New Professional Challenges for the Teacher after Appointment as School Director

In this article we draw attention to the specific position of directors of Czech schools, among whom there is a clear need to possess professional competence in the field of teach¬ing on the one hand, and skills in management of the school on the other hand. This move from one profession to another, of en overnight, presents a certain schism in the career of a teacher, of en involving feelings of isolation in the job and lack of preparation for the new role. For this reason our study focused on questions of adaptation of (once) new directors to their new professional responsibilities and challenges. We concentrated out attention primarily on the potential sources for the professional development of the director: 1. Teaching experience as a springboard for the tackling of managerial prob¬lems at school level, 2. Idea of effective manager of school, 3. Director models as a source of learning and imitation and 4. Attitudes to education in directorship. On the basis of the answers of our respondents in group interviews we tried to increase knowledge of the complicated and difficult process ofbeinginga school director in a teacher's career.