Principal Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a principal. Feel free to use our principal job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a principal.
Who is a Principal?
Do you love teaching? Do you have the desire to impact the lives of others through education? Do you enjoy administrative work? You may want to consider a career as a principal. Undoubtedly; leadership contributes to the success of an organization or business. It is arguably the hallmark of growth and development. For growth and development, every sector needs excellent and proficient leaders. These can be individuals or professionals that are trained or experienced in leadership. Depending on the sector or industry, these individuals are professionally inclined and positively embedded with skills to promote businesses and other endeavors. An example of such individuals is a principal; these are individuals entrusted with the responsibility of promoting enhanced growth, safety, and progression of students. They are professionally groomed to promote law and order.
A principal is a steward of learning and provides vision and leadership to all stakeholders in the school. He or she creates a safe and peaceful environment to achieve the mission of learning and educating at the highest level. They guide and coordinate the day-to-day school business and oversee all activities conducted by the school. They bear the responsibility of all decision-making and are accountable for their efforts to elevate the school to the best level of achievements for the students, the best teaching skills for the teachers, and the best work environment for the staff. Educators seeking to become principals begin their careers as teachers. They transition to a position in education administration by first becoming an assistant or vice-principal or by pursuing a department head or curriculum specialist position. Principals establish goals and objectives and design strategic plans to achieve them. they establish or create a sense of community and family within the school and foster mutual trust and respect. The best principals know they can’t succeed alone; they apply their leadership skills to create other strong leaders and teachers around them.
While cultivating the educators they lead, a principal must also be student-centric. They often make decisions based on what is best for the students, their progress, and their personal development. To achieve this, the principal might make unpopular decisions and stand resolute in his or her convictions. The quintessential principal is a believer in lifelong learning and a role model to both teachers and students. In many ways, the career of a principal is located at the intersection of education and business. The role requires a dedicated and experienced individual as well as a competent and innovative manager. Thorough knowledge and familiarity with curricula are only one subset of the principal’s required skill set. Also vital to the role is the aptitude to interact and communicate at all levels with staff, students, parents, school boards, and communities at large. Great principals can make a huge difference in the lives of students and their communities. They can work in colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, pre-schools, and daycare facilities. They usually have their own office as well as their administrative assistant but can also be found working in classrooms, auditoriums, and outdoors during special events.
A principal works long hours often working into the evening. They work closely with vice-principals, teachers, and other faculty with the common goal of providing a rich and safe learning environment for the student. The principal typically reports directly to the school superintendent. In an era of shared decision-making and site-based management, the term school leader might be used to denote a principal. As managers, a principal is also responsible for financial operations, building maintenance, student scheduling, personnel and public relations, and school discipline. A good principal is balanced within all their roles and works hard to ensure they are doing what they feel is best for all constituents involved. They mostly lead by example; and are positive, enthusiastic, and listen to what the constituents are saying.
They stay calm in difficult situations, think before acting, and put the needs of the school before theirs. An effective principal steps up to fill in holes as needed, even if it isn’t a part of their daily routine. The good principal listens to all sides of an issue without jumping to conclusions, collecting as much evidence as they can. Their role in student discipline is much like that of a judge and a jury. The principal decides if the student or staff is guilty of a disciplinary infraction and what penalty can be enforced. Subsequently, they document discipline issues, make fair decisions, and inform parents when necessary. Most principals evaluate school programs every year and tweak them as necessary. If a reading program has become stale and students are not showing much growth, a principal would review the program and make changes where necessary to improve it. Some principals regularly evaluate their teachers’ performances following district and state guidelines.
Principal Job Description
Below are the principal job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a principal job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of a principal include the following:
- Enforce discipline when necessary.
- Ensure that academic policies and curriculum are followed.
- Provide an atmosphere free of bias in which students can achieve their maximum potential.
- Meet with parents and administrators regularly to resolve problems.
- Develop and track benchmarks for measuring institutional success.
- Meet and listen to the concerns of students regularly.
- Help teachers maximize their teaching potential.
- Encourage, guide, and assist student leaders and teachers.
- Approve or reject applications from prospective students.
- Organize job fairs and talks for students and teachers.
- Create a budget for the school.
- Attend industry-related conferences.
- Decide how the school funds are spent. With general guidance from the district’s school board and more specific instruction from the superintendent and other district staff, a principal decides how to effectively spend the money allotted to the school.
- Manage all faculty and staff. The principal is held responsible for the school’s academic performance and the safety of students while they are on school grounds.
- Oversee hiring decisions with little or no interference from the district office. Human resources staff may assist in the administrative tasks of hiring but the selection of assistant principals, teachers, counselors, librarians, and other staff is left to the principal’s professional judgment.
Qualifications
A principal learns quickly how to deal with irate parents who think their child has been shortchanged. He or she separates facts from lies and exaggerations to get to the heart of an issue so that the issue can be addressed. The principal is a versatile leader; any day, the principal can be a curriculum consultant, budget analyst, public relations representative, mediator, disciplinarian, and manager. The position involves fulfilling certain education, training, and experience requirements as follows;
Experience requirements: A minimum of two years of working experience as a school leader or principal is mandated for the role. During this time, the principal should gain critical knowledge about how to run a school effectively and provide its students with high-quality education and resources. Principal positions are jobs individuals assume mid-career. Often, principals have experience as teachers and assistant principals.
Education and training: Most principals hold a master’s degree in education, administration, or educational leadership. A bachelor’s degree is often acceptable but candidates with advanced degrees are preferable. There are cases where a bachelor’s degree in education is accepted provided the candidate has at least five years of experience in a leadership role in a similar setting.
Essential skills
A principal oversees all higher-level operations in a school. He or she creates a safe learning environment and set performance goals both for students and teachers and oversees the process so that those goals are attained. The principal ensures that school facilities remain safe for students and faculty and plan regular maintenance of school grounds and equipment. They also research and acquire new materials and resources to improve the experience of all and sundry. The essential skills for principals include;
Communication skills: Developing communication skills is a lifelong endeavor. Successful and great principals know how to keep an open and transparent dialogue with all members of their school. They must listen to the concerns of the teachers and parents and learn how to address those concerns with empathy and understanding. Similarly, a principal must be able to adequately relay or pass information to students and teachers alike; this can be in writing or orally, or both. Good communication skills also enhance discipline and the attainment of set goals within the school.
Ability to delegate: There is a common misconception that a good leader is someone who can do everything by themselves. Whereas, the best leaders know when they should delegate certain tasks to others. As the defunct leader of a school, great principals know when to assign responsibilities to teachers and head students. Remember, some staff members might be better equipped to perform certain tasks. Also, the principal might be too busy to complete certain duties and require help from other staff to get everything done. An ability to delegate specific tasks comes in very handy in this regard.
Decision-making and critical thinking skills: A principal reads test score reports, curriculum programs, new teaching methods or procedures, and many more regularly. Hence, he or she must be objective and think critically to effectively analyze and apply this abundance of information and understand how results and processes may impact the school. In addition, a principal makes decisions based on what is best for the students and staff. Several factors must be considered when deciding an action. It can be challenging to make the right decision for everyone; hence, a principal must hone and develop excellent decision-making skills. Moreover, it is the principal’s responsibility to involve the right people and apply the proper information to make accurate decisions.
An ability to adapt and innovate and IT skills: We live in a world where technology is rapidly evolving and there are constantly new teaching techniques emerging. Therefore, all educators including principals must cultivate the ability to innovate and adapt. Furthermore, a principal must feel confident with the latest technology to remain innovative and keep the curriculum and teaching styles relevant. As with everything, they must lead by example because if they don’t try to use the new technology, for example, they cannot expect teachers to. Hence, the need to hone their IT skills for the classroom.
Other skills: Equally important are leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and organization skills
How to Become a Principal
Although most principals begin as teachers before moving into administrative positions, some follow other paths to becoming principals. The principal is one of the most important positions in education administration. They oversee the operations of elementary, middle, and high schools. Below is a step by step guide on how to become a principal;
- Earn a bachelor’s degree: The first step towards becoming a principal is to complete a bachelor’s degree in education. Alternatively, a degree in English, mathematics, and other relevant courses can suffice.
- Obtain a teaching certificate: Most countries mandate that teachers hold a teaching certificate often called a license. However, the specific requirements vary from country to country and state to state.
- Gain professional experience in an educational setting: Experience is crucial to becoming a principal. It is a good idea to develop relevant working experience as a teacher or in a relevant administrative role.
- Pursue a master’s degree in education: To stand out among competitors, earn a master’s degree in education. Most private and public schools require and/or prefer that each principal holds a graduate degree. This can help to build skills in helping educators improve their classroom teaching and leading and managing a school.
- Diversify your skills and experience: Teaching experience can help you succeed as a principal but it is certainly not the only thing you need. A principal fills diverse roles at a school so it is essential to find ways to develop a student-centric outlook and knowledge of current and projected future trends in education.
- Understand your country’s requirement: Check the latest certification and licensure guidelines in your location to ensure that all your licensing and certifications are current before you begin submitting applications.
Where to Work
The role of a principal is a relatively small job field compared to most which means that education and experience can set potential candidates apart from other applicants. A principal can work in a public elementary, middle, or high school. They typically work long hours and attend many events and meetings outside the normal school day. Principals are also employed by private institutions to oversee elementary, middle, and high schools.
Principal Salary Scale
A principal makes an average of $115,337 per year. Depending on the level of experience, education, and geographical location, the salary may be above or below the mid-range.
