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Everyday Multitasking, the Various Roles of the Head Teacher in Italy: An Ethnographic Study

Massimo Cerulo

This paper presents some of the results emerged from a recent ethnographic research into the Italian school world. Employing the shadowing technique, I followed four school managers (two men and two women) in four Italian secondary schools (North-East, North-West, South-East, and South-West). The different roles that the schools managers are compelled to ‘perform’ in their daily professional life are highlighted in this paper, reporting what has been observed in support of the proposed sociological interpretation. Employing a Goffmanian interpretative perspective, this paper shows how, because of the absence of an adequate staff to support their daily activities, head teachers are forced to perform different roles and interact on different social stages, although often lacking the skills to do so.