How do I change with change? Principals’ views on their own leadership through subjective theories

Although leadership research has placed greater emphasis on the role of school principals in generating educational change, either through policy or internal improvements, it has explored less how leaders themselves are transformed by the change processes they promote. This study focuses on how principals analyze changes in their leadership and the role they play in institutions operating under socio-educational disadvantage. Drawing on the theoretical contributions of sensemaking and subjective theories, this article reports on a 3-year study of six school principals. The study reconstructs the evolution of the explanatory frameworks that initially guided the principals’ decisions and how these frameworks were questioned, adjusted, or reaffirmed over time. The results show that all of the participating principals adjusted their subjective theories about the educational changes their schools required and their roles in them to varying degrees. Their initial hypotheses were quickly called into question based on the contrast between the hypotheses and the schools’ concrete reality, considering aspects such as micro-political tensions, teaching capacities, and bureaucratic restrictions. Over time, their subjective theories became more complex, taking greater account of the emotional and relational dimensions of educational change.