The reflective processes of principals as an engine of school change

ABSTRACT

Systematic reflection is understood as a paradigm that is a key component for processes of school change. Reflection includes knowledge, beliefs and experiences of teachers that are reconstructed and used as inputs to rethink their practices. This article presents the results of an investigation carried out in the period 2018–2019. It was proposed to investigate the reflective practice of secondary school principals who go through processes of school change. The research question was: What do school principals who are going through a process of change reflect on? We analyzed the narratives presented by school principals, organized in a portfolio that recovers the processes of each of the schools. The results provide knowledge about school principals as agents of change and the link between innovation or school change and reflection. It identifies a leadership that corresponds to high levels of reflection and is a key factor in going through the processes of school change. Leadership appears as a task that is shaped according to the needs of the school community, so a relationship is established between school leading and innovation processes. Thus, leadership is legitimized as a place for research during practice and construction of knowledge about the processes of school change.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation
• reflective practice
• leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This project will be described throughout the work. For more information: click here.

2. Vicaría Episcopal de Educación de Buenos Aires; Fundación Telefónica; Organización de los Estados Iberoamericanos; ProFuturo; La Caixa Foundation.

3. This research is framed in the line of research on Reflective Practice carried out by Graciela Cappelletti and Rebeca Anijovich, professors at the School of Education of the Universidad de San Andrés.

4. In Argentina, from the Ministry of Education, meetings of teachers and leading teams are scheduled to work on pedagogical issues with suspension of activities for students. These spaces receive different names: Institutional Days, Institutional Improvement Spaces (EMI), among others.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Graciela Cappelletti

Graciela Cappelletti is a Specialist and Master in Didactics (Universidad de Buenos Aires) and PhD candidate in Education from the Universidad de San Andrés. She works as a regular professor at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes and is a researcher at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. She is Director of the bachelor’s degree and professor of Education Sciences of the School of Education of the Universidad de San Andrés. She was Director of Curriculum and Teaching of the Ministry of Education of the City of Buenos Aires. She works on issues of curriculum, teaching, assessment, and teacher training. She is co-author of the books: “Políticas de Currículo en Múltiplos Contextos”, São Paulo, Cortez Editores, 2006; “Transitar la formación pedagógica”, Paidós, 2009; “La evaluación significativa”, Paidós, 2010; “Gestionar una escuela con aulas heterogéneas”, Paidós, 2014; “La práctica como eje de la formación”, Eudeba, 2014; “La evaluación como oportunidad”, Paidós, 2017; “Práctica Reflexiva: Escenarios y horizontes”, Aique, 2017; “El sentido de la Escuela secundaria”, Paidós, 2020.

Mariana Paz Sajon

Mariana Paz Sajón has a bachelor’s degree in Education Sciences (Pedagogy) from the University of San Andrés, Argentina, where she has also concluded her studies as a professor. Her performance in research work is on topics related to reflective practice, teacher training, learning communities and the voice of adolescents on education. She actually works as a pedagogical consultant in higher education at Universidad Austral and Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina. She is also a professor at the School of Education of the Universidad de San Andrés. In addition, she is part of the research team at the TEDEd Clubs program in Argentina.