Flourishing School Leadership: Perspectives of Canada’s Outstanding Principals

Abstract

<p>With research pointing to increased levels of stress and work demands on school leaders, attention has turned to examining the factors that contribute to their well-being. Studies have also shown that many school administrators not just survive but also thrive in their work and succeed despite work-related challenges. Furthermore, some principals experience flourishing at work, which is characterized by optimal functioning, feeling good, and achieving a balanced life. Our study examined the sense of flourishing of the national award-winning principals in the Canada’s Outstanding Principals program, which recognized outstanding contributions of principals in publicly funded schools. In this article, we describe the participants’ perceptions in relation to the following constructs in the overall flourishing: flow, thriving, resilience, and grit. This study highlights the conditions, behaviours, mindsets, and characteristics that are critical for the well-being of school administrators.</p>

School Leader Well-Being: Perceptions of Canada’s Outstanding Principals

“…After being piloted among school principals, the finalized survey instrument included 62 closed questions and 12 open-ended questions, which were thematically organized based on the systematic review of the literature into the following sections: flow, thriving, resilience, grit, and well-being. These constructs were identified in the literature on positive psychology as critical for the notion of flourishing, and the connection and correlations between these constructs for this particular study have been established and discussed elsewhere [65].…”