Framing research on school principals' identities

This paper provides a basis for a tentative framework for guiding future research into principals’ identity construction and development. It is situated in the context of persisting emphases placed by government policies on the need for technocratic competencies in principals as a means of demonstra...

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Main Authors: Crow, Gary, Day, Christopher, Moller, Jorunn
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31030/
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author Crow, Gary
Day, Christopher
Moller, Jorunn
author_facet Crow, Gary
Day, Christopher
Moller, Jorunn
author_sort Crow, Gary
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper provides a basis for a tentative framework for guiding future research into principals’ identity construction and development. It is situated in the context of persisting emphases placed by government policies on the need for technocratic competencies in principals as a means of demonstrating success defined largely as compliance with demands for the improvement in student test scores. Often this emphasis is at the expense of forwarding a broader view of the need, alongside these, for clear educational values, beliefs and practices that are associated with these. The framework is informed by the theoretical work of Wenger and Bourdieu as well as recent empirical research on the part played by professional identity and emotions in school leadership. In the paper, we highlight different lines of inquiry and the issues they raise for researchers. We argue that the constructions of school leadership identities are located in time, space and place, and emotions reflect complex leadership identities situated within social hierarchies which are part of wider structures and social relations of power and control.
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spelling nottingham-310302020-05-04T17:32:40Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31030/ Framing research on school principals' identities Crow, Gary Day, Christopher Moller, Jorunn This paper provides a basis for a tentative framework for guiding future research into principals’ identity construction and development. It is situated in the context of persisting emphases placed by government policies on the need for technocratic competencies in principals as a means of demonstrating success defined largely as compliance with demands for the improvement in student test scores. Often this emphasis is at the expense of forwarding a broader view of the need, alongside these, for clear educational values, beliefs and practices that are associated with these. The framework is informed by the theoretical work of Wenger and Bourdieu as well as recent empirical research on the part played by professional identity and emotions in school leadership. In the paper, we highlight different lines of inquiry and the issues they raise for researchers. We argue that the constructions of school leadership identities are located in time, space and place, and emotions reflect complex leadership identities situated within social hierarchies which are part of wider structures and social relations of power and control. Taylor & Francis 2016-01-11 Article PeerReviewed Crow, Gary, Day, Christopher and Moller, Jorunn (2016) Framing research on school principals' identities. International Journal of Leadership in Education . pp. 1-13. ISSN 1464-5092 Education Research Principals http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603124.2015.1123299#.VpTsfGfnmM8 doi:10.1080/13603124.2015.1123299 doi:10.1080/13603124.2015.1123299
spellingShingle Education
Research
Principals
Crow, Gary
Day, Christopher
Moller, Jorunn
Framing research on school principals' identities
title Framing research on school principals' identities
title_full Framing research on school principals' identities
title_fullStr Framing research on school principals' identities
title_full_unstemmed Framing research on school principals' identities
title_short Framing research on school principals' identities
title_sort framing research on school principals' identities
topic Education
Research
Principals
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31030/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31030/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31030/