Abstract

This paper presents some of the results emerged from a recent ethnographic research into the Italian school world. Mainly employing the shadowing technique, I followed four school heads in four Italian secondary schools. The different roles that the school heads 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 Goffman’s interpretative perspective, this paper shows how, because of the absence of an adequate staff to support their daily activities, school heads ‘are forced’ to perform different roles, although often lacking the skills to do so.