Ten school-based leaders engaged in an experimental professional learning community to understand when, during their daily practice, they placed learning (as an action) at the forefront of their leadership. This article presents the findings from the first phase (discovery) of a four-phase, two-year appreciative inquiry study. At their schools,…

This paper describes a participatory action research project that was delivered on Saturday mornings to vice-principals (VPs) in two Anglophone school districts in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, in 2022 and 2023. The project was set up as an invitational five-part seminar series that was grounded in educational theory and leadership…

Teacher readiness for parental engagement is a vital competence in the context of increased emphasis on engaging parents in K-12 schools. The rise in the standards movement in education led to the inclusion of parental engagement in teacher standards. Here, critical policy analysis of teacher standards shows how teachers' and school leaders'…

Vice-principals' (VPs) work is intensifying in its complexity and volume but the changing nature of their work is not thoroughly documented. This article focuses on the often-overlooked VP's role and records the factors that evidence the intensifying work conditions for VPs. The data for this article come from a large-scale online survey that has…

This qualitative study delves into the perspectives of school leaders in a Canadian province, exploring their views on student suspensions and alternative approaches to school discipline. Amid a provincial advocacy organization's call for a review and reduction of suspensions in that jurisdiction, the study captures both constructive and critical…

The theoretical framework for this study draws on conceptual advances from two bodies of scholarship: (1) complexity thinking in education, which has recently focused on school system change; and (2) school leadership research, which has recently attended to the effects of leadership interventions to school improvement. Using a complexity-thinking…

The vice principal has the potential to significantly influence everyone in the school building. The expertise required to effectively carry out the duties of the role include interpersonal skills, leadership skills, reflective practice, and knowledge of the current research in the field of education. The position of vice principal requires a…

Job demands overburden school administrators' personal and professional capacity and affect their performance and well-being. However, studies on principals and vice-principals' work intensification fail to highlight how their work demands and challenges are manifested, and how work demands contribute to the changing nature of their work. This…

This study delves into the complex dynamics of leadership within Alberta's K-12 education system, specifically focusing on the relationship between age, gender, maternity and parental leaves and women's career progression. Using an explanatory mixed-method approach, comprising a survey of 416 educational leaders and two focus groups of 20 women in…

The ethic of care is a moral philosophy that has been used to describe and guide the work of educators, especially those working with students with special education needs (SEN). In this study, 36 principals and vice principals from four provinces in Canada were interviewed about their work with students with SEN during the pandemic. Responses…

The purpose of this mixed-methods research study was to explore how prevalent impostor phenomenon (IP) is among education leaders in the province of Alberta, and to determine what can be done to support these leaders. This study explored the extent to which educational leaders experience impostor phenomenon, and how those experiences varied by…

Purpose: The purpose of this multiyear research study is to examine leadership in K-12 schools using a positive organizational perspective to understand how to foster, support and encourage flourishing in schools. In this article, the authors describe the lived experiences of a small group of principals and vice-principals in K-12 schools…

The aim of this research was to develop a grounded theory of educational leadership development, using generative dialogue (GD), as an approach to initiating and maintaining professional growth in school principals/vice principals in an urban school district in a relatively affluent region of Western Canada. In Wave I, GD interviews were conducted…

For teachers seeking formal school leadership roles the key choices have been either the vice- principalship or the principalship. In Ontario, Canada, however, the principalship has traditionally been considered the premier leadership goal with the vice-principalship regarded as merely a necessary transitional step toward achieving the…

This study applies a bioecological lens to the examination of school change in the area of classroom assessment. We conducted a case study that examined the processes within a rural secondary school that supported and inhibited change in classroom assessment practices. Data collection included teacher and principal interviews, focus groups,…