Education is facing a leadership crisis. It is challenged by a decreasing interest from suitably qualified applicants for principal positions, an ageing population of school principals and a decreasing retention of principals in their schools of appointment and in the role of principal. Effective preparation of principals is cited as one of the main factors contributing to the declining interest in principalship. Further, it is identified that in Australia, there needs to be a greater commitment to earlier identification, support and recommendation of potential school leaders (Watterson, 2015).
Social Exchange theory proposes that greater investment and identification of talent, will result in greater obligation and commitment of an individual to an organisation (Blau, 1964) and will further result in greater willingness to take on further responsibilities. I propose, that talent management and the preparation of principals to be able to effectively do this by identifying, supporting and recommending aspirants, is one part of the solution to this leadership crisis. Talent Management and Talent Identification in the education sector is in its infancy in comparison to other major industries (Asplund, 2019). As the education sector moves further into Talent Management, the professional values of egalitarianism, autonomy and expertise which are identified in teachers, must be taken into due consideration. Asplund (2019), identifies that professionalism has a mediating effect to talent management, therefore a new model of talent management in comparison to classical talent management needs to be established for the educational sector. There is a further challenge for the educational sector in that schooling systems are not reflecting the evidence of research in their preparation programs for principals(Tingle, 2017).
Ready to Lead? 