This paper tells the experiences and perspectives of six exemplary elementary school principals and their teachers participating in a regional project in the Caribbean. These principals all work in difficult environments and oversee schools which had histories of academic failure. The accounts drew on a number of sources: oral presentations made by the principals in a regional forum; written reports by the principals; interviews with the principals; and questionnaire data collected from teachers from the various schools.

This paper examines different models and theories of leadership with a view to discerning relevance, meaning and applicability to St. Lucia. It reviews the evolution and distinguishing features of leadership and compares selected models in order to determine their significance to the St. Lucia context of achieving quality schooling.

Leadership for Success: The Jamaican School Experience lays the foundation for an important discussion on school leadership and management in Jamaica. The foundational issues raised in the book may be summarized as: (a) the leadership versus management dialectic in interpreting the primary role of the principal; (b) the trait versus environment (nature versus nurture) influence on leadership; (c) the twin factors of leadership and quality of teaching and learning as the key determinants of students’ performance; and (d) the characteristics of effective schools.

The study seeks to determine school constituents’ rating of the leadership dimensions of high-performing principals based on school types. A questionnaire developed surrounding nine dimensions was distributed to school constituents from 125 schools across Jamaica which included classroom teacher, grade coordinator, senior teacher, head of department, vice principal, board chairmanship, PTA president and education officer. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) generated four dimensions or factors that conceptualized leadership performance in effective principals.

Successful schools are led and managed by effective leaders. This research sought to explore the stakeholder’s perspectives of leadership practices in a challenging climate and the best practices successfully employed to overcome the challenges in an inner city school. The research utilized a qualitative case study that purposively selected 10 participants.

Mentorship is an important aspect of student growth and development. Students who are mentored have been shown to have superior outcomes on leadership and cognitive skills. Using data from the 2011 Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, analyses were conducted to see how personal characteristics and types of mentor influenced mentoring outcomes among a sample of 482 students at a university in the Caribbean. The study design used Astin’s Input-Environment-Output model of student assessment.

The genesis of this study began with the understanding that there are many Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) public, government, and private schools and institutes in Jamaica at the secondary and tertiary education levels. At the time of this research, there was no specifically designed TVET principal/director preparation program or specialized qualifying credential.

This qualitative study investigated the factors influencing the transition from teacher to principal, the challenges encountered, and the impact of mentorship and prior leadership experiences. A convenience sample of 20 newly appointed principals was interviewed. The factors which influenced smooth transitions included mentorship from former principals, previous leadership experience, and cooperative staff; while difficult transitions were blamed on poor school plant, strained interpersonal relations, and lack of buy-in for the principals’ vision.

Violence and indiscipline within schools is a serious problem which can undermine students’ intellectual, social, and moral development. Principal leadership within schools is a significant factor in changing school culture, including a culture of violence and indiscipline. In Jamaica, the Change from Within (CfW) programme – an intervention to address violence and anti-social behaviours within schools – supports capacity-building and leadership development among principals.