Shared Sense-Making Processes within a National Reform Implementation: Principals’ Voices

This qualitative study explores how 60 Israeli high school principals vary in their perceptions and enactments of shared sense-making processes while engaging in strategic activities to gain teachers’ support during a national reform implementation. Data analysis has yielded three major themes: (a) a common language; (b) a collaborative learning process; and (c) a shared working culture. Leveraging a shared sense-making process can serve as a beneficial framework through which principals and faculty members collectively navigate complexity and uncertainty while implementing policy within their unique contexts. Theoretical and practical implications for faculty members and principals are suggested.