Female Headship and Life History Research: Using Emotional Turning Points

Abstract

A natural line of enquiry for women studying women's lives is to use life history. Life history helps us to know and understand a subject's identity. It distinguishes what people are "trying to do" and provides a framework to comprehend a person's actions so an individual is a dynamic, rather than reflexive participant in her own life. Life history reflects the lived experience of those being researched as they construct their identity through recounting their stories and gaining a deeper understanding of themselves. This paper draws on stories recounted by female headteachers with an emphasis on the rich tapestry of their life experiences and their associated learning through positive and/or negative events. It is the outcomes of these events where the focus lies; particularly how the headteachers made effective use of emotional "turning points" in their lives. Their subsequent actions provide insight and possible contributions to future headship preparation programmes. Findings from two studies provide the data from which the paper is based. The first explored the career paths of seven female secondary school headteachers making sole use of life history interviews; the second was a through five-year longitudinal investigation of another seven secondary school female headteachers with a focus on emotional intelligence which used a range of methods, including life history interviews and psychometric tests (including emotional intelligence tests).

Secondary school leadership preparation and development

“…In-service leadership development is nuanced; there are intended activities as part of the process to equip individuals and build their capacity as they learn and adapt to shouldering responsibility and accountability (Grogan and Andrews, 2002;Harris, 2013;Leithwood and Riehl, 2003;Tucker and Codding, 2003). Whilst some development is instructed, developmental learning occurs both consciously and subconsciously through life and professional opportunities and experiences (Cliffe, 2016).…”

Emotional intelligence testing for headteachers: globalization or lost in translation

“…At the time of proposing the research incorporated in this paper, much had previously been written connecting emotional intelligence to business (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997), but considerably less in relation to teaching or school leadership. However, emerging research in recent years on emotions in education has utilized qualitative and quantitative tools, to investigate the patterns of emotional experiences and communication in educational organizations focusing on their impact to their work at a personal level and to the professional community (Arar, 2017; Oplatka, 2017; Cliffe, 2016, 2011; Zembylas, 2016; Hargreaves and Fullan, 2013). Less attention has been paid to attempts to reveal the extent to which headteachers and teachers are emotionally intelligent.…”

“…Less attention has been paid to attempts to reveal the extent to which headteachers and teachers are emotionally intelligent. The art of leading, over the course of time, impacts an individual’s life history (and vice versa) and on their intelligent use of emotions (Arar, 2017; Cliffe, 2011, 2016). Emotions, emotional labor and emotional intelligence in relation to teachers’ and headteachers’ work resonates with the theory of professional capital, working on the ideology that education communities need personal and proficient investment for all to benefit (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2013) and thus warrants investigation.…”

Utilization of Emotional Intelligence in the Management of Cultural Change in the High School in China

“…The term emotional intelligence, popularized by Goleman [1], has attracted researchers' attention from psychological, management and educational areas, and has had a great impact on the study of emotions at work [2][3][4][5]. Focusing on the features of emotional intelligence identified by scholars [4][5][6][7], the term comprises at least four components: 'self-awareness; awareness of others; regulating emotions; developing emotional literacy'.…”

“…Focusing on the features of emotional intelligence identified by scholars [4][5][6][7], the term comprises at least four components: 'self-awareness; awareness of others; regulating emotions; developing emotional literacy'. In this sense, we see that emotional intelligence can be used to deal with individuals' emotions and establish social relationships, which potentially affects organizational functioning and effectiveness in the workplace.…”