The intellectual identity of educational administration: Views of Israeli academics

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold, to answer two questions: how do senior educational administration (EA) field members perceive the field's scholarly aims and boundaries and the meaning of their intellectual work? and what are the similarities and differences between "outsider" and "insider" perceptions of the field's major purposes and directions? Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews with 12 Israeli academics who work in departments of EA in varied universities and colleges. Findings: The field members in the study shared similar views of the field's purposes and challenges, but were divided about the field's desired knowledgebase and scholarly boundaries. Some implications for the field's future development are suggested. Originality/value: The exploration of academics' perceptions of their own field of study may increase the intellectual and theoretical understandings of major epistemological aspects of EA as a field of study.