How Principals Change Their Minds: Processes, Influencing Factors, and Implications for Principal Professional Development

• In Event: Professional Development for Principals: Fidelity, Accountability, and Context

Abstract

Utilizing interview data from 3 secondary school principals and 5 elementary school principals, this paper analyzed the processes of and determinants to changes of principals’ decisions related innovative issues. The results of this paper showed that the processes that principals changed their minds including four stages: use of familiar cognitive schema, occurrence of discrepancy experience, observation, reflection, self and public inquiry, and finally, refinement of decision and cognition schema. There were 9 determinants that influenced the changes of principal decisions. They could be grouped into personal characteristics, pressure from outside environment, pressure from within school, principals’ learning and reflection, and a combination of these factors. Based on the analyses, this paper discussed several implications to principal professional development.

Author

• Ming-Dih Lin, National Chung Cheng University