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The purpose of this paper is to discuss how fieldwork impacted the author's own and one participant's positioning; the author's reflexivity, experiences and feelings of alterity; the participant's performances and conversations between the author and participant.

The author uses a confessional tale to describe the time spent with the participant and confesses how it impacted on the author as the researcher. The author examines her biases, feelings, and vulnerabilities, and explores some of the methodological and positioning issues with which she struggled.

The author ponders on what she learned while being in such close quarters with a participant and discusses what she should keep in mind about herself as the researcher during subsequent data collection forays. Researchers should know themselves well before attempting such closeness because when we are researchers, we can’t change who we are as people.

It is believed that the extreme researcher/participant closeness was unique but was, at the same time, an extremely useful form of data collection.

The purpose of this study is to explore the leadership experiences of four female secondary principals (two Black, two White) in one south‐western state to create significant discourse for understanding school leadership nested in complex social, political and cultural contexts. These women confronted education challenges of social justice, democracy, and equity in their schools.

The philosophical tradition of phenomenology was chosen as the qualitative methodology for this study “which is understood to be a concern for human meaning and ultimately for interpreting those meanings so that they inform our practice and our science”. As a secondary analysis of a specific finding (i.e. female leaders who exemplified a values‐orientation around issues of social justice in their leadership practices) from the original study the lived experiences of four female secondary school leaders were further explored.

All four women engaged in leadership praxis by: transforming school practices to promote equity and access for all students and embracing diversity of their student populations; connecting the world of research and practice; adopting democratic and participative leadership styles that relate to female values developed through socialization processes including building relationships, consensus building, power as influence, and working together for a common purpose.

While the focus is secondary school female leaders and educational leadership in a North American context, the implications have a broader transnational focus, exploring themes and issues that may span national boundaries and cultures.

For purposes of this article, the original data were revisited to conduct secondary analyses of the experiences of four women. Research contends that this approach can be used to generate new knowledge, new hypotheses, or support for existing theories; and that it allows wider use of data from rare or inaccessible respondents.

Warwickshire County Council’s Libraries and Heritage Department has opened two new libraries in the past year – one of them in a former public swimming pool in the centre of Royal Leamington Spa. The £7 million redevelopment of the town’s Royal Pump Room complex presented an unexpected and irresistible opportunity which, you might say, plunged Libraries and Heritage “in at the deep end”. Almost 12 months on, members of the project team reflect on the process and problems of adapting a derelict listed building for a new purpose – and then moving an entire library across town. They review reactions to the new library and its extended services, both initially and once things settled down. Outstanding issues and ongoing concerns are covered, as well as the new library’s successes.

The purpose of this paper is to propose, as a candidate for a signature pedagogy, a method centered on case writing and peer review.

In this method, aspiring education leaders use the writing of case studies – frequently featuring themselves as an actor in a narrative of organizational development or change – to advance their reflection in and on action. The study is then shared with members of the candidate's peer group (cohort members, faculty, or senior practitioners) as a step to building and integrating the candidate in a community of practice. To illustrate, the authors publish the case of a novice school‐leader's voyage to create unity and solidarity among a divided staff. The paper shows that case writing can enrich our arsenal of pedagogies that move the novice beyond the dualism of scholarship and practice.

Case writing uniquely facilitates reflection‐in‐action and the building of communities of practice.

Innovative pedagogies are required if practitioner education and training are to take their distinct place next to that of researchers and academics.

This paper describes the use of case writing cum peer review as a tool to develop the practical knowledge of fledgling educational leaders.