The DOI matches its Crossref record.
A Descriptive Examination and Synthesis of Leadership Succession
Abstract
Leadership succession planning is a means to identify the need for systematic and purposeful change in education. Policy, planning, and research suggest that there is an acute shortage of school leaders globally. By illumination of these facts, we detail and describe what is happening within a Canadian context, and this we argue is similar to what is occurring globally. Our article puts forward practices that that have not been effective and need further investigation—particularly, the practice of rotating administrators every 3 to 5 years and assigning new principals and candidates to new schools without adequate preparation and knowledge of the school culture. The time is opportune for school boards to evaluate and assess their current practices related to succession planning, recruitment and selection, and induction programs to ensure that current and aspiring leaders are supported and encouraged to meet the leadership challenges of the future.
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“Implementing succession planning is dependent on resources and subject to potential leader concerns about workload, demands of the position, and work-life balance (Dorman & D'Arbon, 2003;Renihan, 2012;Ryan & Gallo, 2011).”
From A pipeline crisis or a sustainability crisis? Local and national succession planning for headteachers in England (2026) · cites this paper as Ryan & Gallo, 2011
Citations
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 26
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Greany, T., Thomson, P., Perry, T., & Collins, M. (2026) · British Educational Research Journal · doi:10.1002/berj.70089 · Cited by 2
Metadata
- Authors
- Ryan, T. G., & Gallo, M.
- Affiliations
- Nipissing University (CA)
- Leadership Succession Program within the Brantford Catholic District School Board, Ontario, Canada.
- Corresponding author
- Ryan, Thomas G.
- ORCID
- Ryan, Thomas G.
- Venue
- International Journal of Educational Reform
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-04
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 132-152
- ISSN
- 1056-7879 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W246652692
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Educational Reform (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Leadership and Practices
- Social Sciences › Education › School Leadership and Teacher Performance
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Keywords
- leadership succession planning, school principals, school culture, school boards, Canadian education
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- Ryan, T. G., & Gallo, M. (2011). A Descriptive Examination and Synthesis of Leadership Succession. International Journal of Educational Reform. https://doi.org/10.1177/105678791102000203
