¿Por qué investigar el liderazgo de la Dirección escolar en España desde la perspectiva de la identidad profesional? Revisión teórica desde una mirada genealógica

Abstract

The relevance of identity and professional identity research topics is part of an epistemological reformulation in social research, which assumes that, in order to understand the complex problems of contemporary society, it is necessary to focus on the interpretation that social actors develop about themselves and their world. This article analyses, through a theoretical review and from a genealogical perspective, the background and foundations of this postulate in order to recreate the premises of a research on school principals’ professional identity, school improvement and leadership, currently in force in Spain. It addresses the arguments provided by three interrelated scientific fields: Social Sciences, and Research on School Improvement and Leadership, in the International and Spanish contexts. The combination of these contributions recreates the complex and challenging scenario that school principals must face in the configuration of their professional identities as pedagogical leaders in the world and in Spain, revealing that the approach to the issue requires to consider these three dimensions. The configuration of the meaning that school principals give to their profession takes place in a complex territory in which inertias of diverse nature and scale are interwoven: global and local, political, economic, social, psychological, cultural and historical. It is in the recognition of the different dimensions and scales that come into play, spatial and temporal, and the junctures/points of connection between the different arguments provided by the literature, that a deeper understanding of the issue and its relevance becomes possible. Perhaps this holistic, multidimensional and complex perspective holds the potential to generate valuable information and effective change strategies.