Retired officer principals : characteristics of absorption and management

Since 1988, there has been a dedicated programme for the retraining of retired officers in Israel, to prepare them for teaching and principalship in schools.;This study is a research of innovation. For the first time, it examines retired officer principals' characteristics of absorption and management according to their views and the perceptions of role-holders and teachers.;Integration is explored particularly via two main aspects, organisational advantage and people orientation. The principals' training does not help them in their integration because it lacks useful tools for the principal's role. Teachers' resistance in accepting them quickly decreases and they are evaluated according to their human personality and competence.;Principals frequently manage their teachers in a friendly way which is far away from the image of retired officer being totalitarian with tough discipline. They introduce a norm of investing extra hours only in a moderate way, but with a lot of consideration for teachers' needs.;Principals' managerial characteristics include modern leadership's components (educational, transformational, facilitative, visionary and distributed). Their main advantage is focused on the organisational aspect of principals' role, transferred from their military experience. Nevertheless, they are moderate in the pedagogical aspect and focus on pedagogical results without checking pedagogical processes. This is linked to lack of pedagogical experience. However, they bypass it partially owing to their attentiveness to teachers and external instructors' professional advice. The remarkable values transfer or probably transfer are: education for responsibility, fostering unit's pride, belief in students' ability, honesty and considering their role as a national mission.;In the interrelationships with their teachers they transferred the following aspects: 'people orientation', mutual trust, knowing people, moderate tendency to task orientation and nurturing collaboration. Principals' success in creating motivation and influence is based mainly on their special relationships with their teachers. They manage teachers by an emotional influence and lead them in a collegial and collaborative style with a lot of sensitivity to their needs. Principals deal with discipline by being available and talking extensively with students.