen Filmproduktion.

Berman, P.S. (Producer), & Brooks, R. (Director). (1955). Blackboard jungle. USA: Metro-

Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Berrisford, S., Hickman, H., & Papish, M. (Producers), & Holland, S. S. (Director). (2009).

Legally blondes. USA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Berry, K.S. (2000). The dramatic arts and cultural studies: Acting against the grain. New

York, NY: Falmer.

Best, B., Hill, J., & McBride, D. (Writers), & Green, D. G. (Director). (2009). Chapter 3

[Television series episode]. In B. T. Best, W. Ferrell, J. Hill, D. McBride, & A.

McKay (Executive producers), East bound and down. New York, NY: Home Box

Office (HBO).

Beyerbach, B. (2005). Themes in sixty years of teachers in film: Fast times, dangerous

minds, stand by me. Official Journal of the Educational Studies Association, 37(5),

267-285.

103

Blackmore, J. (1989). Educational leadership: A feminist critique and reconstruction. In J.

Smyth (Ed.), Critical perspectives on educational leadership (pp. 93-130). London:

Falmer.

Blouin, P. (2006). A profile of elementary and secondary principals in Canada: First results

from the 2004-2005 survey of principals. Retrieved from:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004-x/2006002/9249-eng.htm#e

Branson, C. (2007). Improving leadership by nurturing moral consciousness through

structured self-reflection. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(4), 471-495.

Breault, R. (2009). The celluloid teacher. The Educational Forum, 73, 306-317.

Brunner, D. K. (1991). Stories of schooling in films and television: A cultural studies

approach to teacher education. ERIC Documents Reproduction Number ED 335330.

Cady, F. (Producer), & Davis, T. (Director). (1995). Billy Madison. USA: Universal Pictures.

Carraro, B., Peak, K., Tisch, S., Turman, L. (Producers), & Kaye, T. (Director). (1998).

American history X. USA: New Line Cinema.

Chinich, M. (Producer), & Hughes, J. (Director). (1986). Ferris Buehler 's Day Off. USA:

Paramount Pictures.

Costas, C. (Producer) & Shanley, J. P. (Director). (2008). Doubt. USA: Goodspeed

Productions.

Crevola, C., Hill, P. & Fullan, M. (2006). Critical learning instructional pathway: Assessment

for learning in action, Orbit, 36(2), Pages 10-14.

Croston, T., & Hall, C. (Writers), & Garcia, T. (Director). (2008). No Bobby left behind

[Television series episode]. In J. Dauterive (Executive producer), King of the hill.

New York, NY: 20th Century Fox.

104

Cunningham, W.G., & Cordeiro, P.A. (2009). Educational leadership: A bridge to

improved practice. Toronto, ON: Pearson Higher Education/Allyn and Bacon.

Davey, B., & McEveety, S. (Producers), & Reynolds, K. (Director). (1997). One eight seven.

USA: Icon Entertainment International.

David, L., Nathanson, V.S., Roberts, M. (Producers), & Dinello, P. (Director). (2005).

Strangers with candy. USA: THINKFilm.

Day, C. (2004). The passion of successful leadership. School Leadership and Management,

24(4), 425-437.

De Fleur, M. (1964). Occupational roles as portrayed on television. Public Opinion Quarterly

28(1), 57-74.

Derevlany, J. (Writer), & Durante, R. (Director). (2007). Oh great leader/meet the pets

[Television series episode]. In D. Heaton (Executive producer), Wayside. Toronto,

ON: Nelvana.

Derrida, J. (1998). Of Grammatology. (G. Chakravorty Spivak, Trans.). Baltimore, MD:

Johns Hopkins University Press. (1967).

Engel, P., & Tenowich, T. (Writers), & Barnhart, D. (Director). (1989). Dancing to the max

[Television series episode]. In P. Engel (Executive Producer), Saved by the bell. Los

Angeles, CA: Peter Engel Productions.

Epstein, Y. M., Rosenberg, H. S., & Smith, J. K. (1991, August). The image of the teacher in

film. A paper presented at the 99th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological

Association, San Francisco, CA.

Faraday, F. (Ed.) (2009). Ontario education legislation 2009-2010: An unofficial

publisher’s consolidation. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book.

105

Farber, P., & Holm, G. (1994). A brotherhood of heroes: The charismatic educator in recent

American movies. In P. Farber, E. Provenzo Jr., & G. Holm (Eds.), Schooling in the

light of popular culture (pp. 153-172). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Fisher, R., Harris. A., & Jarvis, C. (2008). Education in popular culture: Telling tales on

teachers and learners. London, UK: Routledge.

Gale, T., & Densmore, K. (2001). Questions of (re)production and legitimation: A second

screening of three films on teaching student relations. Journal of Curriculum Studies,

33(5), 601-619.

Gall, J.P., Gall, M.D., & Borg, W.R. (2005). Applying educational research: A practical

guide. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Giroux, H. A. (1997). Is there a place for cultural studies in colleges of education. In H. A.

Giroux and P. Shannon (Eds.), Education and cultural studies: Toward a

performative practice (pp. 231-248). New York, NY: Routledge.

Giroux, H. A. (2000). Improve Acts: The Practical Politics of Cultural Studies. New York

and London: Routledge.

Glanz, J. (1997). Images of principals in television and in the movies. Clearing House, 70(6),

295-297.

Goodwin, R., Cunningham, M., & Eagle, T. (2005). The changing role of the secondary

principal in the United States: An historical perspective. Journal of Educational

Administration and History, 37(1), 1-17.

Grant, P.A. (2002). Using popular films to challenge pre-service teachers‟ beliefs about

teaching in urban schools. Urban Education, 37(1), 77-95.

106

Guzelian, E. (Writer), & Roman, C. (Director). (2002). To mar a stall [Television Series

Episode]. In S. M. Gimple (Executive producer), Fillmore!. Glendale, CA: Walt

Disney Television Animation.

Haft, S., Witt, P. J., Thomas, T. (Producers), & Weir, P. (Director). (1989). Dead poets

society. USA: Touchstone Pictures.

Hauseman, D.C. (2010, May). Influential, Immoral Idiots: Media Portrayals of the

Principalship and their Effects on Current School Leaders. A paper to be presented at

the 38th Annual Canadian Society for the Study of Education Annual Conference,

Montreal, QC.

Hodgkinson, C. (1991). Educational leadership: The moral art. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Hofmann, T., Horberg, W., Perini, J., Toll, B. (Producers), & Poll, J. (Director). (2007).

Charlie Bartlett. New York, NY: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Jones, N. (1999). The changing role of the primary head: Reflections from the front line.

Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 27(4), 441-451.

Judge, M. (Writer & Director). (1997). Breakdown [Television series episode]. In M. Judge

(Executive producer), Beavis and Butt-head. New York, NY: MTV Animation.

Kaplan, E. (Writer), & Cranston, B. (Director). (2004). Dirty magazine [Television series

episode]. In L. Boomer (Executive producer), Malcolm in the middle. New York, NY:

Fox Television Studios.

Kaplan, G. (1990). T.V.'s version of education (and what to do about it). Phi Delta Kappan

71(5): K1–12.

107

Katims, J. (Writer), & Reiner, J. (Director). (2008). I knew you when [Television series

episode]. In S. Aubrey, P. Berg, B. Grazer, J. Katims & D. Nevins (Executive

producers), Friday night lights. New York, NY: NBC Universal Television.

Kelley, D. E. (Writer), & Schlamme, T. (Director). (2000). Chapter one [Television series

episode]. In D. Kelley (Executive producer), Boston public. New York, NY: Fox

Broadcasting.

Kendall, D. (Writer), & Trainer, D. (Director). (1994). Back 2 school [Television series

episode]. In M. Jacobs & D. Kendall (Executive producers), Boy meets world. New

York, NY: American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

King, J. (Writer & Director). (2006). Conclusions: Part 1 [Television series episode].

In J. King, A. Lee & J. Rapsas (Executive producers), Strange days at Blake Holsey

High. Toronto, ON: Fireworks Entertainment.

Lakomski, G. (2001). Leadership: Paradoxes and new direction. In K. Wong & C. Evers

(Eds.), Leadership for quality schooling: International perspectives (pp. 116-134).

London, UK: RoutledgeFalmer.

Leithwood, K., Begley, P.T., & Cousins, J.B. (1994). Developing expert leadership for

future schools. London: Routledge.

Leithwood, K., & Day, C. (2007a). Starting with what we know. In K. Leithwood, C. Day

and S. Jacobson (Eds.), Successful principal leadership in times of change: An

international perspective (pp. 1-16). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Leithwood, K., & Day, C. (2007b). What we learned: A broad view. In K. Leithwood, C.

Day and S. Jacobson (Eds.), Successful principal leadership in times of change: An

international perspective (pp. 189-203). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

108

Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D., & Steinbach, R. (1999). Changing leadership for changing

times. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.

Lilley, C. (Writer), & McDonald, S. (Director). (2007). Pilot [Television series episode]. In

Y. Bergman & B. Kane (Executive producers), Summer Heights High. St. Kilda,

Australia: Princess Pictures.

Lord, P., & Miller, C. (Writers), & Collyer, T., & Harris, H. (Directors). (2002). Election

Blu-Galoo [Television series episode]. In B. Lawrence, P. Lord, & C. Miller

(Executive producers), Clone High. New York, NY: Music Television (MTV).

Maddalena, M., Weinstein, B., & Weinstein, H. (Producers), & Craven, W. (Director).

(1996). Scream. USA: Dimension Films.

Martin, B., & Schiff, M. (Writers), & Kwapis, K. (Director). (2001). I wanna be suspended

[Television series episode]. In M. Carsey, C. Mandabach, B. Martin, M. Schiff & T.

Werner (Executive producers), Grounded for life. Los Angeles, CA: Casey-Werner

Productions.

Maxwell, J. (1996) Qualitative research design, an interactive approach. Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage Publications.

McLuhan, M. (1960). Report on understanding new media [Monograph]. Retrieved from

http://eric.ed.gov/

McLuhan, M. (1997). Understanding media: The extensions of man. Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press.

McManus, A. (Writer), & Southcombe, B. (Director). (2006). Episode one [Television series

episode]. In A. Mensah, K. Mitchell, B. Park, & J. Yorke (Executive producers),

Waterloo road. London, UK: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

109

Messick, J. L. (Producer), & Waters, M. (Director). (2004). Mean girls. USA:

Paramount Pictures .

Mittleman, R. (Writer), & LaHendro, B. (Director). (1975). The great debate [Television

series episode]. In J. Komack (Executive producer), Welcome back, kotter. New

York, NY: Wolper Productions.

Murphy, R., Falchuk, B., & Brennan, I. (Writers) & Murphy R. (Director). (2009).

Showmance [Television series episode]. In R. Murphy, B. Falchuk, & D. Di Loreto

(Executive producers), Glee. New York, NY: 20th Century Fox Television.

Oakley, B., Weinstein, J. (Writers), & Anderson, B. (Director). (1994). Sweet Seymour

Skinner‟s baadasssss song [Television series episode]. In J. L. Brooks, M. Groening,

D. Mirken, & S. Simon (Executive producers), The simpsons. New York, NY: 20th

Century Fox Television.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Language.

Toronto, ON: Queen‟s Printer for Ontario.

Pakula, A.J. (Producer), & Mulligan, R. (Director). (1965). Up the down staircase. USA:

Park Place Productions.

Parker, T., Stone, M. (Writers), & Stough, E. (Director). (1999). Sexual harassment panda

[Television series episode]. In T. Parker & M. Stone (Executive producers), South

park. New York, NY: Braniff.

Real, M. (1996). Exploring media culture: A guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Restivo, J. (Writer), & Kaplan, O. (Director). (2008). Busted?! [Television series episode].

In M. Dow, A. Spies, & C. M. Williams (Executive producers), My alibi . Beverly

Hills, CA: T180 Productions.

110

Rosenfeld, L.K. (Writer), & Wharmby, T. (Director). (2008). School lies [Television series

episode]. In B. Levy, L. Morgenstein, S. Savage & J. Schwartz (Executive

producers), Gossip girl. New York, NY: 17th Street Productions.

Russo, I. (Producer), & Hiller, A. (Director). (1984). Teachers. USA: United Artists.

Savage, G. (2008). Silencing the everyday experiences of youth? Deconstructing issues of

subjectivity and popular/corporate culture in the English classroom. Discourse:

Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 29(1), 51-68.

Saville, V. (Producer), & Wood, S. (Director). (1939). Goodbye Mr. Chips. UK: Metro-

Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios.

Schwahn, M. (Writer), & Gordon, B. (Director). (2003). Pilot [Television series episode]. In

A. Hamilton (Executive producer), One Tree Hill. Los Angeles, CA: Warner Bros.

Television.

Schwartz, J. (Writer), & Toynton, I. (Director). (2004). The rivals [Television series

episode]. In J. Schwartz (Executive producer), The OC. New York, NY: Fox

Broadcasting.

Spears G., & Seydegart, K. (1985). The portrayal of sex roles in Canadian television

Programming. Erin, ON: Erin Research.

Star, D. (Writer), & Piznarski, M. (Director). (2008). We‟re not in Kansas anymore

[Television series episode]. In J. McCool, M. Piznarski, G. Sachs, & R. Thomas

(Executive producers), 90210. New York, NY: Fox Broadcasting.

Stewart, J. (2006). Transformational leadership: An evolving concept examined through the

works of Burns, Bass, Avolio and Leithwood. Canadian Journal of Educational

Leadership and Policy, 54, 1-29.

111

Swetnam, L. (1992). Media distortion of the teacher image. Clearing House, 66(1), 30-33.

Tanner, J. (Writer), & Herskovitz, M. (Director). (1994). Guns and gossip [Television series

episode]. In M. Herzkovitz & E. Zwick (Executive producers), My so-called life. New

York, NY: ABC Productions.

Tarses, M. (Writer), & Burrows, J. (Director). (2006). Substitute [Television series episode].

In J. Fallon, M. Tarses, B. Wrubel, & A. Zein (Executive producers), Teachers. New

York, NY: National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

Thomsen, S. (1993, April). A worm in the apple: Hollywood’s influence on the public’s

perception of school teachers. A paper presented at the Southern States

Communication Association and Central States Communication Association joint

annual meetings, Lexington, KY.

Toffler, V. (Producer), & Payne, A. (Director). (1999). Election. USA: Paramount Pictures.

Trier, J. D. (2001). The cinematic representation of the personal and professional lives of

teachers. Teacher Education Quarterly, 28(3), 127-142

Weiss, R. (Writer), & Mylod, M. (Director). (2007). The day fuckers [Television series

episode]. In D. Ellin, S. Levinson, M. Wahlberg, & R. Weiss (Executive producers),

Entourage. New York, NY: Home Box Office (HBO).

Williams, C. (Writer), & Holland, T. (Director). (2008). Homecoming [Television series

episode]. In G. Allan, K. Burke, J. Goldberg, T. Holland, & A. Kutcher (Executive

producers), Miss guided. New York, NY: 20th Century Fox Television.

Yorke, B. (Writer), & Scaini, S. (Director). (2004). Time stands still: Part 2 [Television

series episode]. In A. Martin, L. Schuyler, W. Schwarzman, & S. Stohn (Executive

producers), Degrassi: The next generation. Toronto, ON: Epitome Pictures.

Appendix A

List of Films and Television Programs Included in this Study Title Production Class Race Gender Archetype Date 90210 2008-Present Middle White Male Bureaucrat American History X 1998 Middle Black Male Authentic Beavis and Butthead 1993-1996 Middle White Male Idiot Billy Madison 1995 Middle White Male Idiot Blackboard Jungle 1955 Upper-Middle White Male Authoritarian Boston Public 2000-2004 Middle Black Male Authoritarian Boy Meets World 1994-2000 Middle White Male Authoritarian Charlie Bartlett 2007 Middle White Male Bureaucrat Clone High 2002 Middle White Male Idiot Dead Poets Society 1989 Upper White Male Authoritarian Degrassi: The Next Generation 2001-Present Middle White Male Bureaucrat Donnie Darko 2001 Middle White Male Authoritarian Doubt 2008 Middle White Female Authoritarian East Bound and Down 2009-Present Middle White Male Bureaucrat Election 1999 Middle White Male Bureaucrat Entourage 2004-Present Upper White Male Bureaucrat Ferris Buehler's Day Off 1986 Middle White Male Idiot Fillmore! 2002-1004 Middle White Female Authoritarian Friday Night Lights 2006-Present Middle White Female Authentic Glee 2009-Present Upper-Middle East Indian Male Bureaucrat Goodbye, Mr. Chips 1939 Upper White Male Authoritarian Gossip Girl 2007-Present Upper White Female Authentic Grounded for Life 2001-2005 Middle White Female Authoritarian Hamlet 2 2008 Middle White Male Authoritarian King of the Hill 1997-Present Middle White Male Idiot

112

113

Lean on Me 1989 Middle Black Male Authoritarian Legally Blondes 2009 Upper White Female Authoritarian Malcolm in the Middle 2000-2006 Middle White Male Authoritarian Mean Girls 2004 Middle Black Male Bureaucrat MissGuided 2008 Middle Black Male Bureaucrat My Alibi 2008 Middle White Female Authoritarian My So-Called Life 1994 Middle Black Male Authoritarian Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide 2004-2007 Middle White Male Idiot One Eight Seven 1997 Middle White Male Bureaucrat One Tree Hill 2003-Present Middle Black Male Authoritarian Recess 1997-2001 Middle White Male Authoritarian Rushmore 1998 Upper White Male Bureaucrat Saved by the Bell 1989-1993 Middle White Male Idiot Scream 1996 Upper-Middle White Male Bureaucrat South Park 1997-Present Middle White Female Idiot Strangers with Candy 2005 Middle Black Male Idiot Strange Days at Blake Holsey High 2002-2006 Upper-Middle White Female Authoritarian Summer Heights High 2007 Middle White Female Bureaucrat Teachers (Television Program) 2006 Middle White Female Bureaucrat Teachers (Film) 1984 Middle White Male Bureaucrat The OC 2003-2007 Upper-Middle Asian Female Authoritarian The Simpsons 1989-Present Middle White Male Idiot Up the Down Staircase 1965 Middle White Male Bureaucrat Waterloo Road 2006-Present Middle White Male Authentic Wayside 2007-2008 Middle White Male Authoritarian Welcome Back, Mr. Kotter 1975-1979 Middle White Male Idiot

Appendix B

Database of Film and Television Representations of the Principalship

Title: 90210 (“We‟re Not in Kansas Anymore”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Harry Wilson Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in a wealthy, suburban Californian high school in the 21st Century. Plot: Harry Wilson and his family relocate from Kansas to Beverley Hills, California so he can take up the principalship at his old high school. Wilson struggles to motivate a school full of apathetic rich kids, while also raising his family and caring for an alcoholic mother. He allows both his son and daughter to escape punishment for separate vandalism and plagiarism scandals and permits his past relationships with both the school‟s guidance counselor and head of the parent-teacher association to affect his decision making. Characterization: Principal Wilson is initially represented as an attractive and strong role model for the students of West Beverley High School. It is revealed early on in the episode that he and his wife had adopted a black teenage boy whom they treat with the same love and respect afforded their biological daughter. However, Wilson was not adequately prepared for the challenges of running a school located in such a prestigious zip code. Possibly suffering from role stress, Wilson becomes increasingly reactive in his leadership practices throughout this episode and even resorts to familial patronage in an effort to save the spotless permanent records of his children. It is Principal Wilson‟s lack of ethical leadership that shines through during this episode.

Title: American History X Media: Film Year of Production: 1998 Archetype: Authentic Name: Dr. Bob Sweeney Race: Black Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in an underfunded, urban-California high school full of race and gang-related violence. Takes place in the late 1990‟s. Plot: Dr. Bob Sweeney is the principal at Venice Beach High School. Instead of expelling a bright student for glorifying Hitler in a book report, Sweeney takes him under his wing and offers to become his personal teacher for American history. Sweeney is a very proactive school leader. He created a partnership with the local police force in an effort to end the gang violence that plagued his school. He even reached out to the student‟s former white supremacist brother while he was in prison for killing a black man. Sweeney‟s efforts were

114

115 all for naught as racially motivated violence reached a fever pitch when a black teenager gunned down the aforementioned student in the school bathroom at the end of the film. Characterization: Dr. Sweeney is portrayed as a strong role model for inner-city youth. He has two doctorate degrees, and seems to put his heart and soul into being the best principal possible. Sweeney is one of the few authentic examples of media principals seen in the films and television programs that comprise this study.

Title: Beavis and Butthead (“Breakdown”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1997 Archetype: Idiot Name: Principal McVicker Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in a typical 1990‟s suburban high school in the United States. Plot: After years of abuse at the hands of two remedial level students named Beavis and Butthead, Principal McVicker finally has a nervous breakdown after they destroy his office. One of the teachers at the school encourages Beavis and Butthead to visit their former principal in a mental hospital so they can see what their actions have done to a once proud man. Upon their arrival, McVicker begins to panic, and is physically restrained by staff at the mental hospital. The episode ends with him being prepped for electro-shock therapy. Characterization: Beavis and Butthead‟s systematic dismantling of McVicker‟s sanity is a prime example of the idiot archetype of the media‟s representation of the principalship. He allowed himself to be outsmarted by two remedial level students over a number of years and could not take it anymore. This episode definitely reinforces the media propagated view of school leaders who have been relegated to working in a school environment because they lack the skills and savvy necessary to thrive in an industry where they would be forced to compete with other adults. It should also be noted that no women are depicted in this episode.

Title: Billy Madison Media: Film Year of Production: 1995 Archetype: Idiot Name: Max Anderson Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in a mid 1990‟s suburban high school in California. Plot: A man attempts to redo his whole education in order to show his father that he is mature enough to take over his successful hotel empire. A jealous executive who wants the company to himself blackmails the school principal (Max Anderson) into lying about this student‟s progress. Anderson, an oaf and former professional wrestler, has no teaching certificate and has no problem jeopardizing this student‟s future as long as he saves his

116 career in the process. The blackmail is revealed at the end of the film, and the student ends up retaining his father‟s hotel empire. Characterization: Max Anderson is an overweight, bumbling fool who is outfoxed by two different parties in this film. Considering that Max Anderson was appointed to the principalship with no teaching certificate and after killing another man in the wrestling ring, this film is essentially telling the audience that anyone, regardless of their qualifications or questionable personal history is capable of becoming a school leader. In Billy Madison the principalship does not carry with it any prestige, respect or meaningful authority.

Title: Blackboard Jungle Media: Film Year of Production: 1955 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Mr. Wakeme Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in a violent and unruly 1950‟s American inner-city high school. Plot: A returning war veteran decides to take a position teaching at a tough, inner-city high school to provide for his family. While most of the faculty, including the delusional principal have “given up” and let the students do whatever they want, Mr. Dadier is determined to instill discipline in his unruly students. Characterization: Mr. Wameke is a classic example of the authoritarian archetype of media representations of the principalship. He clasps his ruler like a king holder a scepter and believes that he should be treated with respect because of his position in the school. Wameke is also convinced that treating his teachers in a stern and threatening manner will trickle down to the students and provide the school with an adequate level of discipline. He uses these draconian leadership tactics to scare people away from drawing attention to his school‟s problems.

Title: Boston Public (“Chapter One”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2000 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Stephen Harper Race: Black Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in an inner-city high school Plot: Boston Public provides the viewer with a glimpse into the work lives of teachers and administrators at an inner-city high school in Boston. In this episode, Principal Harper has to suspend a star athlete because he failed one of his classes, find a solution to the school‟s mounting bullying problem after one of the less popular students ends up in the hospital and deal with a teacher who fired a gun in class when trying to motivate his listless and disinterested students.

117

Characterization: Throughout this episode, Harper relies on raising his voice and using scare tactics in an effort to get his point across and get things done. After promising a victim of multiple bullying instances that he would find a permanent solution to the problem, Harper does the opposite by resorting to physically assaulting and uttering a death threat towards the school bully. He is seen yelling at different parties on three separate occasions in a one hour episode that is supposed to be representative of one school day.

Title: Boy Meets World (“Back 2 School”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1994 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: George Feeny Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in suburban American high school in the mid-1990‟s. Plot: A former elementary school teacher named George Feeny has accepted the position of principal at his local high school. Much of the episode revolves around Feeny throwing his weight around when dealing with his former elementary students and new hires. Characterization: Feeny is definitely an “old-guard” educator with quite a perennialist view of schooling. He spends a great deal of time asserting his authority over the student body and his teaching faculty. In Feeny‟s mind, he is at the top of the school hierarchy and wants things done his way. He offers little room for teachers and students alike to question his authority.

Title: Charlie Bartlett Media: Film Year of Production: 2007 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Nathan Gardner Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in a contemporary suburban American high school. Plot: After being expelled from a private school, a wealthy student opens up his own prescription drug dispensary under the nose of the stressed out principal at his new high school. Characterization: While watching this film, one gets the impression that Nathan Gardner was once an enthusiastic educator who loved his job. However, the principalship has broken this man. Since taking the job, Gardner has become an alcoholic, been divorced by his wife, and is struggling to maintain a meaningful relationship with his daughter while simultaneously trying to fulfill all of the school district‟s expectations for him and the school. Gardner follows school policies because he does not want to get in trouble for breaking rank. He is fired at the end of the episode, gets off the bottle and reverts back to teaching for a living.

118

Title: Clone High (“Episode Two: Election Blu-Galoo”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2002 Archetype: Idiot Name: Cinnamon J. Scudworth Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in a contemporary suburban American high school. Plot: This episode depicts the yearly elections at Clone High, which is a high school filled with clones of historical figures. The sub plot focuses on Principal Scudworth decision to accept two million dollars from a profit hungry corporation in exchange for allowing them to use his students as a test market for a new energy drink. He loses his fortune and the respect of his students when one of them realizes that the sole ingredients of the drink are pancake batter and blue house paint. Characterization: Rather than trying to be an effective school leader and actually make a difference in the lives of his students, Scudworth seems much more concerned with using the position as stepping stone towards world domination. He makes a number of questionable decisions in his managing of the school (ie. building a moat around the special education portable) and shies away from developing any personal relationships with his students.

Title: Dead Poets Society Media: Film Year of Production: 1989 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Headmaster Nolan Race: White Class: Upper Gender: Male Context: Set in a prestigious American preparatory school in the 1950‟s. Plot: A new teacher at a prestigious American preparatory school challenges the traditional and perennialist doctrine espoused by the administration and his fellow faculty. He tries to encourage his students to be their own people and follow their dreams. Characterization: Mr. Nolan prides himself on the accomplishments of his students. His upper class sensibilities are inherent in his stoic and conservative dress and in the manner in which he addresses students and his teaching faculty. Nolan labels any creative or progressivist teaching strategies as “unorthodox”. He is an iron-fisted administrator, as is seen when he terminates Mr. Keating and uses him as a scapegoat when a popular student commits suicide.

Title: Degrassi: The Next Generation (“Time Stands Still: Part 2”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2005 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Principal Raditch Race: White

119

Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Contemporary public high school in Toronto, Ontario Plot: A student who had long been bullied by a number of his peers brings a gun to the school and shoots a former friend in the hallway. After paralyzing the victim, the shooter killed himself. The rest of the episode deals with the administration‟s reaction to the shooting. Characterization: One member of his teaching faculty referred to Raditch and his “20/20 hindsight policy” as a cause of the shooting. Raditch is a reactive principal who is more concerned with adhering to district policies and procedures than tending to the best interests of his students. He had met with the shooter two days prior to the incident and did nothing to protect him from the chronic bullying he was suffering at the hands of his fellow students. Rather than upset the applecart and implement a take a tough anti-bullying stance, Raditch was fine with the status quo, and ended up being terminated for this complacency.

Title: Donnie Darko Media: Film Year of Production: 2001 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Principal Cole Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Contemporary public high school in the United States. Plot: A look into the life of one extremely bright, yet troubled student at a typical American high school run by a very strict principal. Characterization: Principal Cole is a prime example of the authoritarian media archetype of the principalship. He decides to terminate a talented teacher because she used “unorthodox” methods to reach a group of socially awkward, yet very intelligent students who were falling through the cracks. Cole did this so he could avoid any potential complaints from parents about this teacher‟s less than conventional instructional methods. Rather than earning the respect of his peers, Cole believes that his position comes with a vested authority over the staff and students at his school. He hides in his office in an effort to avoid personal contact with his student body and makes decisions based solely on policies and procedures mandated by the school district without tailoring them to meet the needs of his school or his students.

Title: Doubt Media: Film Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Sister Aloysius Beauvier Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: Set in a 1950‟s Catholic school in the Bronx borough of New York City.

120

Plot: A nun in charge of a private Catholic school in the Bronx suspects that one of her priests is sexually abusing a vulnerable student. Despite a lack of evidence and the pristine track record of the priest in question, she goes on a wild goose chase in an effort to implicate him. Characterization: From the moment the viewer encounters Sister Aloysius Beauvier it is clear when she snaps “Straighten up!” to a slouching student that she is an authoritarian school leader who runs a tight ship. She bullies the younger members of her teaching staff into using traditional and out-dated forms of instruction and questions their judgment when it comes to discipline and every aspect of running their classrooms. She also implicated a priest in a sexual abuse scandal without having any evidence because they did not get along well. This portrayal also helps to reinforce the theme of women in supervisory positions taking on an authoritarian demeanor that is traditionally associated with men in an effort to garner respect inside the walls of the school.

Title: East Bound and Down (“Chapter Three”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2009 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Terrance Cutler Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: Set in a contemporary elementary school in the deep southern United States. Plot: This television program follows a former major league baseball star who has been black-balled from the sport and is now working as a physical education teacher at his old elementary school. In this episode, Cutler is charged with completing this teacher‟s performance evaluation Characterization: Principal Cutler is a weak and timid administrator. Rather than terminating Kenny Powers‟ teaching contract for numerous acts of insubordination, swearing at parents, teachers and students or even drinking on the job, Cutler continues to give him the benefit of the doubt. Even after witnessing Powers swearing at students and encouraging them to get into mixed martial arts style fights in his physical education class, Cutler hides behind his clipboard and scoring chart instead of confronting him about the negative effects this type of terrible “teaching” could be having on his students. This is an example of Cutler allowing district policies to take centre stage in his conception of effective school leadership. It seems like having a former big league ballplayer on his staff allows Cutler to relive a forgotten adolescent dream which takes precedence over everything else in his professional life.

Title: Election Media: Film Year of Production: 1999 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Walt Hendricks Race: White Class: Middle

121

Gender: Male Context: Set in a late 1990‟s high school in the Midwestern United States (Omaha, Nebraska). Plot: This film offers a glimpse into the lives of three scholars running against each other in the student body president election at their school. Characterization: Walt Hendricks is a school leader who blindly follows district mandated policies because he shies away from any sort of controversy. For instance, he disallowed a very popular candidate from participating in the student body president election because she encouraged critical thinking and anti-censorship amongst her fellow classmates. Hendricks also shied away from controversy when he decided to terminate the both the school‟s most popular and accomplished teacher when it was revealed that he had rigged the election.

Title: Entourage (“The Day Fuckers”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2007 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Andrew Preston Race: White Class: Upper Gender: Male Context: A prestigious preparatory academy in present day Los Angeles, California. Plot: A powerful Hollywood agent goes to great lengths to get his son reinstated into Briar County Day School after he is expelled because he criticized the leadership style and capabilities of the headmaster. Characterization: On the surface Andrew Preston seems to be a “model human”, a term which is used to describe him in this episode. However, Preston proves to be a petty bureaucrat when he suspends the son of a high profile Hollywood agent because they had a disagreement about his leadership style and practices. Preston reinforces this image when he black-balls this student and his family from attending any other private school is Los Angeles. This “model human” also has an immoral streak as he ended up bartering re- enrolling this student at his school in exchange for the agent hiring his dead-beat brother into a decent job at his talent firm.

Title: Ferris Buehler‟s Day Off Media: Film Year of Production: 1986 Archetype: Idiot Name: Principal Ed Rooney Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A mid 1980‟s suburban Chicago high school. Plot: Principal Rooney is determined to catch an underachieving slacker skipping school. Characterization: Rooney is an out of touch administrator who serves as the main source of comic relief in this film. Much of this school leader‟s screen time revolves around him going to great lengths to catch his arch nemesis (Ferris Buehler) skipping school. Rooney‟s quest

122 to punish Buehler‟s truancy is foiled. He is embarrassed further as he is mauled by a dog and has his car destroyed in addition to getting physically assaulted by numerous characters in the film.

Title: Fillmore! (“To Mar a Stall”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2002 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Dawn S. Folsom Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: A contemporary Canadian elementary school. Plot: Principal Folsom and her group of CSI-like safety patrollers are determined to find the person who vandalized the school‟s brand new bathroom. Characterization: Folsom is part of the trend of female representations of the principalship who take on the traditionally male role of an authoritarian to illicit respect and good behavior from their staff and students alike. She is obsessed with maintaining order and discipline in her school and is not afraid to give students harsh punishments if they break the rules. For instance, a student who is notorious for vandalizing school property is seen wearing a straight jacket while being held in solitary confinement. Folsom takes class time away from the school‟s safety patrol so they can solve her problems. She also treats them like her own personal team of CSI agents. Even after solving the case and discovering the identity of the person who vandalized the new bathroom the students in the safety patrol still had to face Folsom‟s wrath. In her estimation, they had not solved the case fast enough.

Title: Friday Night Lights (“I Knew You When”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Authentic Name: Tami Taylor Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: A contemporary high school in rural Texas. Plot: This episode follows Tami Taylor during her difficult first day as Principal at West Dillon High School. Characterization: Considering this episode follows Taylor during her first day working as a principal, she definitely has much to learn about the position and her role within the school. However, she also possesses an innate desire to learn from her students and colleagues which makes one assume it will not take her long to become an effective leader and put a positive stamp on the school. For instance, while conducting her first staff meeting Taylor asked an appreciative staff to share their thoughts on ways to improve both the budget and her leadership practices. Taylor also brings a moral aspect to the principalship, which is quite refreshing when contrasted with the vast majority of the portrayals of school leadership included in this study. This is showcased when she becomes a town pariah for appropriating

123 funds earmarked to pay for a new football scoreboard and used that money to pay for some basic academic upgrades at her school.

Title: Glee (“Showmance”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2009 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Principal Figgins Race: East Indian Class: Upper-Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary American high school in Ohio. Plot: During this episode, Principal Figgins reveals some of the questionable budgetary decisions he made to compensate for the loss of funds during the economic recession. Characterization: Figgins‟ sole focus seems to be balancing the school‟s budget. In an effort to get the school out of the red, he decided to serve inexpensive prison food in the school cafeteria and laid off half of the janitorial staff. These decisions left the school in disrepair (including broken toilets) and eroded much of the respect that the teaching faculty and students had for Figgins.

Title: Goodbye, Mr. Chips Media: Film Year of Production: 1939 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Headmaster Wetherby Race: White Class: Upper Gender: Male Context: An early 20th Century private boarding school for boys in England. Plot: This film follows Mr. Chipping and his long career as an educator at Brookfield School. Characterization: Wetherby, the first headmaster seen in this film, accounts for the initial appearance of an authoritarian school leader in the films and television programs included in this study. Wetherby is a staunch perrenialist educator who allows the pretigious reputation of the school under his charge to pad his already inflated ego. He is a firm believer that discipline breeds respect, and follows this policy when dealing with his staff and students alike. After a class is seen taking advantage of Mr. Chipping during his first day on the job, Wetherby informs the students that they will be strapped in alphabetical order at the end of the school day. He also takes Chipping aside and questions whether he has the ability to be a successful teacher. It seems like his authoritarian style of school leadership is more a product of the times rather than a symptom of a mean disposition.

Title: Gossip Girl (“School Lies”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Authoritarian

124

Name: Headmistress Queller Race: White Class: Upper Gender: Female Context: A prestigious private school in contemporary Manhattan. Plot: After a number of students break into the school‟s pool and hold a drug and alcohol fuelled party that ends with one of them being hospitalized and near death, the new headmistress of this prestigious private school sets out to determine who is responsible. Characterization: Queller is a very harsh authoritarian who uses her tough stance to scare students into treating her with respect. She suspended a student for two weeks after he lied about starting the party to protect one of his friends and has no aversion for insulting students while interrogating them. For instance, when looking over the permanent record of one student she says that it looks more like a wrap sheet than a transcript and called another an underachiever to his face. While Queller‟s scare tactics seemed to be working on the students, she became a toothless administrator when the school‟s board of directors accepted a donation from the step-father of the girl who started the party in exchange for a very lenient punishment.

Title: Grounded for Life (“I Wanna Be Suspended”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2001 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Sister Helen Race: White Class: Upper Gender: Female Context: A contemporary catholic school in New York City. Plot: This episode runs down the events that occurred before, during and after an elementary school student was suspended for a week after handing in a late assignment. Characterization: Sister Helen‟s authoritarian disposition is to be expected as the image of strict nuns running Catholic schools is part of society‟s collective vision of school leadership in that context. The character of Sister Helen furthers that assumption by her observable actions in this episode. She gave a student a fail on an assignment because it was handed in late, and then suspended the student because she got into a heated disagreement with his father. She used one of her students as a pawn to play mind games with an angry parent. This is hardly in the best interests of this student as the punishment does not seem to fit the crime in the slightest.

Title: Hamlet 2 Media: Film Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Rocker Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male

125

Context: A contemporary American high school. Plot: This film documents a drama teacher‟s quest to produce a racy and compelling end of the year play against the wishes of the school‟s administration. Characterization: Principal Rocker will go to great lengths to ensure that his teaching staff follows his essentialist curriculum. He fired the drama teacher and cut funding to the drama program even though it was the only outlet that many of the underprivileged students at his school had to express themselves and grow as individuals. After issuing the drama teacher a cease and desist order that would have him arrested if the performance went on as scheduled, Rocker tried to run him over with his car. Rocker was willing to murder one of his former colleagues to set an example for colleagues who disobey his orders.

Title: King of the Hill (“No Bobby Left Behind”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Idiot Name: Principal Carl Moss Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary Texas elementary school. Plot: After the school district threatens to close down Tom Landry Middle School and fire its entire teaching staff because of poor student test scores, Principal Moss finds a loophole in the American No Child Left Behind Act that should allow him and his teaching faculty to raise scores to an acceptable level and save his job in the process. Characterization: Principal Moss is an idiot who cares little about the best interests of his students and seems much more interested in saving his own skin. Early in the episode Moss reveals that he has yet to read the No Child Left Behind Act (which probably a cause for his school‟s academic troubles). When he finally gets around to looking at the document, he realizes that students labeled as “special needs” are exempt from writing the test. Moss and his cohorts then go on a mission to label as many students as possible, and bribes them to stay silent with a field trip when they threaten to tell their parents about the scheme. Moss begs for his job after some of the students are almost hurt on the field trip, and is suspended and forced to sell boxed steaks to make ends meet when it is revealed that the school once again scored poorly on the standardized tests.

Title: Lean on Me Media: Film Year of Production: 1989 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Joe Clark Race: Black Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: An urban, inner-city school in the late 1980s United States.

126

Plot: Joe Clark, a tough, no-nonsense principal is brought in to improve a substandard school and instill discipline in its students. Characterization: Principal Clark is a polarizing figure. Throughout the course of the film he seems absolutely dedicated to improving his school and its surrounding community. While his intentions are admirable, his methods are not. His nickname is “Crazy Joe”, and he lived up to it during his first staff meeting by berating his teaching faculty because their students could barely pass the state‟s minimum basic skills test. He asks for no input from others on his leadership style and has no room in his vision of the school for any sort of consensus. It is his way or the highway. This is reinforced when Clark purges the school of hundreds of troubled youth who were agitators on campus. Rather than embrace the challenge of turning these students into productive citizens, Clark turned his back on them and any chance they had to build a future for themselves. This film is based on a true story of a celebrated principal, which seems to tell the viewer that his tyrannical style of school leadership is the only way to create effective educators.

Title: Legally Blondes Media: Film Year of Production: 2009 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Headmistress Higgins Race: White Class: Upper Gender: Female Context: A contemporary preparatory private school in Southern California. Plot: This film highlights the academic and social challenges faced by two British girls when they move to the United States with their father. Characterization: Higgins uses an authoritarian demeanor to demand respect from her staff and students alike. Her disposition is part of a trend of portrayals that depicts female school leaders taking on an authoritarian persona because they feel it is the only way to gain the respect and compliance of their colleagues. In addition to mocking the past academic successes of her two new students, Higgins has also created a lengthy set of school rules and seems to harbor a natural distrust of students which has permeated to the core of her institution`s educational philosophy. She also turned up her nose to students who were attending her school with the help of scholarships. Higgins seems to be obsessed with ensuring that the code of conduct is never broken, which leads her to make a number of questionable and rash decisions that endanger her student body.

Title: Malcolm in the Middle (“Dirty Magazine”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2004 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Block Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary elementary school in the Midwestern United States.

127

Plot: After the school‟s administration censors the student-run newspaper, the editor risks his physical and emotional well being to ensure that the article in question is published. Characterization: Principal Block is obsessed with being right and getting the last word. This became clear after he fought tooth and nail with the young student-editor of the school‟s newspaper to censor an article that he called “pornography”. Even after the student enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union and obtained a court order demanding the release of the article, Block continued to bully the student into standing down. He even made an announcement over the PA system informing the rest of his student body that because of this flap, all extra-curricular activities were being cancelled (including the prom), and that they had Malcolm to thank for it. He also put a copy of this student‟s timetable on his office door so every student could have an opportunity to “thank” him for his efforts. After Malcolm had endured much physical and emotional abuse from his fellow students, Block encouraged the author of the article to stand down, essentially making all of Malcolm‟s efforts of the course of the episode pointless. Despite all of this posturing, Block is foiled at the end of the episode when this student opens up a free-press newspaper that includes the article in question and sells it just outside of school property. Based on his dealings with one of the female teachers seen in the episode, one could assume that Block is also having an extramarital affair.

Title: Mean Girls Media: Film Year of Production: 2004 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Mr. Duvall Race: Black Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary suburban American high school. Plot: Popularity is everything for a group of high school girls. This film shows their efforts to maintain their social status and the attempts of teachers and the administration to tear down the harmful hierarchy of cool operating at their school. Characterization: While it seems like Mr. Duvall wants the girls at his school to stop fighting amongst themselves, he has no idea how to put an end to it. Duvall failed to put any sort of anti-bullying program in place at his school, which lead to his female student body having to deal with a number of emotionally crippling events, including the proliferation of a “burn book” which contained insults that people would never say aloud to one another. Even after bullying proved to be a critical issue that needed to be dealt with at the school level, Duvall was content to hide in his office and be a paper-pusher. Showing his hard line adherence to district policies, this school leader had one of his more involved and dedicated teachers arrested because of a rumour found in the “burn book”.

Title: MissGuided (“Homecoming”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Principal Huffy

128

Race: Black Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary suburban American high school. Plot: This show focuses on a guidance counselor and her day to day interactions with staff and students at her workplace. Characterization: Principal Huffy may have been an enthusiastic educator at some point in his career, but after many years in a school setting he has lost his zest for teaching. He is also obsessed with following district mandated rules to a fault, which makes him seem more like a mechanized man than a human being who cares about the best interests of his students. Huffy robotically repeated the rules and regulations pertinent to the school‟s homecoming dance at the centre of the dance floor before the festivities began. Perhaps his loneliness and dissatisfaction with his personal life have affected the relationship he has with his job and colleagues as he admits to hiring a new teacher because of her good looks and then asks her to be his date to the school dance because his wife has lyme disease.

Title: My Alibi (“Busted?!”) Media: Internet-Based Television Program Year of Production: 2008 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Tuckerman Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: A contemporary suburban American high school. Plot: Principal Tuckerman interviews five seniors in an effort to determine who was behind a massive prank. Characterization: Tuckerman does everything in her power to get these students to talk. She has given the rest of the student body the day off of school, but keeps the five suspected seniors in detention until she can determine the identity of the culprit. She seems to care more about determining an appropriate punishment than she does about the academic and social successes of these students.

Title: My So-Called Life (“Guns and Gossip”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1994 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Foster Race: Black Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A mid 1990s high school in inner-city America. Plot: After a gun goes off at his school, Principal Foster goes on a witch hunt to find the shooter amidst heavy media, school district and parental pressure to act. Characterization: Foster is a very reactive administrator who uses scare tactics and intimidation to provoke fear and compliance in his students. For instance, after the shooting

129 occurred, Foster targeted a bright student who he thought saw a student fire the weapon. He tried to use the student‟s flawless academic record against him and even threatened that his marks would not stick unless he told him the identity of the shooter. Foster even got the police involved, and insinuated that the student would be in trouble with them as well unless he opened up and stopped protecting one of his peers. The student finally stood up to Foster and threatened to pin a lawsuit on him, the school district and the police department if they asked him about the incident again. Rather than address the schools chronic bullying problem which caused a gay student to feel like he needed to protect himself with a firearm while on campus, Foster decided to take a reactive approach and installed metal detectors at the school‟s main entrance.

Title: Ned‟s Declassified School Survival Guide (“Reading and Principals”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2006 Archetype: Idiot Name: Principal Irving Pal Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary American elementary school. Plot: After their archaic principal announces that he is going to retire, a group of students go on a quest to find a suitable replacement. Characterization: As soon as the viewer catches a glimpse of Principal Pal it is clear that he should have retired years ago. Pal spends the episode roller skating into rows of lockers, having World War II flashbacks and arguing with students over their respective genders. Pal is such a vestigial educator that one has trouble comprehending how he still has the intellectual faculty needed to effectively operate a contemporary school. Images of the principalship like this one that feature an over-the-hill administrator who struggles to even get around the school could be telling viewers that Pal still has his job because nobody else wants to take on the increased responsibility and stressors that come with the position. Perhaps it is those factors which have led to Pal‟s delusional thinking.

Title: One Eight Seven Media: Film Year of Production: 1997 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Walter Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A mid-1990‟s high school in inner-city Chicago. Plot: After a long and arduous recovery, one teacher who was stabbed by a student while walking the halls of his former workplace tries to get a fresh start by taking a long-term occasional position at another school. Characterization: Walter is an apathetic bureaucrat who has little passion left for education. Years of working in inner-city schools with students who care little about their assignments

130

(they have more pressing personal needs) has left him a bitter shell of a principal. He hides from staff and students alike in his office. He told a dangerous student that Mr. Garfield was going to fail him, which meant that he would be in breach of his probation order and would be spending time in juvenile hall. When Mr. Garfield saw the words “187 Garfield” on one of his textbooks (187 is the criminal code for homicide), Walter dismissed the concerns of his worried teacher and then chastised him for caring too much about student learning. The student ended up stabbing Garfield and almost killing him. It was Walter‟s failure to act and lack of respect for his teaching staff and the dangerous nature of some of his students that led to this unfortunate incident.

Title: One Tree Hill (“Pilot”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2003 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Turner Race: Black Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary suburban high school in the American south. Plot: After a theft and alcohol-fuelled victory celebration for the school‟s basketball team almost ends in tragedy, the team is left to pick up the pieces after more than half their players are suspended for the upcoming season. Characterization: Once he hears that the school basketball team was drinking underage and in possession of a school bus, Turner goes out of his way to make sure that it will not happen again. Besides dismissing more than half of the players from the team, Turner arrives to a meeting with the students and their parents with a police escort to lambaste both parties for this lapse of judgment. However, he also reveals some favouritism and immorality as the leader of the celebration was allowed to stay on the team because he is both the son of a high profile athletics booster and the star player. Money is more important than proving a point for Turner.

Title: Recess (“Principle for a Day”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1998 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Peter Prickly Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A typical American elementary school. Plot: In an effort to consolidate his power at the school and eliminate one of his more troublesome students, Principal Prickly devises a scheme in which the student in question will win the annual “Principal for a Day” contest. Prickly hopes that he will be able to mo uld this influential and popular student into an unfeeling disciplinarian who puts the position ahead of his personal relationships.

131

Characterization: The favourite part of Prickly‟s job seems to punishing students for any indiscretions they commit while on school grounds. He even has a filing cabinet full of his “Prickly Files” that are a beefed-up version of student permanent records. He tries to turn this student into an authoritarian school leader by appealing to his competitive desire to succeed. For instance, when the student has some qualms about inflicting harsh punishments on his fellow students, Prickly tells him that he is not a natural leader and that college probably is not a good place for him. Considering that the student is in grade four and quite impressionable, it is hard to believe that Prickly would go to these lengths to inflict his will on the student body. He is foiled at the end of the episode as the student reverts to his old ways, but the viewer assumes that Prickly has not learned his lesson and will continue behaving this way for some time to come.

Title: Rushmore Media: Film Year of Production: 1998 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Dr. Nelson Guggenheim Race: White Class: Upper Gender: Male Context: A prestigious private school in the suburban United States during the late 1990‟s. Plot: This film focuses on the struggle of a bright and intelligent (yet socially challenged) student‟s transition from attending a ritzy and prestigious private school to a lowly public high school after losing his scholarship. Characterization: Dr. Nelson Guggenheim is an apathetic bureaucrat who cares more about where his next drink is coming from more than the best interests of his students. Because he cares little about the school or his students, Guggenheim follows the rules and regulations of Rushmore private school so that his actions (or lack thereof) cannot be questioned by students, parents, his colleagues or the school‟s board of directors. For instance, he decided to expel a bright and talented student who was very much involved in the social aspects of the school because he was doing too many extra-curricular activities and refused to drop any of them to focus on his academics. He blindly followed policy without considering the detrimental effects that such a decision would have on the student and the school as a whole. After viewing Guggenheim and his actions on screen, one gets the impression that he enjoys the leather-bound lifestyle that comes with being a headmaster and is loathe to deal with students, who take him away from the swanky surroundings of his office.

Title: Saved by the Bell (“Dancing to the Maxx”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1989 Archetype: Idiot Name: Mr. Richard Belding Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A late 1980‟s suburban high school in California.

132

Plot: Students, teachers and even members of the school‟s administration begin practicing their dance moves when it is revealed that a celebrity will be conducting a dance competition in a café just outside of Bayside High School. Characterization: Mr. Belding is a prototypical example of the media‟s idiot archetype of the principalship. In this episode, Belding tries really hard to fit in with the students and make friends with the celebrity guest by making unfunny jokes and refusing to give up the spotlight when he gets on stage in front of the television cameras. After everyone is done laughing at him for trying to live out his personal visions of grandeur, Belding again tries too hard to be cool by trying to join his apprehensive students on the dance floor.

Title: Scream Media: Film Year of Production: 1996 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Arthur Himbry Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A mid-1990‟s suburban American high school. Plot: The school administration and community scramble after a number of local high school students are murdered by a serial killer. Characterization: It seems like Himbry has taken on an authoritarian persona so that he can maintain control of his staff and students in light of the tragic murders and media circus that have taken over his school and the surrounding community. Himbry immediately expelled and laid into two students who were running around the halls mocking the murder, and was always sure to make announcements over the schools PA system reminding students to stay safe. However, Himbry seems unable to really connect with his students and successfully communicate the high level of danger facing them and everyone in the larger community. This lack of a personal connection with his student body cost a number of their lives (including his own) as the serial killers continued to pick off students at the school until they were killed as well.

Title: South Park (“Sexual Harassment Panda”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1999 Archetype: Principal Arthur Himbry Name: Principal Victoria Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: A contemporary elementary school in a small Colorado town. Plot: Principal Victoria and the school district come under fire when numerous students begin filing civil lawsuits against them for sexual harassment that allegedly took place on school property. Characterization: Principal Victoria is not the most assertive school leader depicted in these films and television programs. During the first of these civil lawsuits alleging that students

133 were sexually harassed on school property. Victoria cracks under cross examination and reveals that sexual harassment was taking place at South Park elementary. This bankrupted the school and caused them to sell off all assets of value (desks, textbooks, stationary, etc.) to keep their doors open. After the trial the school was unable to purchase the resources necessary to operate effectively. It is up for debate why Principal Victoria would acknowledge such allegations because there was never any sexual harassment going on at the school. A little boy made up the story because he wanted to get rich. She does not set a good example for her students by lying under oath and later confessed to murdering a man and covering it up, even though the court was only interested in the steps she took to prevent sexual harassment from taking place at her school. Besides humiliating herself on the stand and becoming the laughing stock of the community for allowing a child to outsmart her, at the end of the episode Victoria makes another questionable decision when she re-hires a troubled teacher who was terminated for owning images of child pornography. Any real-life principal would be terminated for committing any of the acts described above.

Title: Strange Days at Blake Holsey High (“Conclusions”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2006 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Amanda Durst Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: An early 2000s private Canadian high school. Plot: In this episode, Principal Amanda Durst is set on using her position to launch a bid for world domination and will do anything to prevent anyone from spoiling her plan. Characterization: Durst is another example of a female school leader who takes on an authoritarian persona to gain respect and admiration from her staff and students. She has little respect for the intelligence of her students and her bid for world domination is foiled when they figure out her plan.

Title: Summer Heights High (“Episode 1.1”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2007 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Margaret Murray Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: A contemporary high school in inner-city Australia. Plot: This episode provides the viewer with some background knowledge about the principal, students and teachers at Summer Heights High and introduces viewers to a private school exchange student. Characterization: Principal Murray‟s actions and leadership style leave much to be desired. Her two areas of concern throughout this episode seem to be the budget and making sure that the private school exchange student is comfortable at Summer Heights High. She simply sat

134 back and refused to defend herself or her school when they exchange student tore into the public school system, Summer Heights High and her leadership abilities during a press conference in school‟s auditorium announcing the exchange. Later in the episode her drama teacher almost quit because Murray subjected the program to rather severe budget cuts.

Title: Teachers (“Substitute”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2006 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Principal Emma Wiggins Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Female Context: A contemporary New Jersey high school. Plot: A new substitute teacher is making waves at the school while a number of her colleagues vie for a promotion as the principal needs to name a new department head. Characterization: Wiggins‟ apathy has permeated to the core of her school. Her laziness has rubbed off on all but two of teachers. It is obvious after watching five minutes of this television program that the vast majority of the faculty (including Wiggins) are counting down the days until summer holidays. Rather than promoting the teacher she thinks would do the best job as a department head, Wiggins allows her faculty to hold a vote to determine who will be promoted. This may seem like a form of democratic leadership, but one gets the impression that Wiggins is using this strategy as an excuse for inaction.

Title: Teachers Media: Film Year of Production: 1984 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Mr. Rivelle Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A mid-1980‟s American high school. Plot: A frustrated teacher gets in trouble with the school board for using unorthodox teaching methods to reach a group of despondent students. Characterization: Mr. Rivelle places bureaucratic mandates above the ethical and moral aspects of teaching and learning. When the school is faced with a lawsuit from a former student who is illiterate, Rivelle demonstrates his penchant for succumbing to organizational pressures and policies by telling a teacher to testify that the school was not liable for this student being unable to read. This behavior continues throughout the film. As is common with many of the bureaucratic principals depicted in these films and television programs, Rivelle‟s staff and teaching faculty are apathetic towards their respective positions and students. They come to school for the paycheque. Rivelle has successfully been able to cultivate a toxic work environment and is very adept at staying up to date on his paperwork and other administrative concerns.

135

Title: The OC (“The Rivals”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2004 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Dr. Kim Race: Asian Class: Upper-Middle Gender: Female Context: A contemporary private school in Orange County, California. Plot: Suspicious of another student‟s troubled past, Ryan Atwood (the program‟s main character) gets caught breaking into the school after hours to steal his permanent record. Characterization: While Dr. Kim is an authoritarian who runs her school in a strict fashion, she does have a vision for Harbor High. Not only has Dr. Kim developed this vision, but she is able to articulate it to Mr. Atwood and his guardians when she suspends him for breaking into the school after hours. In the eyes of Dr. Kim, breaking and entering does not fit into the vision she has for Harbor High or its students.

Title: The Simpsons (“Sweet Seymour Skinner‟s Baadasssss Song”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1994 Archetype: Idiot Name: Principal Seymour Skinner Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary elementary school in the Midwestern United States. Plot: This episode follows how Principal Skinner was terminated from his position as principal of Springfield Elementary and how he gets his job back. Characterization: Everything about Seymour Skinner screams “idiot”. He is seemingly over 40 years old and still lives with his overbearing mother who controls his every move. He garners about the same level of respect from the staff and students at his school where he is more akin to being the laughing stock of the community rather than a role model that someone would try to emulate. The whole of his student body begins laughing at him when he cannot stop hiccupping after learning that the superintendent is paying the school a visit. The superintendent has so little respect for Skinner that he lambastes and terminates him in front of a large crowd of students, teachers and emergency workers who had been called to the school to deal with dislodging a man and a dog from the school‟s ventilation system (which was partially Skinner‟s fault). Even though he did get his job back at the end of the episode, one assumes that he will continue to play the role of “town idiot” until the next time he is fired.

Title: Up the Down Staircase Media: Film Year of Production: 1965 Archetype: Bureaucrat Name: Mr. Bestor

136

Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A mid-1960‟s inner-city high school in New York City. Plot: This film documents the experiences of a young English teacher while working in an inner-city high school in New York City during the 1960‟s. Characterization: Bestor is a petty bureaucrat who has an insatiable need to micro-manage his staff. He is a nosey “snoopervisor” who wants to know everything that is going at his school and is equally disliked by staff and students.

Title: Waterloo Road (“Episode 1.1”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2006 Archetype: Authentic Name: Jack Rimmer Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: A contemporary comprehensive high school in the inner-city Rochdale area of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Plot: The viewer follows Jack Rimmer during his first day as headmaster of Waterloo Road School. Characterization: Rimmer is one of the few authentic examples of the principalship found in the films and television programs included in this study. This episode highlights his first day on the job, which is full of role stress and dealing with the debatable decisions made by his deputy head, who is a former English teacher he poached from a prestigious private school located in a posh part of Manchester. While Rimmer is not hesitant to yell at members of his staff or the media, it seems like this semi-authoritarian behavior is a product of role stress and having been reluctantly thrust into a school leadership position after his predecessor had a nervous breakdown. He shows a subscription to leading with an ethic of care as he asked his deputy head to drop charges against a parent that punched him in the face because it would mean that the man‟s son would be placed in foster care. He is also devastated to discover that the drama department‟s set pieces, which were the product of months of hard work, had been destroyed by vandals. Rimmer is a regular at the local pub, which probably wins him credibility with the parents of his students. He may not be perfect, but Rimmer is an authentic school leader doing what he can to make Waterloo Road School a better place for staff, students and the larger community.

Title: Wayside! (“Oh, Great Leader/Meet the Pets”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 2007 Archetype: Authoritarian Name: Principal Kidswatter Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male

137

Context: A contemporary Canadian elementary school. Plot: Principal Kidswatter suspects that the students are orchestrating a mutiny when they are really just planning to throw him a birthday party. Characterization: As his name (kid swatter) implies, Principal Kidswatter is a tough disciplinarian who imposes strict policies on his students. He has a natural aversion and mistrust of students, as is seen in this episode when he thinks the students are trying to get rid of him when they are really planning to celebrate his birthday. He also refers to students by their addresses and calls them “whatchamacallits”.

Title: Welcome Back, Mr. Kotter (“The Great Debate”) Media: Television Program Year of Production: 1975 Archetype: Idiot Name: Mr. Woodman Race: White Class: Middle Gender: Male Context: An inner city American high school in the mid 1970‟s. Plot: Mr. Woodman plans to embarrass a new teacher and his class of remedial students (known as “sweathogs”) by challenging them to a debate against the school‟s award winning varsity team. Characterization: Woodman is an old-guard educator whose outdated rules, policies and procedures make staff and students alike think he is a proverbial dinosaur who should have retired years ago. He does not do a good job of enforcing those rules because both his teaching faculty and students mock him to his face on a number of occasions in this episode. Like many other of examples of the idiot archetype of the principalship found in films and television programs, Woodman‟s plan is foiled. At the end of the episode he is embarrassed and angry after being outsmarted by a group of remedial students at his own school.