Principalship amidst dilemmatic spaces: a narrative inquiry at a Catholic girls’ school in Macau

ABSTRACT

Principals’ leadership is important for school effectiveness and education improvement. However, there is a lack of studies grounded in principals’ everyday practices that aim to go beyond generic heuristics when suggesting leadership practices. Through three scenes that span a four-year period, this study describes the principalship of a female principal at a Catholic girls’ school in Macau, through the theoretical lens of dilemmatic spaces. Via broadening, burrowing, storying and restoring, the methodology of narrative inquiry is used to probe Wang’s principalship as a family-school communicator, a teacher-community illuminator, and a school-government negotiator. The subtle nuances of the detailed narrative accounts reveal how Wang’s principalship transforms dilemmatic spaces into actionable spaces. Overall, this study theoretically reconceptualizes leadership beyond the functionalist paradigm, provides practical implications based on the tangible actions of a school leader in a heterogeneous society, and reimagines a better form of governance for education policymakers.

KEYWORDS:

• Principalship
• educational leadership
• dilemmatic spaces
• narrative inquiry
• religious education

Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to Principal Wang for her sharing without reservation. I’m also grateful for the editor and reviewers’ comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Beijing Social Science Fund [22JYC016].

Notes on contributors

Ge Wei

Ge Wei is an Associate Professor and Director of Research Centre for Children and Teacher Education at College of Elementary Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing. His research interests centre on educational leadership, teacher education, and qualitative methodology. He recently published a monograph entitled “Reimaging pre-service teachers’ practical knowledge: Designing learning for future” (Routledge, 2022).