Language uses us, just as we use it. The language we use and the contexts or conditions of its use are both reflective and constitutive; that is, language reflects our thinking about a topic, but it also contributes to the construction of our realities. School people, especially administrators—assistant or vice principals or heads, principals or heads, and directors or superintendents and others—use talk to do their work. How administrators or educational leaders talk about their work matters.

This paper will examine at least two aspects of the talk of educational administration and leadership. The first has to do with how administrators talk about their local, proximate context—either the school they administer or lead, or the educational agency they are part of or lead. The second element of this paper examines how educational administrators or leaders talk about the other, either subordinate or superordinate bureaucratic educational organizational level. For example, how do principals talk about/conceive of the administration or organization at the next highest level—the district office? How do those at the district level talk about/conceive of those at the next lower level—the local school?

Consideration of these issues has implications for how communication is carried out across organizational levels, and, ultimately how the work of schooling is conceived of, talked about, and how it is accomplished, by those charged with the task and those charged with supporting such work (i.e., the work of teaching and leading teaching). For the purpose of the current symposium, principals' language and talk in diverse career stages will be illuminated.