ABSTRACT
Most of the heads were in their first headship to which they had been appointed at widely differing ages ranging from 26 to 56 following a period as a deputy head and the majority had served less than ten years in their present post. The autonomy of being a head was the only other source of job satisfaction which was mentioned frequently, with over 60 per cent citing the opportunity to practise their own ideas. Heads of small schools more often cited the changing nature of the job as a source of dissatisfaction and this probably reflects the relatively greater impact that the increasing emphasis on management has had in small schools with their traditionally informal management practices. It may also in part be due to the fact that heads of small schools usually have a class teaching responsibility and thus experience greater conflict between their role as teacher and their increasing role as administrator.
