The Professional Identity of School Leaders: Evolution and Transformation

In the framework of our research with educational administrators, we are interested in the elements of building professional identity, which are training and organizational experience. Our work, which is at the exploratory stage, is guided by two main research questions. What can we learn from looking at the history of educational administration in terms of the evolution of the professional identity of school leaders? Does the professional identity of school principals differ from that of teachers who wish to become principals? In this article, we try to answer these questions in two ways. First, we synthesise the history of educational administration training in the United States, where the profession originated, and in French and English Canada. This leads to an exploration of the problem of the skills that are omitted from the vision and current design of administrator training in Canada. Then, based on the results of a recent study, we examine the question of the distinct professional identity of school principals.