Shadowing school principals - What do we learn (anew)?

Abstract

Shadowing has been used for decades in educational leadership and management research. Yet, there appears to be little academic discussion of shadowing and its related forms or analyses of the method itself. This contribution attempts to further a reflection on shadowing by providing insights into its use as well as its pitfalls and merits. For this purpose, relevant studies from 2017 until 2023 making use of shadowing were analyzed. The results indicate that although the use of shadowing in educational leadership research has increased, methodological discussion and reflection of the method has been only limited.