Ten Commandments for New and Aspiring School Principals

Whether you are stepping into the role for the first time or have been there for many years, one thing remains true: sustained success results from a personal commitment to excellence and the courage of conviction. There is a wealth of literature and countless theories offering advice to school leaders on how to approach their work. From my own lived experiences and research, I present ten “commandments” for principals, each grounded in research, shaped by real classroom experiences, informed by corridor interactions with curious students, and deep conversations with colleagues. These are intended to serve as a ready reckoner for both new and aspiring principals seeking daily inspiration as a reminder of their true calling, ensuring that all students achieve desired outcomes.

1. Thou Shalt Lead with Purpose and Vision

Living a meaningful and fulfilling life is a coveted desire for all human beings. At some point in life, when one has progressed higher on Maslow’s pyramid, comes the question, “What is the purpose of my life?” It is the purpose discovered or created that gives one’s life meaning, a fundamental reason for being.

For school leaders, it is crucial to not only understand their own purpose but also the purpose of others around them. This alignment is necessary for creating a vision to power the organization ahead. Know your '’Why” says Simon Sinek, because it is raison d'être, the reason an organization or even an individual exists. Perfectly aligned purpose inspires commitment and motivates individuals because it connects deep inside and resonates with beliefs or convictions that one holds true.

Beliefs are core assumptions we accept as true, for example, “Helping others is a noble thing.”  It is the “values” that translate beliefs into guiding principles and actions that influence one’s behaviours and attitudes. A perfect alignment of beliefs, values, and purpose, within oneself and with others, creates an alchemy for success and consequently, fulfilment. This alchemy then translates into a purpose for schools’ systems, creating a harmony to achieve the vision and mission to ensure great education for all its students.

It is the Vision and Mission that translate the purpose and values into a tangible desired future that an individual or an organization aims to achieve. A powerful vision serves as a guiding beacon, motivating and aligning efforts towards the desired state.

Creating a compelling vision with student achievement at the centre creates a culture of collective responsibility and ownership that inspires the whole school community. When this vision is well-communicated and shared among the whole school community, it aligns everyday actions and decisions in school with purposeful academic targets. This clarity, along with high expectations, enables a consistent focus on the quality of learning, resulting in higher achievements.

So, co-create a clear, inspiring, bold, and ambitious vision centred on student achievement. Consistently communicate this vision in every faculty meeting, parent newsletter, and informal conversations in the school and outside. Use all available verbal and visual media to reach the entire school community and create a sense of urgency toward achieving the vision.

 2. Thou Shalt Prioritize Instructional Excellence

Schools exist to prepare students for success at university and generally in life, and classroom instruction is where the rubber meets the road. Principals, therefore, must prioritise instructional excellence, the quality of teaching and learning, above all else. 

Research shows principals increase student outcomes most effectively by prioritizing instructional leadership and relentlessly pursuing improvement strategies informed by real-time data. Acting as architects, they continuously analyse data collected through various means, assess gaps in achievement, design and implement strategic interventions, monitor progress, and take corrective actions to stay on course. This relentless pursuit of instructional excellence puts learning at the centre and creates a culture of learning with care that ensures relevant success for every child, leaving no one behind while marching towards the vision of higher achievements for students. 

Therefore, make pursuing excellence in instructional practices your priority number one. To put it simply, a leader who invests time and energy in improving teaching and learning is a leader who ensures high student achievements and outcomes.

3. Thou Shalt Create Structures that Sustain Innovation

Today’s schools operate in a very complex context of ambiguity and uncertainty. Questions are being asked about the relevance and utility of the value of education provided in classrooms today. The traditional content expertise-based educational models are struggling to meet the demands of the rapidly changing world dominated by new technology. No one knows the nature of jobs that will exist in the future. For example, as AI chatbots take over computer programming, there is perhaps no need to learn programming for developing software applications. While the content and skills taught in schools are in no danger of obsolescence any time soon, there is, however, a pressing need for schools to think innovatively about the curriculum and pedagogical practices to remain relevant by continuously improving and adjusting to the demands of the new world.

Innovation is sometimes confused with new technology or inventions, which it is not. In schools, it could take the shape of a new way of thinking, a change to the learning framework to create professional learning communities. This could simply be adopting a new class schedule that provides time not only for direct instruction but also for individual study within the same hour. Of course, technology as a tool is highly useful, but innovation is more about adopting new mindsets and strategies that motivate students to do well, achieve higher, and develop critical skills necessary for success in life.

Evidence suggests that innovation thrives not by chance, but by intentional design. Sustained improvement requires a critical review of school systems and support structures, redesigning roles, and responsibilities to improve system wide efficiencies.  For example, reassigning new roles for staff members based on their strengths and interests. Schools that sustain innovation empower leaders and teachers to experiment and carry out continuous, incremental improvements of various processes and practices to enhance learning through action and reflection. An example of this could be the overhaul of the student support systems to ensure that the students get the support through a proactive and intentional action by the support team. When school leadership teams promote experimentation, collaboration, and reflection, innovation becomes a norm rather than an exception.

Leaders can promote innovation in schools through empowering teachers, leveraging their expertise and experience, breaking down departmental silos, and encouraging cross-disciplinary collaborations to create a safe environment for taking intellectual risks and initiatives for improvement. Taken together, these initiatives will create a problem-solving culture focused on continuous improvement. 

Therefore, intentionally pursue innovation by design to create sustainable solutions that enhance student outcomes through better learning strategies and teaching practices.

4. Thou Shalt Align All School Systems for Learning

A system is a collection of interacting elements that work as an integrated whole, for a specific purpose. These systems are a web of interconnected elements involving people, processes, policies, and resources. In a school, these systems include Curriculum Development, Instruction Management, Professional Development, Assessment, Student Support, Time Scheduling, Staffing, and many more. Schools would benefit by aligning all these systems to a single purpose of enhancing Student Learning. Working in conjunction, these systems can benefit from mutual synergy to optimise achievement.

For instance, grounding instruction in data-informed, growth-oriented learning benchmarks, supported by continuous monitoring and self-reflection through clinical observations or frequent learning walks by leaders, can significantly improve student outcomes. This shift reframes teacher evaluation from a judgment of their expertise to a focus on professional growth. This suggests that developing learning objectives derived from assessment data analysis, aligned with set benchmarks, leads to improved student outcomes. For example, a learning goal for Grade 4 might be: “Students will increase their reading comprehension from level 4 to level 6 by the end of the term.” To achieve this, learning observations and instructional strategies should be collaboratively integrated into a continuous cycle of goal setting, data monitoring, and reflective practice. This collaborative approach leads to deeper, measurable learning through a systematic focus on teacher growth and accountability, rather than adopting a merely judgmental stance.

A practical approach to align systems with student learning is to consistently ask the question, “What will be the impact of this action or plan on student learning?” or “Will this help improve achievement levels?” These simple questions serve as a clear and effective tool for assessing alignment and guiding necessary course corrections.

So, study and evaluate all systems to ensure they align with learning. Ask yourself, “Is this system producing deeper learning, or is it diluting it?” If it is the latter, redesign and realign.

 5. Thou Shalt Allocate Resources Wisely and Transparently

With many competing demands, time, spaces, people and finance, resources are always limited and hence need to be allocated judiciously. Data driven, strategic resource allocation to areas that are likely to have the greatest impact on student achievement should be the key element in decision making process. This means leaders must carefully analyse the impact of desired resource demand and prioritise those that are likely to have the most impact both in the long and short terms.

Studies have shown that schools that invest more in high quality teachers, teaching aids, library resources, high impact LMSs for rigorous curriculum implementation and monitoring, see higher success in achieving learning outcomes.

Strategic resource allocation enables the schools to do more with less by prioritizing resources like highly effective teachers to maximize learning potential.

Use data to inform optimum resource allocation based on gap analysis as compared to the strategic objectives. Invest in targeted interventions, such as hiring specialist teachers to boost numeracy or literacy, or purchasing a learning edtech tool subscription to enhance performance through enhanced engagement. Another example could be to customize schedules to incorporate block periods of sixty minutes with thirty-five minutes dedicated to direct teaching and twenty-five for individual doubt clearing, creating space for personalized interventions with better results. 

6. Thou Shalt Cultivate a Culture of Trust and Accountability

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” said Peter Drucker. Schools with strong cultures based on shared responsibility, collective accountability, honest feedback, collaborative learning, psychological safety, and trust always perform best and achieve higher outcomes for their students.

Culture is an abstract construct of an organisation’s shared values, beliefs, norms, and practices that shape a school community’s decision-making, functioning, climate, and operational resilience. Simply put, culture is “how we do things,” encompassing how official communications are handled, how staff interactions take place, and how perceptions about time, space, values, attitudes, and accountability define the everyday orientation and working at the school.

Culture also tends to be highly contextual, meaning what works in one place may not work in another. For example, the culture of an urban school in a large metro city with a diverse international community may be ineffective in a less diverse, close-knit rural school. Undeniably, a nurturing, supportive school culture is key to school success, but if a place needs its culture to align with its vision and mission, it can be changed and remodeled.  However, change is difficult and requires firm resolve and due diligence, often through painful iterative processes. Changing culture involves understanding and measuring current practices, knowing what culture suits the vision and mission, finding gaps, developing strategies for change, and, most importantly, modelling change and accountability.

Taken together, understand the prevailing culture and associated practices, and spend time cultivating a supportive, caring culture that focuses on ensuring desired objectives and learning outcomes as defined by the vision and mission of the school. 

7. Thou Shalt Build and Empower Leadership in Others

A culture of shared responsibility and collective accountability focused on collaborative learning requires empowering middle leaders and teachers. Distributed leadership practices allow schools to draw on diverse skills, experiences, expertise and knowledge of the teachers and staff leading to well informed instructional decisions. Collaborative decision making has automatic buy-in from all team members ensuring commitment and ownership of actions. Teachers become invested in achieving their own and students' learning goals, feel motivated and exhibit a willingness to innovate for creating better learning environments. This also invariably leads to better job satisfaction and wellbeing for the staff.

Schools also have an inherent problem of restricted vertical growth opportunities. A flatter organization with horizontal scaling would also solve the problem of staff feeling stuck in the same role. This approach also provides leadership with opportunities to plan succession by observing teacher leaders in action and evaluating them on talent grids for future opportunities.

Empower your teams and take advantage of available expertise in the school. Share leadership, delegate to increase engagement, ensure accountability, create growth opportunities, better job satisfaction, and build a school culture where everyone thrives.

8. Thou Shalt Champion Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Schools must be inclusive places ensuring diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) for all students and staff irrespective of their race, culture, language, ability, religion, or socio-economic status. When students feel included, safe, and with a sense of belonging, they are likely to perform better. The same holds true for teachers, parents, and other staff members. Diversity fuels creativity and enhances innovation through the open-minded, co-mingling of ideas and perspectives, allowing schools to not only celebrate differences but also to benefit from them by finding creative solutions to conflicts.

DEIB practices create an environment of respect, appreciation with empathy to create strong connections within the school community. A direct benefit for schools of these practices is a reduction in behavioural problems, creating a better classroom environment and hence increasing cognitive productivity.

It is not just a moral or ethical responsibility but an educational imperative. Embrace inclusion to build a thriving, vibrant, future-ready, and joyful learning community. A school should always be a “happy and happening place!”

 9. Thou Shalt Lead with Cultural Intelligence and Global Sensitivity

Today’s schools are vibrant communities of learners, families and staff members representing many nationalities, a melting pot of diverse cultures. Hofstede’s research highlights ways in which culture shapes how people think, act, and organize themselves across nations and within institutions. His seminal work emphasises that understanding these cultural dimensions helps develop better cross-cultural awareness, reduces misunderstandings, enabling effective collaborations in the school community. He identified six dimensions of culture all of which have a deep impact on people’s values, attitudes, beliefs, and general orientation towards intercultural interactions. Though all important, the Power Distance Index (PDI) probably deserves consideration with respect to leaders and their approach to leading people. PDI, in a school’s context, is the degree to which teachers and other staff members accept and expect power and authority distributed unequally. Societies with high PDI are hierarchical and formal with centralized decision making and compliance. In such societies, a principal is expected to make all decisions and the directives are followed with little discussion or pushback. On the contrary, societies with low PDI are more egalitarian and collaborative. Here, the principal is seen more as a facilitator rather than a strict authority figure. Staff members, in these cultures, are comfortable voicing concerns or sharing constructive criticism directly with the principal with open two-way communication.

In schools, especially international schools with a diverse faculty from many nationalities, this presents a big challenge. Consider a meeting that includes staff members from both high- and low-PDI cultures, while some may expect the principal to make decisions and issue clear directives, others may feel disregarded if their views are not actively sought. These cultural dimensions have a direct impact on student learning as they directly impact and shape teacher-student interactions. Schools will be served well by sensitizing the staff to the diverse cultural practices and expectations prevailing in the school community to avoid possible conflicts. 

In such diverse and complex environments, in addition to Emotional and Social intelligence, a leader will also have to develop cultural intelligence. It is defined as an individual’s capability to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings. Principals need to respect and develop a fine understanding of cultural differences in attitudes, values, behaviours, and communication styles of the school community.

To manage these differences effectively, principals need to adopt open and clear communication strategies and promote a collaborative and inclusive school culture. Empowering staff through a more affiliative or democratic leadership style and valuing their viewpoints and experiences helps create a supportive environment where everyone feels heard and valued. However, principals must remember that, ultimately, the responsibility rests with them. Therefore, they must choose situations for being affiliative or democratic carefully and adapt intelligently to address various problems or challenges.

 10. Thou Shalt Ensure Well-Being for All in the School for Everyone to Flourish

There is a large body of evidence highlighting how essential wellbeing is for a school community, enabling everyone, especially students, to flourish. When teachers feel secure and valued, they are more likely to engage deeply in their teaching and collaborative efforts. Similarly, students who feel safe and supported will be far more inclined to participate actively in their learning and other school activities.

A culture that supports wellbeing nurtures strong relationships between teachers, students, and parents through high levels of trust and collaboration.  Studies have shown that a nourishing and supportive school climate resulting from a culture based on care enhances emotional, social, and mental health for everyone in school leading to a flourishing community. 

Of course, promoting wellbeing in schools is not a one-time initiative but an ongoing, inclusive, integral, whole school endeavour to create happy environments filled with positive energy where everybody can truly thrive. Make wellbeing a priority, integrate it in all school systems and initiatives. Engage students, teachers, parents, and all other staff members in wellbeing initiatives to build a community that takes care of its own and values their wellbeing.

In the end, do not ignore the importance of your own wellbeing, it is easy to become consumed by the work at the cost of health. While ensuring wellbeing for everyone else, also pay attention to your own physical and mental health, whether through regular exercise, mindful reflection, setting firm boundaries to protect work–life balance, or dedicating time to practices such as journaling or periodic retreats. What matters is finding a rhythm that keeps you grounded and aligned with the deeper sense of purpose and the values that led you into this profession.

Principalship, by nature, is a complex and demanding role, requiring constant navigation of competing priorities and responsibilities. Yet, there is a deep sense of fulfilment in witnessing students and staff flourish under your stewardship.

At the close of each day, pause to acknowledge your efforts. A simple, personal recognition, perhaps as simple as looking into the mirror and saying, “Well done” could serve as a positive affirmation to sustain the resilience and commitment required for the journey ahead.  Purshottam Vashist