Assistant Professor, the Department of Education Policy and Leadership, The Education University of Hong Kong
Dr Paul Campbell is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Education Policy and Leadership (EPL). He is an experienced senior educational leader and educator having been a Vice Principal, Senior Leader and Primary Teacher in Scotland, Australia, Spain and Hong Kong prior to moving into academia. Paul’s research interests are at the intersection of leadership, collaboration, and educational change.
Paul is widely engaged in the broader education community. He is an elected board member and director of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) and sits on the editorial board of the School Leadership and Management (SLAM), Beijing International Review of Education, and Management in Education (MiE) journals, and the Publications Committee of the British Educational Research Association (BERA). Paul is also a Fellow of the RSA, and an Honorary International Affiliate of Centre for International Research into Leadership in Education (CIRLE) at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales.
Educational change, improvement efforts, and policy reforms are constants in the evolving landscape of education. Principals and senior leaders play a pivotal role in navigating these changes and supporting their school communities. This presentation explores how leaders’ life histories influence educational change, offering insights into leadership, community, agency, and political awareness.
Over the past century, approaches to school improvement and change implementation have transformed significantly. Building on the co-construction approach (Datnow & Park, 2009), this presentation highlights the need for re-conceptualized methodologies that emphasize storytelling and analysis to understand the complexity of educational change and educators' professional lives. Integrating life history and narrative analysis from psychology, sociology, and education, this approach documents principals' and educators' experiences, focusing on identities in leadership and change. It reveals how individuals make sense of their worlds and how these worlds shape actions and perceptions during times of change and improvement efforts.
This framework explores how principals interweave their narratives with those of their school communities. The findings inform how principals construct their stories and make decisions about school improvement, offering attendees a deeper understanding of life histories in educational leadership and broader implications for future-forward education.