Abstract
French principals are exposed to paradoxes. Their ethics and values lead them to maintain a republican moral stance by affirming their attachment to public services and secularism. Their membership to a professional group within a bureaucratic organization does not predispose them to endorse managerial ideas and practices. However, as the New Public Management enters the education system, they are increasingly being required to focus on school organization and improvement. They have therefore to assume hybrid roles and responsibilities, between administration, management, and leadership, while the organizational structure remains relatively inflexible, and resources such as support are lacking. This creates a series of tensions that are presented in this chapter along with the moral agency that many principals adopt in their relationships within schools. Between hierarchical prescription and autonomy, between cooperation and conflict, between citizenship and pedagogy, they seek ways for capacity building and school improvement in a civic and egalitarian perspective. Although they are trained mainly as administrators and State representatives, they learn by doing to become managers and leaders without much recognition for their creativity and innovation. They also hardly reflect on themselves as leaders despite leadership practices that can be observed in their daily activities.
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Notes
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1) Mentor: interaction, participation and openness 2) Facilitator: team building, participatory decision-making, ensuring commitment and managing conflict 3) Supervisor: monitoring and documenting individual, group and organizational performance 4) Coordinator: teaching organization and project management 5) Director: having a vision, setting goals, implementing plans, assigning and delegating responsibilities 6) Producer: developing efficiency and effectiveness, managing time, workload and resources 7) Broker: increasing resources and influence, introducing new ideas and partners 8) Innovator: challenging creativity and willingness to change, agent of change. Source: Taipale, A. (2012). International survey on educational leadership. A survey on school leader’s work and continuing education. Finnish National Board of Education.
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Normand, R. (2021). Leadership and French Principals: An Unthinkable and Paradoxical Moral Agency. In: Normand, R., Moos, L., Liu, M., Tulowitzki, P. (eds) The Cultural and Social Foundations of Educational Leadership. Educational Governance Research, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74497-7_6
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