ABSTRACT
These are interesting times in which to be an educational leader. I have matured personally and professionally, and am now able more to understand the importance of the research in which I am engaged. My research has helped me improve, be accountable for my actions, and ‘shape a professional identity’ (Connelly and Clandinin, 1999). I am fortunate to work with many talented and caring people – staff, students, parents and community members. The growing strength of the action research movement in my board and in the province and its capacity to improve student learning sustains my commitment to its potential. I believe that my research is contributing to the development of insider educational theory. I intend to encourage others to produce their accounts of practice to show how my influence has inspired them to exercise their influence in the lives of others for personal-social benefit. If our aim as educators is to create a world better than the one we currently live in through education, and if we feel we are in positions of influence to do so, we need to support the development of the kind of practical theory in action that will show our practices and also explain the justifications we give for what we are doing. For me, educational administration and leadership are educative, and I hope that I am contributing to a theory of education that will show that educational reality.
