Abstract

This study is based on fieldwork carried out by Derek Lever in Staffordshire primary schools and is an account of perceptions of the primary head's role from the point of view of teachers, parents, governors, LEA officers and headteachers themselves. Representative groups were invited to prioritise 18 role descriptors in terms of the ideal, and estimate the length of time a headteacher should engage in the identified tasks. The headteachers were also asked to estimate the length of time they actually spent on them. Twenty‐five headteachers were invited to keep a daily diary for 1 week in order to provide evidence of the match and mismatch between the perceptions of the groups involved and what the headteachers actually did.