This is the third in a series of posts that will share some of my findings from my recent doctoral dissertation – How BC School Superintendents Spend Their Time.

Before doing this research, I definitely had some pretty clear ideas on the experience levels of the 60 BC school superintendents.  I had assumed most superintendents had at least five years in their current job, and had between 10-15 years of experience in their districts.  I was very wrong on both counts.

Fifty-nine percent of BC superintendents are in their first five years in their current job. This high percentage is stunning. While there may have been a particularly high turnover in recent years, having such a high percentage of superintendents new to their job offers a huge challenge and opportunity in support for these leaders.  The narrative I often have heard is that rapid superintendent turnover is an American phenomenon and Canadians superintendents tend to spend far longer in their positions.  The data does not support this.

While the study did not look at the reasons for such a high rate of change in the last five years, given the level of experience of superintendents when most assume the position, it is likely that many superintendents retire out of the job in under five years. Those who support superintendents, including universities, boards, and their own association, must recognize the high level of newness in the group and the need for ongoing support and mentoring.

I assumed that many superintendents had experiences similar to mine, which would have seen them move into the district in a board role and advance to the superintendency, thus often having between six and 15 years of experience in their current district. The data shows that almost three-quarters of BC superintendents fall into two categories—they are either in their first five years in the district, which likely means they moved into the district to become superintendent or have more than 16 years of experience which likely means they grew up through the system in their district from teacher to school administrator to district administrator and superintendent.

There are likely very different kinds of supports required for superintendents who are newcomers to a school district compared to educators who have spent their career in a district and move into the position.  For those new to a district, there is an entire culture to learn on top of a new job, while those who advance in the same district have the experience of redefining themselves in a new role as a key challenge.  This career trajectory for superintendents is important for the Superintendents’ Association and Ministry of Education to understand as they support their leaders.

The level of experience of BC superintendents was largely unsurprising. Most superintendents have worked from 16–35 years in the system. It is interesting to see that nine of the leaders have worked for more than 35 years. Educators reach their full pension at 35 years in BC, so it is often discussed that there is little financial incentive for them to continue working beyond this point.

One regret in this part of the research was not asking for superintendents’ ages, whether they thought this job would be their final job, and how many years they planned to work until they retired. All of this data would be useful for further study to understand the position better. Given the data around experience, one could assume that almost 75% of superintendents definitely plan to retire in the next decade, but it would be useful to have this information more specifically.

While there were striking numbers of new superintendents, their experience with how they spent their time was not much different from their more experienced colleagues. In looking at 33 management and leadership tasks, the level of involvement of superintendents in their first five years was largely the same as those who were more experienced.  Whether it is human resources, facilities or student services, the differences between the level of direct involvement from superintendents in their first five years and those more experienced was minimal.

It was noteworthy in looking at the time new superintendents reported spending each week on educational leadership that four of the five who indicated they spent more than 21 hours a week were in their first five years, and 10 of 14 who spent at least 16 hours a week were in their first five years. This data may indicate a shift in the type of people being hired into the superintendency that are more focused on making time each week for educational leadership related activities, or it may indicate that superintendents early in their tenure invest more time in educational leadership activities.

Of all the data in the survey, learning that so many of the BC superintendents are in their first five years is something that really stands out.  There are real needs to support a group of superintendents who are often new to districts and where over half of those in positions are new to them in the last five years. Superintendent recruitment and retention is an ongoing issue. It is also worthy of further study to learn more about the commitment of less experienced superintendents to educational leadership activities and whether this potential trend indicates any changes in the focus of educators being hired into the position.

Want to read more?  My full dissertation is available under the research tab.  Next week I will look at the struggle superintendents have between being a community leader and an educational leader.