Hartger Wassink, Peter Sleegers and Jeroen Imants
The complexity of the work of school leaders has intensified in recent years. The basic assumption underlying this article is that school leaders should develop a coherent vision…
Abstract
The complexity of the work of school leaders has intensified in recent years. The basic assumption underlying this article is that school leaders should develop a coherent vision of the school to effectively cope with the increased complexity of their work. In order to develop such a coherent vision, integration at a cognitive level is needed. In order to gain insight into both the complexity and integrity of the visions of school leaders, their tacit knowledge is studied using cause maps. More specifically, a method to elicit and interpret cause maps is explored and the analysis of the tacit knowledge, as expressed in the structure and content of their cause maps, indeed shows them to differ with regard to the level of cognitive integrity and balance within their cognitive repertoires.