Constructing the identity of school principals is difficult because being a principal requires carrying out complex functions in challenging contexts. Our research addressed semi‐professional school leadership in Catalonia, Spain, with a particular focus on differences in the managerial styles of men and women. In Spain, the school management system is semi‐professional which means that principals are teachers who take on leadership roles for limited periods. In a descriptive study based on an ad hoc questionnaire administered to a representative sample, we considered the personal and contextual characteristics of elementary school principals. Focusing on the variable of gender, this article analyses principals' reasons for accepting and continuing in their position and principals' priorities when performing their duties; also, their perceptions of various aspects of the school environment that help them in their role. We found significant differences related to gender. While the predominance of male principals in elementary education is declining, female principals, more than their male counterparts, must accept and tackle the challenges associated with contextualized, distributed and pedagogical leadership in conditions leading to overexertion. Many of the principals who were women worked in small, rural or disadvantaged schools. Paradoxically, female principals construct their professional identity in closer alignment with administrative style and with teaching duties than with leadership style. We conclude that these challenges should be taken into account and further investigated to avert the precarious position of women in school leadership.

中文翻译：

---

西班牙半专业学校领导：性别差异

建立校长的身份很困难，因为要成为校长需要在充满挑战的环境中履行复杂的职能。我们的研究针对西班牙加泰罗尼亚的半专业学校领导，特别关注男女管理风格的差异。在西班牙，学校管理系统是半专业的，这意味着校长是在有限时期内担任领导职务的教师。在一项基于对代表性样本进行临时问卷调查的描述性研究中，我们考虑了小学校长的个人和背景特征。本文着眼于性别的变化，分析了校长接受和继续担任职务的原因以及校长在履行职责时的优先事项；也，他们对学校环境各个方面的看法有助于他们发挥作用。我们发现与性别相关的重大差异。尽管男校长在基础教育中的地位正在下降，但女校长（而不是男校长）必须接受并应对与导致过度劳累的情况下的情境化，分布式和教学型领导相关的挑战。女校长很多在小型，农村或弱势学校工作。矛盾的是，女校长的职业身份与行政风格和教学职责相比，与领导风格更接近。我们得出结论，应考虑并应对这些挑战，并进行进一步调查，以防止妇女在学校领导中的不稳定地位。