Leadership Metaphors: School Principals’ Sense-Making of a National Reform

During reforms, principals often experience ambiguity, contradicting demands, and lack of information. As critical change agents and system players, principals interpret reform demands and translate them into school practices through a process of sense-making. The current qualitative research explored 59 elementary school principals’ sense-making of their leadership within a national reform through the use of metaphors. Data analysis yielded three reframing themes: (1) principal’s role; (2) principal’s work; and (3) relationships with teachers. This study expands the currently limited knowledge about principals’ experience with and responses to reforms, while suggesting implications and further research regarding metaphors within the sense-making framework.