Abstract
Blending principal education programmes and leadership practice has become a common feature in the education of school principals. However, the need for further research in how programme participants experience learning within an overall structure of a programme has been highlighted since the same programmes are experienced differently. This empirical study used a practice-based approach to explore how participation in the Swedish National Principal Training Programme intertwines with principals’ work in practice. A situated perspective was used, interviewing and observing principals in both their educational and their workplace practice. In addition, teachers were interviewed at their school. This study revealed processes of continuous learning, which connects practice to what was learned in the Principal Programme. These processes mend and bridge old practices with new practices and therefore facilitate change. The principal also becomes a broker, rendering legitimacy in practice. The analyses, however, also reveal processes of interrupted learning, which disconnects working in practice from the participation in the Principals’ Programme, leading to discontinuous processes and exits. Increasing consciousness of the value of working with bridging and brokering would support principals’ professional learning and function as a foundation for leadership development.
Highlights
Building on understandings of principals’ professional learning, a movement in principal education has emerged that focuses on knowledge gained in practice as much as knowledge gained in formal education (e.g. Barnett et al, 2009; Walker, 2015)
The principals report that their awareness of external demands increased as a result of their participation in the Swedish National Principal Training Programme
The analyses further reveal that the Principal Programme mirrors schools’ needs in a global sense; that is, joining a practice involves both entering it internally and linking it with external relations such as the Principal Programme: We had no routine around violations
Summary
Building on understandings of principals’ professional learning, a movement in principal education has emerged that focuses on knowledge gained in practice as much as knowledge gained in formal education (e.g. Barnett et al, 2009; Walker, 2015). Participation in principal programmes that include practice does not guarantee that participants will adequately develop their skills and understandings as participants experience programmes differently (Darling-Hammond et al, 2010; Huber, 2013; Jerdborg, 2020). There is a need for further research in how programme participants experience their learning within an overall structure of a programme (Darling-Hammond et al, 2010; McCulla and Degenhardt, 2016). According to Wenger (1998), development of practices includes learning how to negotiate meaning and access practices embedded in historical and social contexts
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