Novice principals are the targets of change in the school that gives new expectations and hopes for each community. Wiley (2011) mentioned that novice principals might include those with no prior principal experience and considered in their honeymoon stage. The aim of this study was to reveal and describe the lived experiences of novice principals in leadership and management in the Archdiocesan schools. The method used for this study was hermeneutic phenomenology as it exposed the essence of the phenomenon through the lived experiences of the novice principals. A phenomenological perspective emanates from the principals themselves. A grand tour question of what is the essence of being a leader and a manager mean for novice principals in the Archdiocesan schools is identified in this research. Specifically, the aim of the research is to answer the following problems:
1. What are the lived experiences of the novice principals in the Archdiocesan schools? 2. How do the novice principals understand the challenges in leadership and management? 3. What Leadership Development Program may be proposed to help novice principals? The method utilized in this study is hermeneutic phenomenology informed by the work of Max van Manen (1997). Themes can be uncovered or isolated from key informants’ descriptions of their experience by using the three different means: the holistic approach, the selective of highlighting approach, and the detailed or line-by-line approach. The holistic approach requires the researcher to view the text, the interview manuscript, or the text as a whole and capture its meanings. In the selective approach, the researcher underlines, highlights, or pulls out statements of phrases that seem essential to the experience under study, while in the detailed approach, the researcher analyzes every sentence (Polit & Beck, 2008). The study was conducted in the selected member schools of the Archdiocesan schools which are under the leadership of principals who are serving for not more than 3 years in their schools. The participants were chosen from the Archdiocesan schools of the province who are serving the school as principals from 1 to 3 years of office.
