39 Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 3 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6591-0.ch003 Analysis of the Tasks of School Principals in Secondary Education in Catalonia: Case Study ABSTRACT School principals have important jobs. To achieve a better understanding of their working lives, this chapter uses the professional diary and timetabling data of all the secondary School Principals, from schools in the Sant Cugat area of Catalonia, Spain. It begins by describing the context of the Catalonian educational system, its leadership and managerial model from a double perspective: on the one hand, the normative requirements; and on the other, the “day-to-day” tasks. The authors adopt a qualitative methodology. The analysis of the school principals’ diaries and timetables was conducted over the course of one month (November 2013). The results permit us to relate the day-to-day tasks of the school principal to those tasks identified in the local and national school regulations and in the Education Law. This examination will lead to a better understanding of how the distribution of their activities and their time management is related to these requirements. Georgeta Ion Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Marina Tomàs Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Diego Castro Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Esther Salat Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain INTRODUCTION In the current school environment, School Princi- pals have a very complex job dealing with various internal and external challenges, which make their role one of the most important for the functioning of a school, in supporting change and providing quality educational (Brauckmann and Pashiardis, 2011). In this study we start by presenting different approaches to the principals’ tasks in secondary schools. We situate our study in the context of the Catalan education system, and finally we analyze the tasks performed by school principals using as a point of reference two classificatory approaches: