Purpose: School principals’ commitment and motivation have not been systematically investigated, but concerted research is needed as 25% of principals leave their jobs each year. This article investigates how new school principals make sense of their motivation to challenging work in a high pressure, high turnover field. Understanding principal motivation is important for recruiting and retaining talented educators. How principals understand their motivation may significantly affect their actions, practices, and persistence. Therefore, insight into principals’ motivation is important. Research Methods: Data come from interviews with 35 new principals in Chicago Public Schools. As initial phases of inductive analyses around principal’s career narratives were completed, this grounded theory inquiry focused on how principals use discourses of calling to make sense of their motivation. Data were analyzed through three iterations of coding: open, focused, and closed. Findings: School principals used themes of calling to make sense of their motivation in challenging contexts. Specifically, they described their destiny to work in education, duty to serve students, and fulfillment in work. Calling narratives explain past action and elevate the importance of the work, likely fueling continued motivation. Implications: This work adds a narrative component to research on principals’ motivation and transition, focusing on principals’ efforts to manage challenges. The results provide novel empirical data on principals’ sense-making, efforts to manage multiplying work demands, and on how professionals use calling to make sense of and bolster work motivation. Future work should determine whether calling narratives predict retention among principals.

中文翻译：

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呼召：新任校长讲述工作中的命运、责任和成就感

目的：尚未系统地调查校长的承诺和动机，但需要协调一致的研究，因为每年有 25% 的校长离职。本文调查了新校长如何理解他们在高压、高流动性领域挑战工作的动机。了解主要动机对于招聘和留住有才华的教育工作者很重要。校长如何理解他们的动机可能会显着影响他们的行动、实践和坚持。因此，洞察校长的动机很重要。研究方法：数据来自对芝加哥公立学校 35 位新校长的采访。随着围绕校长职业叙述的归纳分析的初始阶段完成，这种扎根理论探究的重点是校长如何使用召唤话语来理解他们的动机。通过三个编码迭代来分析数据：开放式、集中式和封闭式。调查结果：学校校长使用召唤主题来理解他们在具有挑战性的环境中的动机。具体而言，他们描述了自己从事教育工作的命运、为学生服务的责任以及在工作中的成就感。电话叙述解释了过去的行动并提升了工作的重要性，可能会激发持续的动力。启示：这项工作为校长动机和转变的研究增加了叙事成分，重点关注校长应对挑战的努力。结果提供了关于校长的意义构建、管理成倍增加的工作需求的努力的新经验数据，以及专业人士如何使用电话来理解和增强工作动力。未来的工作应该确定呼叫叙述是否可以预测校长的保留率。