The main purpose of this study was to determine the nature and direction of change in the perceived self-efficacy of principal-to-be, during a two year training program. The study was based on Facet Theory (Gutman, 1968), but some traditional statistics were done as well.

As there is no literature that relates directly to this issue, there is no conceptualization of principals-to-be self-efficacy. The Study was a three stage study and was held during 2005-2007: Stage 1 involved a survey of 150 principals-to-be from six Academic Colleges and Universities in Israel that completed a self-efficacy questionnaire during the first month of the training program (October 2005). In stage 2, the self-efficacy questionnaire was administrated towards the end of the first year of the training (May 2006). In stage 3 the same questionnaire was administrated during the last month of the program (May 2007).

Findings show that the perceived self-efficacy of principals to be, changes during a two year training program both in nature and direction. The perception of the nature of the principals role remains the same and is composed of:
1.Managerial tasks: General managerial tasks, pedagogy tasks and task that consider Emotion & interpersonal relationship.
2.Conditioned control over the managerial tasks:
a) Exclusive control of the principal, based only upon his will. The tasks in this level are perceived in his eyes as simple and unique.
b) Control by the principal and his closest environment (controlled by him): the principal feels that he can perform different tasks, based on his will and the will of those who belong work with him, and he defiantly has direct influence on them. The tasks in this level are perceived as complex structured tasks.
c) Control by the principal, his closest environment and also distant factors: the managerial tasks depend on outer and distant factors, some of which he is not even well acquainted with. The tasks in this level are perceived as simple structured and unique.

Finding show that during the training period, the equilibrium between the three groups of managerial tasks changes: At the first stages of the training program, most tasks related to emotion & interpersonal relationship, general managerial tasks and only very few tasks as pedagogy tasks. Towards the end of the training program, they come to an understanding that the most important of all three are the pedagogy tasks followed by general managerial tasks and emotion & interpersonal relationship. Tasks that they considered at the first stages of the training program as general tasks, are considered towards the end as pedagogy issues. Tasks that they thought they had minimum control over carrying them out, where considered towards the end as tasks with exclusive control.

It has also been found that the level of self-efficacy has increased significantly between the beginning of the training program and two years later, towards the end of the program (effect size: 0.7).

The main contribution of this research is that we can conceptualize something as complex as professional self-efficacy of principals-to-be. We can also measure professional self-efficacy during a long term professional training program, and draw conclusions about the structure of the program, the changes that ought to be made and even personal conclusions about the trainees.