Principals Learning from Veteran Teachers Serving Impoverished Students: Social Justice Implications for Professors of Educational Administration - Social Justice Leadership

Oct 15, 2026

Qualitative research examines how ten veteran elementary teachers shape what new principals need to learn to become social justice leaders in impoverished schools. Using Hargrove’s single-, double-, and triple-loop thinking, the study finds learning that supports equitable schooling depends on principals identifying their self-perceptions and aligning them with on-the-ground realities. It argues that transformative learning requires identity work, critical reflection on egocentric and sociocentric mental models, and teacher–principal interactions grounded in empathy, humility, perseverance, and courage.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Study focus and theoretical lens

Loop thinking and perceptions for equity

Transformative learning and identity alignment

Mental models and critical reflection

Principal learning through veteran teachers

Empathy, humility, perseverance, and courage

Egocentrism and sociocentrism definitions

Barriers to critical thinking and closed-mindedness

Equity, inclusive schools, and historical context

Civil rights, persistent discrimination, and experiential education

Principals Learning from Veteran Teachers Serving Impoverished Students: Social Justice Implications for Professors of Educational Administration Dale Rosine University of Redlands This qualitative study of ten elementary veteran teachers used Hargrove’s single, double, and triple-loop thinking to understand their perceptions regarding knowledge new principals need to be social justice leaders working in impoverished schools. Findings in three categories revealed the importance of principals learning to identify their self-perceptions so as to work for equitable schools. Implications from the study are outlined to support professors of educational administration with the learning needed to transform the entire education system. Learning can occur at different levels. The deepest learning involves a transformation of learners. Administrators who are new principals working in schools serving impoverished and highly diverse students find that their perceptions often are not in alignment with the realities encountered (Shoho & Barnett, 2010) . For the shift in perceptions to occur as people make sense of things, they have to have an adequate amount of relevant experience. . . .Experience is important because it is only through a substantial range of relevant experience that the entire system can be adequately engaged (Caine & Caine, 2006, p. 54) . Attaining the goal of transformative learning is not easy for educational leaders. It requires an understanding of learning as the embodiment of identity and engaging in the work of transforming one’s identity to be in alignment with new learning, especially in terms of being social justice leaders. Cranton (2006) wrote about people’s unquestioned mental models of the world. The way we see the world is a product of our knowledge about the world, our cultural background and language, our psychological nature, our moral and ethical views, the religious doctrine or world-view we subscribe to, and the way we see beauty. Each perspective is made up of interwoven beliefs, values, feelings, and assumptions that together create the lens through which we see the world and form the basis for our actions in the world (p. 28) . Educational Leadership and Administration: Teaching and Program Development Volume 24, January 2013 ISSN 1532-0723 © 2013 California Association of Professors of Educational Administration Principals can engage in deep learning by interacting with veteran teachers and reading of their experiences working in schools serving impoverished and highly diverse students. Such learning may enable them to challenge their tendencies toward egocentrismand sociocentrism. Paul and Elder (2006) defined each of these terms to reveal the need to reflect critically on ones’ perceptions. Egocentricity: A tendency to view everything in relationship to oneself, to confuse immediate perceptions (how things seem) with reality; the tendency to be self-centered to consider only oneself and one’s own interests. One’s desires, values, and beliefs (seemingly to be self-evidently correct or superior to those of others) are often used uncritically as the norm ofall judgment and experience. Egocentricity is one of the impediments to critical thinking . . . (p. 483) . Sociocentricity: The assumption that one’s own social group is inherently and selfevidently superior to all others. When a group or society sees itself as superior, and so considers its views as correct or as the only reasonable or justifiable views, and all its actions as justified, it has a tendency to presuppose this superiority in all of its thinking and, thus, to think closed-mindedly (p. 498) . The voices of veteran teachers working in schools serving impoverished and highly diverse students are sources of knowledge that may promote critical reflection for new principals working in such schools. Learning is transactional in that interactions with veteran teachers can provide learning opportunities for new pri

FAQs

What problem does the study address for new principals?

It addresses the mismatch between new principals’ self-perceptions and the realities encountered in impoverished and highly diverse schools, and how that mismatch can undermine equitable, inclusive leadership.

How does the study explain how learning happens at different levels?

It distinguishes deeper learning as transformation of learners, emphasizing that meaningful shifts in perceptions require adequate relevant experience and sustained engagement with the broader system.

Which qualities does the study say principals need when learning from veteran teachers?

Principals should act with empathy, humility, perseverance in monitoring egocentricity and sociocentricity, and courage to uphold dignity and commit to equity and ending oppression.

Oct 15, 2026

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