Purpose: In this paper, we describe the impact of COVID-19 on principals and their work. Drawing on prior research undertaken prior to the onset of the pandemic, we describe how principals were already grappling with difficult tensions associated with their expertise, autonomy, normative orientation and rewards that may have real implications for their work moving forward and how, in the current context of uncertainty and change we believe the issue of principal professionalism requires our collective attention and action. Design/methodology/approach: Over the last year, we undertook a multistate qualitative study of 17 school leaders to explore how principals working in traditional public schools conceptualize the principal profession and their role within it. Briefly, we found that the principalship is an “emergent profession” characterized by shared but individually determined knowledge and skills; a normative orientation of service; confused notions of external expectations and rewards and ongoing tensions among all of these elements. Findings: Professionalism may be a surprising lever for improving the capacity of school leadership. Through our research, we identified that little is known about professionalism as it relates to the unique work of school leaders, but that understanding more about it could lead to greater knowledge of how to encourage and retain them. In the current context of uncertainty, chaos and change, the pressure on leaders to stay in the role and to succeed has never been greater. Thus, it is critical that principals have the capacity to exert professionalism over their work and to have greater say in elements of it, recognizing that some decisions must be made at district, state and federal levels. Originality/value: While many studies investigate how teachers of various backgrounds and in different contexts think about teaching as a profession (e.g. Anderson and Cohen, 2015; Stone-Johnson, 2014b; Torres and Weiner, 2018; Hall and McGinty, 2015), we had difficulty identifying studies focused on principals and using frameworks of professionalism to understand how these activities reflect larger shifts in the profession itself. This is despite the changing nature of principals' work, which, like the work of teachers, has been and continues to be largely influenced by the increasing role of neoliberal principles and policies in education. The public nature of the work of school leadership and the potential to support students, families and the communities in which they live brings in sharp focus the necessity of greater understanding of it during the COVID-19 crisis.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19时代的主要专业精神

目的：在本文中，我们描述了COVID-19对校长及其工作的影响。在大流行开始之前进行的先前研究中，我们描述了校长如何应对与其专业知识，自主权，规范性取向和报酬相关的紧张关系，这些紧张关系可能对其前进的方向产生实际影响，以及在当前情况下在不确定性和变化的背景下，我们认为主要专业问题需要我们的集体关注和行动。设计/方法/方法：去年，我们对17名学校负责人进行了多州定性研究，以探讨在传统公立学校工作的校长如何将校长职业及其在职校中的作用概念化。简要地，我们发现，校长职位是一种“新兴职业”，其特点是共享但由个人决定的知识和技能；服务的规范化方向；外部期望和回报以及所有这些因素之间持续存在的紧张关系使人困惑。调查结果：专业精神可能是提高学校领导能力的出奇手段。通过我们的研究，我们发现对职业素养的了解很少，因为它与学校领导的独特工作有关，但是对职业素养的更多了解可能会导致人们对如何鼓励和留住他们有更多的了解。在当前充满不确定性，混乱和变化的情况下，领导者保持角色和取得成功的压力从未如此大。因此，至关重要的是，校长有能力在工作中发挥专业精神，并在其中要有更大的发言权，认识到必须在地区，州和联邦各级做出一些决定。原创性/价值：尽管许多研究调查了不同背景和不同背景下的教师如何考虑将教学作为一种职业（例如，安德森和科恩，2015年；石约翰逊，2014b；托雷斯和韦纳，2018年；霍尔和麦金提，2015年），我们很难确定专注于校长的研究并使用专业框架来了解这些活动如何反映专业本身的更大变化。尽管校长的工作性质发生了变化，就像教师的工作一样，新自由主义原则和政策在教育中的作用越来越大，而且已经并且将继续受到很大的影响。学校领导工作的公共性质以及支持学生，家庭和他们所生活的社区的潜力使人们更加关注在COVID-19危机期间有必要对此有更多的了解。