Narrative Inquiry in Educational Leadership

• In Event: 63.084 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-14 - Living Research Narratives

Abstract

This presentation attends to narrative inquiry in rural school leadership in South Africa through the lens of relational leadership and emotional labor. The research draws on five years of in-depth conversations and observations that speak to leadership experiences of hope and anticipation, and to despair and disillusionment. I worked with a black male school principal from a rural school in South Africa, whose narratives changed from hope to hopelessness and resignation. His commitment and care were overcome by the educational challenges, which involved hunger and poverty, orphaned learners, and girl pregnancy. Theoretically, this inquiry draws on relational leadership (Hosking 2011) and emotional labor (Hochschild 1983; Iszatt-White 2013) in rural education (Mafora 2013) and empirically on narrative inquiry (Clandinin 2013).

Author

• Brigitte Smit, University of South Africa