Personal identity and leadership: learning from deputy principals’ lived experiences

Abstract

ABSTRACT The contexts in which people immerse themselves, as well as the people they interact with, contribute immensely to people’s understanding of self. As a person grows, lives and operates in different contexts with different people, he/she develops a self-concept or a particular understanding of oneself. This understanding constitutes an identity which becomes entrenched, thus a person brings this understanding wherever he/she goes, including the workplace. Research on teacher identity has established that teachers’ identities are constantly evolving and are multifaceted. Although the research on teacher identity has shown that the personal aspects of teachers influence their professional practices, the literature on school leadership has for many years overlooked the influence of leader’s personal identities on their leadership practices. Instead, the focus has mainly been on the expected traits and practices. This paper is drawn from a project that explored the lived experiences of deputy principals; therefore, it focuses on one set of school leaders. Through the lived experiences of these leaders, the paper intends to reveal the influence of personal identities on leadership practices. The main contribution of this paper is to clearly show that the leadership practices of deputy principals are not free from their personal aspects of selves.