Leading Through the Interstices: How French Principals Navigate Pedagogical Innovation Within a Centralized System

This chapter explores the competencies and practices French school principals (Proviseurs and Principaux) employ to foster pedagogical innovation within a centralized educational system. Using Crossan et al.’s (1999) 4I model of organizational learning as a heuristic, the study uses 18 semi-structured interviews to reveal how these leaders move from individual intuition to collective action. Findings indicate that while principals possess significant agency in intuiting needs and interpreting possibilities through dialogue, they face a substantial bottleneck during the institutionalization phase. This challenge is driven by systemic constraints – including limited school-level autonomy and administrative burdens – that often leave the organizational learning cycle incomplete. However, the study identifies a resilient professional identity: the ‘Pragmatic Pilot’. By working within the ‘interstices’ of the system, these leaders leverage social intelligence and informal influence to sustain innovation between the lines of national mandates. This chapter discusses the implications for leadership development and policy, arguing that the French experience provides takeaways for navigating pedagogical change in any constrained global environment.