ABSTRACT
Substantial attention in the literatures of educational administration and leadership has been focused on the principalship. Despite this volume of attention, there is no universal portrayal of principal identity. I argue that the principalship and any sense of identity are simultaneously constitutive of and emergent from social relations. In doing so, I advance a relational approach to understanding organising and, through the key concepts of organising activity, auctor and spatio-temporal conditions, argue that we find unexpected and surprising resources to think through the principalship. These resources do not simply offer an alternate conceptualisation of the role or lists of behaviours/traits that will bring about positive outcomes. Instead, crafting an elaborated description of unfolding activity generates the necessary conditions to recast the principalship as a social relation. What I offer is a methodology (the relational approach) and the theoretical resources (organizing, activity, auctor and spatio-temporal conditions) to understand the principalship in new terms. Empirically grounding the chapter through the principalship in New South Wales (NSW, Australia) public schools, these new terms break from orthodox discussions regarding principal identity to offer a viable alternative and insights that can serve as the basis for enhanced understanding and potential interventions.
