Principals as Learners: Balancing Tensions Between Structural Constraints of the Principal Role and Agency Within School-Based Collaborative Inquiry

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding School Leadership: Three Dynamic Spectra Within Collaborative Inquiry

Abstract

This paper will explore the role of the school principal within school and system change. The paper seeks to problematize the ways school principals balance the inherent tension between strategic-positional leadership and collegial, participatory partnership within collaborative inquiry processes. Throughout the discussion, the notion of a principal learning mindset emerges as a viable approach towards productively negotiating this tension. Specifically, the paper examines the impact of the role of principal leadership within system-wide school improvement through team-based collaborative inquiry practices within a large-scale elementary school literacy and numeracy strategy in Ontario, Canada.

Authors

• Rachel Ryerson, Ontario Ministry of Education

• David Hagen Cameron, People For Education