Severed Heads and Compliant Bodies? A speculation about principal identities

Bibliographic Data

ID2928510
AuthorsPatricia Thomson (0000-0002-4801-0000, University of Nottingham, corresponding author), Pat Thomson
Year2004
Volume25
Issue1
Pages43-59
Publication date2004-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0159630042000178473
OpenAlexW1983551055
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited60

When I had to reapply for my own position as principal I felt as if I was facing the prospect of losing a part of myself. Conversations with other women colleagues confirmed that I was not alone in this response. Taking this as my cue, I explore the notion of principal “identification” practices—that is the continuing process of forming a “principal identity”—through personal narrative, a Cartesian metaphor and emerging research evidence. In particular, I focus on how conditions of entrepreneurial governance change a continuing policy commitment to heroic leadership, and how principal and school identities are conflated through accountability regimes, marketing requirements and work intensification. I propose that a study of changing principal identities might fruitfully add to critical leadership and management scholarship, complementing the emergent corpus on emotions in leadership. I am telling you stories. Trust me. (Winterson, 1988 Winterson J (1988) Passion London: Vintage [Google Scholar], p. 160)

Accountability · Aesthetics · Art · Conflation · Corporate governance · Epistemology · Management · Metaphor · Narrative · Passion · Political science · Public relations · Scholarship · Sociology · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

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