The current school management model, established in Decree-Law no. 75/2008, of April 22, modified by Decree-Law no. 224/2009, of September 11, and amended a second time by Decree-Law no. 137/2012, of July 2, counts almost 10 years since its publication. This study intends to reflect about its validity from the standpoint of the principals, gathering their perspectives and conclusions, that base a critical analysis and identify challenges for the formal model and its implementation in the practices of school administration and management. A reflective look at the past that supports and proposes perspectives for the future.

To that end, it collects the messages that the on going principals with management experience in the current management model would like to convey to the new managers, from their journey, their practice, and their experience.

The specific objectives of the study are as follows:

- To collect and analyze the most important experiences that the principals have lived throughout their management career in the last 10 years (within the validity of Decree-Law no. 75/2008, of April 22) on working in a school or group of schools, and that they consider important to pass on to new directors;

- To identify the "pitfalls", which they were or were not able to avoid, for which the principals would like to alert a new principal;

- To convey to potential principals the prospects of current ones as to how new professionals can be trained and prepared for the performance of their duties;

- Identify and differentiate the parameters that the principals associate with positive management results, such as specialized training; technical advice; evaluation and monitoring processes; the type of relationship that they develop with the management bodies (Ministry of Education and other hierarchies), teachers, the local authority, and other members of the educational community; continuous training activities; etc.

- Identify a set of challenges to school management within the current model and state a set of changes that may contribute to the better management of public institutions of pre-school education and primary and secondary education.