The purpose of this scoping review is to analyse the literature concerning principals’ problems and challenges, beginning in 2003 and ending in 2019. The research team conducted an extensive search to locate relevant academic literature, comprising 17 years of research, and a total of 153 documents were analysed. According to the findings, most of the documents (71%) correspond to the last six years (2014–2019), and most are studies from Anglo-Saxon countries (55%). The results point to eight main categories related to the complex nature of the job (the management challenge, the complexity challenge and the learning challenge), and interactions with different stakeholders (problems with educational authorities and educational policy; the staff and teaching process; the students; the families and the school community; and the society). Although the importance given to each category varies from one context to another, problems concerning the complex nature of the job and with the educational authorities and the educational policy are the most recurrent. A significant increase in the number and complexity of problems and challenges throughout the times was noticed, which seems to enhance the need for changes in educational policies and the careful design and implementation of leadership training programmes.

The organisation of K-18 schools and the management function are similar in Portugal and Spain, although, in recent years, Portugal has surpassed Spain’s educational results. Based on the last international reports, this article compares the educational systems of both countries considering some variables related to the management model: (i) the general organisation of education in these stages, (ii) the characteristics of the teaching profession, including the process of recruitment and selection of teachers and principals, and (iii) the level of school autonomy and the type of management and leadership. Findings corroborated the existence of structural proximity in the governance of schools within the framework of a management model that is both centralized and participatory. However, there are differences in the permanency of educational laws, the duration of compulsory education, the grouping of schools, and the requirements to be a teacher. We conclude that the policies undertaken by Portugal to improve education (such as the extension of compulsory schooling, legislative stability, or the rethinking of the internal organization of schools) are succeeding and can serve as an example for Spain. Both countries could help principals become leaders for learning and improve their autonomy to favour changes in education.

Worldwide, leadership stories are narratives of principals facing very different problems. The purpose of this study was to identify the current problems faced by Portuguese school principals, through these actors’ voice. Nineteen public school Portuguese principals participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed, coded, and categorised using Nvivo11 Pro. The analysis revealed that Portuguese principals have the same problems as their colleagues worldwide, but there are problems specifically related to the Portuguese educational system: problems from the process of school clustering and the leader-centred system of school management of this country. A framework to analyse the emerged problems and practical recommendations are proposed for school leaders, researchers, and policymakers to improve educational leadership.

Schools in various parts of the world adopt plans or projects to improve the quality of school processes and students’ learning. Therefore, it is important to understand the processes of strategic planning such as teachers’ participation on decision making related to school plans. Apparently a limited number of studies have hitherto been conducted on teachers’ participation in strategic planning. The purpose of this paper is to examine teachers’ participation in decision making and strategic action planning in Portuguese schools. A survey employing self-administered scales was taken. Teachers' participation, other stakeholders’ participation, planning, and decision making, professional development, plans’ importance and validation, and ownership were the dimensions considered. Data were collected from 804 Portuguese teachers. Participants reported moderate to high levels of participation in strategic action plans, but they also reported moderate to low levels of participation in overall school decisions, plans’ importance and validation, sense of ownership and recognition of relevant opportunities for professional development. These results indicate that participation and collaboration are essential determinants of plan and action success in educational contexts. The participative nature of decision making and strategic planning seems to underscore the relevance, value and adequacy of schools’ plans from the perspective of teachers. However, differences in these dimensions related to teachers’ experience and professional roles also point to lower levels of participation from some teachers, which may hinder their involvement in school actions and improvement. This study suggests the need to explore the dominant types of participation and collaboration in Portuguese schools and to analyse the importance of other variables.

The traditional school model is subject to growing social pressure. The collective awareness of the need to find new pedagogical and organizational approaches has fueled the dynamics of school innovation. Over the last two decades, several schools have emerged worldwide bearing innovative models. The present study pursued two objectives: first—map the innovative schools worldwide, with students between 10/11 and 17/18 years old, referenced by academic publications; second—identify the dimensions of school innovation that those same academic publications indicate in the referenced schools. A systematic literature review was carried out in English, Portuguese, and Spanish between 2000 and 2021 in the search engines SCOPUS, Web of Science (WoS), EBSCO, Google Scholar, and RCAAP (Open Access Scientific Repositories of Portugal). There may be an increasingly broad consensus on the need for a change in the current school model, but are those so-called innovative schools more effective in promoting learning? The results obtained may raise further research to answer this question.