Abstract:
This paper draws on doctoral research that investigated the issue of values-led principalship. It reports upon a study conducted with principals of Catholic secondary schools in Brisbane. The paper focuses on the participating principals' perception of the values that underpin their educational leadership behaviour and asks how these values were formed. This research confirmed the claim in the literature that personal values are largely a subliminal component of the Self and addresses the issue of helping principals to gain self-knowledge of their personal values in preparation for values-led principalship. This study developed and tested a 'tool' for helping principals to comprehend the relationship between their educational leadership behaviours and their personal values. While principals in this study appreciated the opportunity to demystify their educational leadership behaviours, they were less interested in reviewing the appropriateness of their personal values. Moreover, for these principals, knowledge of their personal values and the relationship of these to their educational leadership behaviours did not lead to behavioural change.