Principal Leader Identity Construction: Understanding Charter School Principals as Leaders Through Auto-Photography

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: Division A Graduate Student Poster Session

Abstract

Leadership coaching has recently emerged as a way to support school principals as they work to navigate the many competing demands and expectations of their role. Leadership coaching serves as a foundational practice in the development of one’s self-concept as a leader and one’s construction of a leader identity through interactions and experiences, yet little is known about the process of identity construction for school principals. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand how public charter school principals described their own leader identity construction through the process of coaching, using auto-photography. Findings support the conceptualization of leader identity construction as an iterative process and the use of coaching as creating an “identity workspace” for school principals.

Authors

• Anne D. Lackritz, The George Washington University

• Maria Cseh, The George Washington University