Emmanuel Poirel

Coping With Administrative Constraints by Quebec School Principals

The rapid pace of ongoing change in the Quebec education system has had an important impact on the complexity of the job and the workload of school principals. The present study examined the coping strategies used by school principals when facing administrative constraints. The Administrative Stress Index ASI (N = 238) was used to identify and link the main stressors to the stressful encounters found on video for six principals out of the sample who accepted to be filmed during a working day. Coping strategies were identified in five sequences that met the necessary criteria for the explanatory qualitative analysis. The results show that the main sources of stress come from administrative constraints, and that the principals are not passive but rather try to cope by addressing the constraints they are faced with and by seeking information or support. Principals also have to cope with their emotions and show a lot of self-control. Overall, these findings point to the need for a better understanding of the relationship between stress and coping.