Résumé
This article presents the benefits of an intervention research study that set up a framework for discussing the kind of work situations elementary school principals experience. Anchored in a cultural and historical perspective of human development, the intervention accompanies 16 French elementary school principals as they describe their work experience, using the method of "instruction by the use of stand-ins". The study data is about a stand-in instruction cycle with these principals and a meeting in the presence of their superiors. The work situations analyzed during the stand-in instruction cycle relate to working with families and partners (municipal staff, students' parents, inspectors) that these principals deem problematic. The results show that describing work experience allows school principals to redefine the work activity responsible for causing educational issues. They also highlight how discussions about tricky work situations are developed with hierarchical superiors to open pathways of transformation for educational organizations.