The Impact of Declining Enrolment Upon the Principal and Vice-Principal in Ontario with Implications and Alternatives.

A questionnaire surveying a 5 percent sample of Ontario's schools attempted to evaluate how declining enrollment is affecting principals and vice-principals in their relationships with staff, students, community, colleagues, trustees, and superiors, as well as in their personal lives. Analysis of the data reveals that there is generally more tension and apprehension among staff, that students may be exposed to poorer quality teaching as a result of decline, that the community is reacting to pupil reduction with positive ideas, and that some administrators are cooperating more closely in facing the crisis, although others are victims of rivalry and uncertainty. In considering the implications of the survey, the author argues for devolution of the out-of-school administrative structure and the maintenance of a strong principalship that can reassume responsibilities centralized in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, the author predicts a reduction in the size of schools as they become more community related, the leasing of unused school space, the use of various personnel ploys to cope with redundancy, and a redefinition of the role of vice-principal. (Author/WD)