Page 148 - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

INOVACIJE I IZAZOVI U OBRAZOVANJU I SESTRINSKOJ SKRBI - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

Professional Competencies of School Principals

School principals perform complex tasks and face the challenge of continuously acquiring new
knowledge, skills, and attitudes to meet the demands of the numerous and intricate roles they
coordinate and execute. Principals significantly influence the development of partnership
relations among all participants within the institution, and they are responsible for creating a
supportive atmosphere characterized by a palpable positive synergy, as well as fostering a
culture of collaboration and quality interpersonal relationships within the institution.
Accordingly, the professional competencies of principals, along with their optimism and
motivation for teamwork, are of great importance. All areas of quality are directly related to the
professional competencies of the principal. The key role of the principal is to create and shape
a shared mission and vision, organizational leadership, designing and structuring the curriculum
and educational process, co-constructing the quality and culture of the school, ensuring the
spatial, material, and technical conditions for work, establishing and developing partnerships
with all stakeholders in the immediate and broader community, securing a high-quality and
professional staff, providing motivation to employees, and promoting processes of monitoring,
evaluating, and self-evaluating the quality of work. The wide range of tasks and responsibilities,
as well as high expectations, make the role and position of the principal extremely demanding.
Given the broad range of tasks and responsibilities, and for principals to effectively respond to
the challenges and demands of modern times and efficiently fulfill their leadership functions in
the administrative and pedagogical areas of school work, they must develop further through
systematic professional development and possess competencies that should be acquired through
specific forms of training for leadership roles.

Key words: principals, professional competencies, professional development, quality

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