2.2 Barriers to School Leadership (Chapt. 2)
2.2.1 Self-Imposed
2.2.2 System-Imposed
2.2.1 Self-Imposed
Perceived System Limitations
The author suggests that experience as a teacher is poor preparation to be a principal because of the limited perspective of a teacher's interaction with the principal.  He also suggests that the teachers tend to pressure princiapls to focus on maintnenance and stability rather than change and improvement.  Further, systemic limitations, whether in the form of administrative directives, board policy, or state or federal statutes and regulations are often perceived as greater than they really are.  Finally, not trying too hard for change and improvements has few disincentives and many rewards in most systems as it minimizes frustration.  I'd suggest it also keeps a principal's profile down as a target for the "gotcha" kind of central office administrator.
If-Only Dependency
If only X, I could do my job better.  X = any number of external factors not under the speaker's control.  This is the type of thinking Jim Collins identified in companies that failed to make or sustain a leap from average to great.
Losing One's Moral Compass and Not Taking Charge of One's Own Learning.
To me, these go together.  By moral compass, Dr. Fullan means the reasons that made one become an educator in the first place, what one stands for, the legacy one wants to leave.  Without those components of purpose, the leader can easily abandon the effort to direct his or her own learning toward the ends he or she has now forgotten.
The Responsibility Virus.
The "Leader" sends the message, "I'm in charge."  Others sigh and say, "Good, you're in charge.  Now we are not responsible."  Others do less, leader keeps trying to do more, with inevitable failure.  The Responsibility Virus
See related topics and documents
The Responsibility Virus. (2002) Roger Martin New York: Basic Books.
2.2.2 System-Imposed
School leaders are hindered in the development and exercise of leadership by systemic factors including:
  • Neglect of Leadership Succession
  • Continuing efforts at centralized, top-down changes.
  • Absence of a System Change Strategy
  •   Failure at system level to design a complete and complementary set of policies to support high-yield practices, and then stick with them.
  • Limited Investment in Leadership Development
  • Role overload and ambiguity.
  • Limited Conception of Principal's Role. 
Fullan suggests the following impediments to moving even so far as to "informed professional judgment" rather than compliance with centrally directed reforms:
  • Dependency developed in principals and teachers from years of prescriptive reforms.  "Please, someone tell us what to do."
  • Lack of knowledge, skills, and habits essential to collaborative effort.
  • Lack of practice or even the ability to assess the "depth" of their effort.
I would add a culture of "no comment."  That is, no critique or analysis of professional judgment by one's peers.
  • Lack of public accountability for collaborative efforts.
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