Abstract
The relationship between age and role conceptions was examined in a national sample of infant, junior and secondary school headteachers drawn from schools throughout England and Wales. American studies of the school principalship have shown authoritarianism, closed‐mindedness, and lack of educational innovation to be characteristic of the beliefs and behaviour of older rather than younger school principals. The present study failed to support American findings. Older headteachers were found to exhibit less authoritarianism than younger headteachers; nor were older heads more traditional in outlook than younger colleagues or any less concerned with supervising the work of their teaching staffs.

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