Performing the principal: school leadership, masculinity and emotion

Abstract

In western democracies, the critiques of managerialism in school leadership are increasingly common. Feminist researchers have suggested that this recent orientation fits more easily with traditional male leadership than with that of their female counterparts. However, not all men principals are happy with the managerialist turn either. This study investigated how male primary school principals describe their work and respond to the recent changes. While we acknowledge that female principals are also required to deal with emotional issues, this paper points to the stresses experienced by male principals as a consequence of their being men. From this standpoint, our analysis suggests that gender relations form a particular feature of current leadership issues for male principals and we identify the demands placed on them as a consequence. Using data drawn from a series of recursive interviews with 17 experienced male elementary school principals, we propose that emotional issues are centrally involved in the busyness of running a school. While the acknowledgement of emotional responses challenges the stereotypical view of the male manager as impersonal masculine authority, we show that emotional encounters serve to usher in traditional gendered responses in these male school leaders in ways that are experienced as challenging.

Gender and School Leadership: Breaking the Glass Ceiling in South Africa

“…The domination of males leads to discrimination against females (Shakeshaft, 1993). Some males assume that certain gender roles are natural and normal (Hill, Miller, Benson & Handley 2016), while females are subjected to a patriarchal culture, where most of the responsibilities belong to males (Bush & West-Bumharn, 1994;Cundiff & Vescio, 2016;Gill & Arnold, 2015). As Hill, Miller, Benson & Handley (2016) show, whereas men are socialized to be confident, assertive, and self-promoting, cultural attitudes toward women as leaders continue to suggest to women that it is often inappropriate or undesirable to possess those characteristics.…”

‘The women are taking over’: Exploring hegemonic masculinities in elementary principalship

“…The study observed the attitudes of male principals towards these women and found that most male principals believed that these women overcame their ‘inadequacies’ in order to become principals, however, their ability to do the job well was still questioned. Gill and Arnold (2015) studied the perceptions male principals had of their role, commenting on the struggles they experienced managing emotions, for example, and the expectation that they not appear too emotional. These principals maintained themselves as ‘performing an appropriate masculinity while dealing with the messy uncontrollable force of emotion’ (p. 30).…”

Skolledarskap i Sverige: en forskningsöversikt 2014–2018

“…Artiklar med fokus på Genus och skolledarskap uppgår till två där aspekter av kvinnligt ledarskap (Thorpe, 2018) samt maskulinitet (Gill & Arnold, 2015) undersöks. I temat för Policy, styrning och inspektion hittar vi en artikel vilken undersöker relationen mellan utbildningspolicy och samverkan med vårdnadshavare (Quesel, Näpfli & Buser, 2017).…”