Critical perspectives on changes in educational leadership practice

This paper examines a group of Chinese educational leaders’ leadership practice changes after undertaking a leadership development course offered by an Australian university in China. It presents their self-reported changes in leadership practice profiles and features selected vignettes. The study was primarily qualitative and interpretative, based on the interview responses of 20 participants. The findings showed that exposure to different perspectives appeared to expand participants’ views and equip them with a wider range of leadership strategies. Despite some observable differences in practices reported by participants from the three sectors (school, educational system, and university), there seemed to be more similarities than variance. The respondents were cautious about radical changes in leadership practice, reiterating that local contexts and cultures must be considered when accommodating Western educational ideas. The study suggests that participants’ self-reported changes in leadership practices resulted from mediation of contextual and cultural conditions rather than the direct transfer of Western ideas and practices into the Chinese context.     

Choosing teaching as a career in urban public Catholic and Jewish schools by graduates of elite colleges

Recruitment, preparation, and retention of graduates of elite colleges is considered an innovative approach to improve teacher quality and promote change in the neediest schools. While the debate over the effectiveness of such programs is heavily focused on programs like Teach For America, this paper considers three teacher preparation programs located at elite colleges that combine alternative and traditional teacher preparation. This article argues that teachers who were trained at elite colleges and who chose teaching in urban public, urban Catholic, and Jewish schools tend to (a) conceptualize teaching around broad issues related to social justice, educational change, and community revitalization, arguing they joined teaching to improve society, and (b) seek leadership positions in their respective school sectors. These findings carry substantial policy implications in the areas of teacher recruitment, preparation, retention, and teacher quality.     

Gendered inequalities in competitive grant funding: an overlooked dimension of gendered power relations in academia

ABSTRACT

Research grant funding influences the organisation of academic work and academic careers. We problematise general approaches to gender bias in research grant funding and argue that it fails to include the wider structures of inequality and the unequal gendered power relations in academia. Approaching the subject with gender budgeting we challenge assumed gender-neutral practices. The objective is to illuminate how the gendered funding system and (the previous and subsequent) gendered structures of academia are maintained. The whole grants scheme is assessed, drawing on statistical data collected on the whole population of a medium-size, comprehensive research and educational institution in Iceland, and two types of competitive grants. The data is measured against the pool of applicants and comparisons within and between fields and ranks are made. By including the structures of inequality and the gendered power relations, the results show how the funding system is biased not only in favour of men, but towards the male-dominated and culturally masculine positions and fields. This approach illustrates the need to address the whole academic system in order to challenge the norms that maintain and reproduce gender inequalities.     

Moving from best practice to next practice: some deliberations on educational leadership

This paper begins from the premise that the challenges characterising the contemporary education environment call for more flexible approaches to leadership than the traditional reliance on codified knowledge. These more flexible approaches are likely to involve new ways of learning, dispositions and behaviours, which enable educational leadership to progress from ‘best practice’ to ‘next practice’. The paper, therefore, has two main aims. First, it seeks to illuminate a potential modus operandi for contending with the complex challenges that have become integral to the landscape of educational leadership. Second, it seeks to encourage consideration of the implications of this modus operandi for processes of leadership thinking, learning and development. For this purpose, the nature of the challenges purported to define the landscape of educational leadership now and into the future is first discussed. This is followed by an examination of three interrelated leadership concepts in enabling appropriate judgements to be made in dealing effectively with highly complex circumstances, namely, ‘phronesis’, ‘contextual intelligence’ and ‘negative capability’. The paper concludes by discussing the circumstances within the professional milieu that either constrain or promote the kind of educational leadership that is deemed to be required for embracing the three concepts in question.     

‘Someone had to have faith in them as professionals’: an evaluation of an action research project to develop educational leadership across the early years

This article reports on an evaluation of three action research projects developed by a group of teachers working across the early years in three independent schools. The article examines the role of action research in developing educational leadership capabilities. Drawing on the educational leadership literature, concepts and ideas of action and activism, influence and change, and capacity to develop a vision are used to describe and analyse the data from qualitative pre-project and post-project individual interviews. The article argues that the empirical findings suggest action research was a powerful tool in developing educational leadership capabilities. This article concludes by suggesting that further research is needed to better understand how action research can be utilised to develop sustainable forms of educational leadership in the early years.     

Gender and Leadership in South African Educational Administration

Between 1994 and 1999, new discourses of social justice and gender equity enabled the entry of significant numbers of women into the previously all-male domains of the educational bureaucracy. At the same time, women in one bureaucracy were leaving as fast as they were entering. This article probes this phenomenon of the simultaneous transformation of the educational administration and the apparent consolidation of earlier patriarchal forms of control, albeit on a non-racial basis. On the basis of 16 in-depth interviews conducted in the Gauteng Department of Education with key decision-makers, the article argues that these developments can be explained by the particular constructs and practices of leadership in educational administration that associate leadership and competence with masculinity, rationality and whiteness. This is evident in how interviewees framed their experience of authority and leadership, visibility and recognition and balance between public and private life. The experience overall was such as to lever women out of their positions. All interviewees drew on a range of personal and social resources to deal with the stresses and strains of working in educational administration. Black women drew strength from a belief in the collective strength and capability of women rooted in maternal feminism.     

Universal patterns or the tale of two systems? Mathematics achievement and educational expectations in post-socialist Europe

Although communist ideology claimed to destroy former class stratification based on labour market capitalist relationships, de facto during socialism one social class hierarchy was substituted for another that was equally unequal. The economic transition during the 1990s increased stratification by wealth, which affected educational inequality. This study examines the relationships among parental education, gender, educational expectations and mathematics achievement of youths in five post-socialist Eastern European countries, comparing them with three Western countries. We employed the 8th-grade data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1995 and 2007. The findings point to the universal associations between parental education and student outcomes, whereas gender comparisons present interesting East-West differences. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Educational inequality in rural and urban India

This paper presents estimates of educational inequality for the major Indian states. We compute the education Gini index separately for the rural and urban sectors and examine the changes in inequality during past two decades. The estimates show the high extent of educational inequality; though the inequality declined between 1993 and 2009 the Gini index is above 50% in 2009. Using the analysis of Gini (ANOGI), a technique to decompose overall inequality into the inequality within- and between-sectors, we find that a large part of overall educational inequality is accounted for by intra-sector inequality. Further, intra-sector inequality has increased and inter-sector inequality has narrowed during the above period.     

When Identity and Leadership Intersect: The Experiences of Six Female Principals in South Africa

While literature on the interplay between educational leadership and context abounds, the attention granted to the experiences of female principals has, to a large extent, treated the construction of women as a homogeneous entity. Consequently, very little, certainly within the South African context, is known about how women in leadership positions construct and enact their leadership identities. Drawing on the experiences of six female principals at public schools, this article investigates the extent to which conceptions of gender give shape to the formation of leadership identity. To this end, the focus of the article is to explore the complex intersections of constructions of identity in relation to female principals; and how these constructions hold particular implications for conceptions of gendered leadership in South African schools.     

Dorothy's Wars: school leadership during the Birmingham Blitz

This essay examines the school leadership experiences of an infant school head teacher in Birmingham, England, during the Second World War. Drawing on the letters of Dorothy Walker, the essay offers insights into school leadership wartime deprivations. The impact of an international war on the home front was not head teacher Dorothy Walker's only challenge. As the youngest and one of the few women head teachers in Birmingham, Dorothy Walker struggled with the traditional masculine hierarchy of the local educational system and with traditional social and familial gender roles. Dorothy Walker also battled with a traditional educational school culture as she promoted progressive educational practices. These three challenges – the war, gender relations, and progressivism – are referred to as ‘Dorothy's Wars’, or the battles that she faced as a woman school leader in Birmingham during the early years of the Second World War.     

Cross-cultural dimensions of applied,critical, and transformational leadership: women principals advancing social justice and educational equity

This study, based on the qualitatively rendered experiences and perceptions of educational leaders from historically underserved backgrounds in the US, argues that identity impacts leadership practice. To make this point, researchers build upon an emergent theoretical framework for applied critical leadership from the theories and traditions of transformational leadership, personal leadership, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory. With regard to methodology, a two-subject case study was validated by adding three additional participants for points of verification to the findings and discussion. Interview, field notes, and relevant documents were analyzed using phenomenology and constant comparative methods. Major findings indicate participants’ practice reveal characteristics of cross-cultural applied, critical, and transformational leadership. These scholarly findings are significant because they can inform mainstream leadership practices contributing to educational equity, authentic multiculturalism, improved intercultural relations, innovation, increased academic achievement, and sustainable educational change.     

Mentoring Matters: An Exploratory Survey of Educational Leadership Doctoral Students’ Perspectives

There is limited research on quantitative differences between men and women’s experiences in doctoral programs. We aim to fill that gap by sharing findings from a web-based exploratory survey of perceived gender differences on quality mentoring in educational leadership doctoral programs. According to survey results, there is limited statistical significance in terms of gender differences in programmatic supports and scholarly progress. However, women experience feelings of self-doubt due to negative experiences with advising and mentoring, including difficulties making connections to a quality mentor. Furthermore, both female and male participants shared common definitions of what constitutes quality mentorship and believed mentorship was important, but lacking in varying degrees. Finally, all participants agreed that their educational leadership preparation programs should provide additional support in terms of writing and research development. Participants also shared important recommendations for strengthening mentoring experiences as well as future research methods and foci.     

Wird die Pluralität in der Erziehungswissenschaft aufgekündigt?

This paper discusses whether research following PISA might constrain the plurality of empirical and theoretical approaches in empirical educational research. The significance of plurality in the field of science is reviewed initially; followed by the paper’s central thesis. It is argued that qualitative and new quantitative empirical educational research seldom considers each other in key areas of the field, e.?g. investigations on educational inequality. Though, ‘dimming out’ perspective-wise is marked rather a distinct feature of new quantitative educational research. Using the example of research on selection-based learning environments, students’ habitus and the family’s role in educational inequality, it is shown how a reflected linkage of both perspectives and mutual reception can be substantially beneficial to the findings of both paradigms.     

ICT,Leadership in Education and E‐leadership

Advances in information and communication technology are changing organisations, including those in educational settings. Old practices are being altered, and new practices, spaces and possibilities created. The changes are such that it is timely to consider whether our current leadership conceptions remain useful. In non‐educational sectors there is an emerging body of opinion and empirical research that is focusing on what is termed “e‐leadership”. Whilst e‐leadership is a recently constructed concept, with considerable conceptual ambiguity, there are significant differences in leading technology‐mediated environments. These environments appear to place greater emphasis on the ability of leaders to cope with paradoxes and dilemmas and the associated behavioural complexity, to communicate with team members and establish an appropriate social climate and to be able to convey exemplary interpersonal skills through the associated technology. There is a greater emphasis on dispersed leadership. In some situations, such as anonymous groups, formal leadership may be detrimental to group performance. More research is needed, but even at the early stage of the development of e‐leadership it is clear that leadership in technology‐mediated environments needs to be carefully considered. As more examples of these environments are developed in educational settings, e­‐leadership will become an important part of our view of educational leadership.     

Professor Lesley Parker: a science educator writ large

Professor Lesley Parker’s career has moved from teaching and advising graduate students at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia to leadership roles and advocacy positions in state and national governments and in international organizations. Throughout her distinguished career, she has been committed to social justice, particularly in gender equity. Indeed, that commitment infuses her professional contributions as teacher, advisor, administrator, and policy maker. In this Key Contribution, many of her colleagues describe their admiration for her as well as provide information that helps the reader place her work in a national and an international perspective. She has received many of Australia’s highest honors, and she continues to contribute to her university, her state, and her nation. Her contributions form a lasting legacy in social justice, particularly in gender equity and in educational leadership.     

Epistemological beliefs and leadership approaches among South African school principals

Studies on school restructuring and the leadership role of the principal in this process suggest that what has been the traditional leadership approach of the principal appears to be changing in relation to the substantial changes and school-wide reforms that are continually taking place in schools today. These school reform initiatives necessitate new and creative ways of thinking about our concept of educational leadership and its various approaches. It also became clear from the literature on leadership that a person’s assumption of various types of knowledge influence his or her leadership approach. The purpose of this study, based on a quantitative empirical study in selected South African schools, is to identify this impact of principals’ assumptions of knowledge on their leadership approaches. A total of 100 questionnaires with open-ended questions were sent electronically to school principals of randomly selected schools to assess the link between principals’ assumptions about the nature of knowledge and principal leadership. The t-test, Lambda test and an Analysis of Variances test were used to analyse the data. The findings confirm the relationship between core epistemological beliefs (EBs) and beliefs about leadership practices among South African school principals and provide substantial justification for using EBs in the study of school leadership.     

Towards a Gendered Skills Analysis of Senior Management Positions in UK and Australian Universities

Women remain outsiders in university leadership and management. The literature indicates that discipline base, career mobility, experience outside academia, selection processes, and gender stereotyping may impact on women becoming senior managers. This article reports on research with current and former Vice‐Chancellors, senior managers, and recruitment firms to identify skill requirements for effective leadership and management. Our research indicates gender is an issue in higher education leadership, in recruitment and selection, exclusion from male camaraderie, and preference for transformational leadership. This research will produce a skills benchmark to assess future leadership positions and hopefully cut across current gender bias.

     

How Do Private Sector Schools Serve the Public Good by Fostering Inclusive Service Delivery Models?

Conversations about promoting educational reforms that redress educational inequities often ignore private schools as irrelevant. Yet pursuits of inclusivity in private sector schools serve the public interest. This article focuses on how the system of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Louis has been purposefully striving for 2 decades to build the capacity of its schools to meet students' special needs. We focus on 3 leadership skills that are central to this effort: boundary spanning, social innovation, and mission-focus. Our premise in focusing on these skills is that educators in both public and private educational sectors serve the public good when they promote inclusive PK–12 schooling, and accordingly, leaders across these sectors can more effectively move in this direction by supporting one another and sharing lessons learned. Hence, although we draw from parochial contexts, we focus on implications for inclusive schooling and leadership across school sectors.     

Culture-based leadership

The field of educational leadership is beset with a barrage of different ‘leadership theories’. There are so many differently named theories and models of leadership that the student and practitioner have difficulty understanding them as anything other than an automat of alternatives. To confuse matters even more, nearly all of these alternatives claim to work in the interest of transformation and social justice and against the status quo. Unfortunately, the dominant textbooks available in educational administration and leadership favour certain traditional approaches to leadership while all but ignoring the most cogent of the contemporary critical alternatives. This essay argues that one reason for the absence of critical voices in the dominant textbooks and practices in the field results from the failure to recognize a commonality among certain critical stances on educational leadership that distinguish them from more traditional approaches. It suggests the field would benefit from recognizing that educational leadership theories may actually be approached as either organization-based theories or as culture-based theories and then advocates more consideration be given to culture-based theories.