Rites of Passage: Coercion, Compliance, and Complicity in the Socialization of New Vice-Principals

Focus of Study: This research examined the socialization structures and processes that impacted the transition from teaching to administration. Eight newly appointed vice-principals from an urban Canadian school district were interviewed throughout the school year to determine the people, structures, and events that facilitated or hindered their transition and the challenges they encountered in leading and managing diverse urban schools.

Research Design: Qualitative methodology was used to explore new vice-principals’ experiences. Purposive sampling was used to represent the diversity of voices based on gender, ethnocultural background, type of school, and number of years of experience as a vice-principal. The vice-principals participated in two semistructured interviews during the school year. Individual responses were coded according to the research questions and further analyzed to determine recurring themes and patterns.

Findings/Results: The findings revealed that the novice vice-principals experienced separation, initiation, and incorporation rites that tested them physically, mentally, and emotionally. The pervasive pressure of these socialization tactics forced them to comply with normative expectations of the vice-principalship as a custodial disciplinary role and violated their professional rights.

Conclusion/Recommendations: Coercive socialization practices impact new administrators and their communities negatively and are antithetical to institutional goals of creating equitable schools. School districts, along with regulatory, training, and professional bodies, need to address core issues related to the vice-principalship and the ways in which new school leaders are socialized into administrative roles. Coordinated partnerships and interventions are also needed so that new administrators can develop leadership skills in emotionally and physically safe environments.

 

I wish my heart had been harder—you know, don’t take it personally. I wish I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to have time to have lunch with my friends. I wish I knew that the most difficult part of the job was going to be the adult rather than the kid piece. I wish I knew that I didn’t have to carry the entire world on my shoulders and that I could say, “It’s not my job. I don’t have to solve everything. ”I wish I knew that everybody in the world sees it differently than I do, and my expectations perhaps shouldn’t be as high. I wish I knew it was OK to ask for help. (Barb¹)

The transition from teacher to vice-principal is an important professional and organizational passage that carries significant dreams and transformational possibilities for new administrators and their communities. However, it is not unusual for new vice-principals like Barb, who enter administration with the intention of making a positive difference for students beyond the classroom, to experience pervasive organizational rites of passage (van Gennep, 1960) that work together to divest initiates of their previous teacher values and socialize them into traditional administrative roles (Fishbein & Osterman, 2001; Marshall, 1992a). In many cases, these socialization practices remain unquestioned because they are normalized within the daily rituals of schooling. These practices also serve to reinforce the differences between organizational roles and maintain existing power structures. However, from the individual perspective, these socialization practices represent barriers to organizational change that undermine new vice-principals’ professional rights and restrict their ability to develop equitable leadership praxis (Armstrong, 2005).

Vice-principals who were appointed in the last decade have experienced additional socialization challenges because of rapid organizational reforms that carry legal obligations for enforcement (Armstrong, 2009; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Nanavati & McCulloch, 2003). In many jurisdictions, parallel and sometimes contradictory changes in curriculum, governance, and staffing have increased the complexity and size of administrators’ workload while depriving them of their traditional support bases (Earl, Freeman, Lasky, Sutherland & Torrance, 2002; Griffith, 2001). The difficulty of this passage is exacerbated for administrators who work in urban settings because of external pressures to implement policies that equate sameness with equity, further disadvantaging minority populations (Armstrong & McMahon, 2006; Marshall & Hooley, 2006; Ryan, 2002).  These administrators feel frustrated by their inability to address the needs of an increasingly diverse school demographic, and they experience ambiguity and stress when their actions and values conflict (Armstrong, 2004b, 2005; Begley, 2003).

This study examined the early separation, initiation, and incorporation rites of passage that eight newly appointed Canadian vice-principals experienced as part of their socialization into the vice-principalship. It highlighted the socialization challenges they encountered in leading and managing diverse urban schools and the ways in which these pressures influenced the novice vice-principals’ development of equitable practices. By focusing on new vice-principals’ socialization rites, this study integrated and expanded the existing knowledge base of administrative socialization. Although earlier studies have emphasized the importance of the vice-principalship as a frontline role in which most administrators develop the foundational attitudes that shape future administrative practice (Calebrese, 1991; Hartzell, Williams, & Nelson, 1994; Marshall, 1992a, 1992b), the majority of research in educational administration continues to focus on principals. In addition, because principals and vice-principals often share roles, it is often assumed that their socialization experiences are the same. However, this is not the case. Because of differences in position and power within the administrative hierarchy, principals and vice-principals experience socialization practices differently (Armstrong, 2005). The following section provides a review of the socialization research that informs this study.

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