Open Collections

Leading on the verge of peril : a creative journey of vice-principalship

University of British Columbia

This work comprises both artistic expression and self-inquiry to tell the story of a Vice-Principal’s apprenticeship and his travels in the narrative landscape of public school. Using creative non-fiction methods, the lived experiences of a Vice-Principal are told through a collection of vignettes, adventures and mishaps that occur to the characters in and across the community arena of a typical Vancouver school called Kitsilano Elementary. Much of what is presented describes the struggle for meaning and professional development which the main character must experience to learn leadership. Angus Bruce, the apprenticing Vice-Principal undergoes training for leadership, taking guidance from a mentor, and attempts to avoid the perils and pitfalls that dot his landscape and challenge his authority and identity. In this narrative Angus shares his experiences, creative expression and practices of school administration, his personal angst and educational joy in caring for young people and the transformations that are experienced in gaining a professional knowledge required to be promoted to a Principalship. The narrative is written using creative non-fiction to portray a work of truthful representations in a fictionalized work of art. This arts-informed inquiry uses narrative structures, poetry, and a/r/tography to situate the self-study of administrative service and servant leader in a fictionalized work of art, while creatively portraying the researcher’s inner voices of unease, humility and gratitude.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-05-05

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7893

Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/