Leaders as Learners: An Inquiry into the Formation and Transformation of Principals’ Professional Perspectives

Abstract

This article reports on a research project that explored the manner in which veteran school principals become aware of, and committed to, new perspectives and practices. Personal stories of formative and transformative change from the careers of 23 school principals were collected and analyzed comparatively. Four analytic tools were devised that can support future studies of principal learning. The findings indicate that these principals’ professional learning is influenced by (a) impressions of teachers and schooling formed in early childhood, (b) progression through a common perspective development sequence with patterned influences, (c) a personal orientation to learning, which can be seen as a combination of four dynamics—connections, context, characteristics, and concepts—with one dominating the others, and (d) a story about oneself as a learner—the learning story—that serves as both a guide for approaching novelty and a catalyst for change. Implications for scholars and policymakers are discussed.