Navigating through the first-year principalship: an autoethnography in the Pakistani college context

ABSTRACT

This is a narrative about my first year’s principalship experience at a pre-service teachers’ training college in Pakistan, a Muslim country with a patriarchal background. Here, I discuss challenges I faced upon assuming the principalship. Specifically, I focused on how I responded to these challenges. In my response to those challenges, I explored the implications of my experience as a woman in the leadership role confronting organizational issues and societal influences in a unique culture. I share insights into how a female leader developed innovative strategies to manage/lead in the patriarchal society where I was overwhelmed by the task of challenging the cultural norms. Further, by the narration of this reflective experience, I attempt to deconstruct the current discourse on educational leadership and pluralize this knowledge by bringing in an unheard voice from the global south.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Khazima Tahir

Dr. Khazima Tahir has been serving in the field of Education since 2000. She has worked in various positions such as a school teacher, college lecturer and administrator. She has presented papers in national and international conferences. Her focus of interest is to conduct research on different areas of leadership. She has published in the areas of transformational and instructional leadership.