A School Principal and His Team
A few years ago, a group of teachers and vice principals from Estonia visited our school. They were a group of educators, primarily interested in pursuing a future career as school principals.
Considering that I had a great deal of school principalship experience, one of the visitors asked me the question: “What qualities should a school principal possess to create a really good school? Please formulate these qualities precisely and briefly.” I answered: “To create a really good school it does not require much from a principal. One should have smart and talented people around oneself (in some ways smarter and more talented than the principal) and give them a direction. Then, all the principal’s plans will be fulfilled, even better than one expected.” Certainly, my “simple” answer was sly enough.
On the one hand, in real life this short formula contains a huge amount of work for a school principal, work that is full of deep insights and that is not easy at all. On the other hand, my answer was absolutely truthful but quite vague.