Principal selection: homosocialibility, the search for security and the production of normalized principal identities Blackmore, Jill, Thomson, Pat and Barty, Karin 2006, Principal selection: homosocialibility, the search for security and the production of normalized principal identities, Educational management administration & leadership, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 297-317, doi: 10.1177/1741143206065267. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Principal selection: homosocialibility, the search for security and the production of normalized principal identities Author(s) Blackmore, Jill orcid.org/0000-0002-1049-2788 Thomson, Pat Barty, Karin Journal name Educational management administration & leadership Volume number 34 Issue number 3 Start page 297 End page 317 Publisher Sage Place of publication London, England Publication date 2006-07 ISSN 1741-1432 1741-1440 Keyword(s) career paths gender principalship selection Summary Researchers investigating the decline of potential applicants for principalships have demonstrated that teachers perceive there to be a significant problem in current selection procedures. This article reports an investigation in two Australian states into principal selection. Drawing on a corpus of interviews, two case studies and administrative guidelines, we highlight five key problems in the interview process: (1) the dependence of selection panels on a written application; (2) the dilemma of experience versus potential; (3) the covert rule about the appointment of preferred applicants; (4) the quandary of panel competency; and (5) the evidence of inconsistency of decisions. We argue that the selection process amounts to a reproductive technology which, in the quest for certainty and safety, results in particular kinds of people being successful. This amounts we suggest, whether the selection process is managed by progressive or conservative personnel, to a form of homosociability the tendency to select people just like oneself. Language eng DOI 10.1177/1741143206065267 Field of Research 130304 Educational Administration, Management and Leadership HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2006, BELMAS Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30003487 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Education Related Links Link Description Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 30 Jan 2009, 08:17:46 EST Wed, 02 Jun 2010, 15:23:02 EST Thu, 16 Feb 2012, 14:39:54 EST Fri, 13 Jun 2014, 23:27:44 EST Fri, 17 Oct 2014, 08:24:44 EST Mon, 29 Jun 2015, 14:05:26 EST Sat, 02 Dec 2017, 01:37:09 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 52 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 1069 Abstract Views, 3 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 07 Jul 2008, 08:54:34 EST