Female Principals’ Perceptions of Their Roles: Challenges and Identities

• In Event: Women in K-12 Leadership

Abstract

This paper presents research which investigates female principals’ perceptions and experiences of working in UK early years schools. It explores themes inherent in principals’ narratives and the identities which they construct or which may be constructed for them. It examines several influential discourses which impact on their lives and their approaches to leadership. Women inhabited a variety of both compatible and contradictory identities from ‘juggler’ to ‘rebel’, which encompassed both professional and private spaces. Negotiating these presented significant challenges for these female leaders. The paper concludes that key discourses relating to masculine constructions of leadership, domestic responsibility and ‘women’s’ work’ may constrain or facilitate ways of being within the role of principal and so may challenge agency.

Author

• Deborah Jones, Brunel University