Abstract:
Education is a most human profession, one which involves deeply felt and held beliefs and emotions. Griffiths (1984) posited that it is “hard to think of an aspect of educational theory in which emotions play no part” (p. 223). And yet, educational research reveals that very little is known about the significance and place of emotions in principals’ decision-making and the impact and implications that these decisions have on the emotional wellbeing of others (Gino & Schweitzer, 2008; Louis et al., 2018; Wang, 2021).
It is difficult to imagine or appreciate what a principal must be feeling and experiencing each day when charged with leading and managing a complex school, with a myriad of staff, student, community issues and challenges that need to be addressed at each point of every school day. How are the decisions that this principal makes impacted by context and circumstances? How does this principal’s emotional state impact and affect the quality and validity of the decisions made? What are the implications of emotionally influenced decisions for the school and school community?
It is important to note, that unlike much research, the focus is specifically on the role of the principal rather than educational leadership in more generic or general terms. Principals are identified as the counterbalance for teachers’ emotions rather than participants in a school’s complex emotional landscape.
There is much research which explores the catalysts and motivations for educational change. However, a factor which is unexamined in research literature, is the influence of educational leaders’ emotions in shaping and implementing the decisions that they make. While the question initially emerged from personal professional experience, there is limited existing qualitative research (Alvesson & Sandberg, 2013) and less quantitative research.
The purpose of this presentation is to examine the methods that will be used to produce substantial and meaningful qualitative evidence and to introduce and examine the initiatives to establish quantitative data that will add shade and colour to the study of principal decision making. There is the probability of the use of technologies, such as generative AI data collection to produce ongoing valuable evidence and research.
It is difficult to imagine or appreciate what a principal must be feeling and experiencing each day when charged with leading and managing a complex school, with a myriad of staff, student, community issues and challenges that need to be addressed at each point of every school day. How are the decisions that this principal makes impacted by context and circumstances? How does this principal’s emotional state impact and affect the quality and validity of the decisions made? What are the implications of emotionally influenced decisions for the school and school community?
It is important to note, that unlike much research, the focus is specifically on the role of the principal rather than educational leadership in more generic or general terms. Principals are identified as the counterbalance for teachers’ emotions rather than participants in a school’s complex emotional landscape.
There is much research which explores the catalysts and motivations for educational change. However, a factor which is unexamined in research literature, is the influence of educational leaders’ emotions in shaping and implementing the decisions that they make. While the question initially emerged from personal professional experience, there is limited existing qualitative research (Alvesson & Sandberg, 2013) and less quantitative research.
The purpose of this presentation is to examine the methods that will be used to produce substantial and meaningful qualitative evidence and to introduce and examine the initiatives to establish quantitative data that will add shade and colour to the study of principal decision making. There is the probability of the use of technologies, such as generative AI data collection to produce ongoing valuable evidence and research.