Qualitative study uncovers four distinct agentic leadership types among school principals, highlighting their expanding roles in challenging structural constraints.
Leadership agency is expressed when, based on their interpretation of a situation, school leaders initiate change in regulations and/or dismantle constraining structures. As conceptualization of principals’ agency has changed and expanded both within and beyond the school context in the neo-liberal arena, this qualitative study explores agentic leadership through school principals’ perceptions and practices within diverse social fields. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of agency within the social structure in which schools operate, we interviewed 70 principals from varied educational levels, sectors, and backgrounds in Israel. Thematic analysis revealed four types of agentic leadership: Narrational (a space of identities); Disruptive (a space of autonomy); Relational (a space of connections); and Impactful (a space of motion). The findings provide a renewed theoretical perspective for the existing conceptualization of principals’ agency and strengthen the argument regarding the change and expansion of principals’ roles within multiple fields of impact in the neo-liberal arena.
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Gordin-Yoskovitz et al. (2026) studied this question.
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