Social justice dilemmas: evidence on the successes and shortcomings of three principals trying to make a difference

Social justice leadership has become a popular topic and catchphrase in the field of educational leadership. However, most scholarly and empirical contributions have ignored the inherent tensions, challenges and dilemmas associated with the practice of school leadership and the realities principals confront on a daily basis. This is partly because researchers have tended to ignore multiple facets of justice in their empirical investigations as well as how larger forces outside the school associated with historical, political, social and economic injustices marginalize students and communities. This article explores three cases of challenging school–community contexts that confound and partially subdue the efforts of well-intentioned principals. Each case highlights a dedicated principal committed to their school and community, and documents the significant progress made in addressing particular social justice issues, but also how they confronted justice dilemmas that they believed required them to prioritize certain social justice issues over others. These findings have important implications for how principals view their communities and engage in critical reflection about the leadership decisions and actions they take on a daily basis. This article concludes with implications for future research and a discussion of how aspiring principals can be better prepared to lead for social justice and effectively address justice dilemmas without ignoring or putting off other injustices.     

Social justice leadership in multicultural schools: the case of an ethnically divided society

This paper reports on the results of an exploratory study focusing on the perceptions of elementary school principals who espouse a critical multicultural approach and show signs of a social justice leadership style. The study has taken place in an ethnically divided society (Cyprus) in which the political situation seems to influence the ways in which school leaders perceive issues of justice and multiculturalism. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 principals who espoused a critical multicultural approach and subscribed to values of social justice leadership. The analysis of these principals’ interviews reveals two important findings—one concerning the conceptualization of critical multiculturalism in a society that suffers from ethnic division and the other concerning the contextualization of social justice leadership in this setting. The paper discusses the implications for leadership preparation programmes and for future research on social justice leadership and critical multiculturalism.     

Leading for social justice in challenging school contexts

This article is part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and aims to analyse the success factors of two Spanish secondary school principals working in the line of social justice in challenging contexts. The factors are arranged in traits and beliefs of principals and in the strategies they used to bring successful leadership. The article concludes by showing a model of leadership that emphasizes both personal and professional characteristics of principals and their central role as agents of social change.     

Feminist Educational Leadership: Locating the concepts in practice

This article describes a qualitative study of the feminist educational leadership of three co-educational secondary school principals in New Zealand. The findings showed that while each of the women was committed to many of the same ideals, such as leading for social justice, how each went about and achieved that was unique and dependent upon their individual value systems and the cultural and socio-economic mix of the student body they were working with. The women were not passive reactors to the demands of political and school community forces. Rather, they were active and creative in constructing their own feminist leadership practice to effectively meet the needs of their students.     

Permeating the social justice ideals of equality and equity within the context of Early Years: challenges for leadership in multi-cultural and mono-cultural primary schools

This paper explores the ideology of social justice through links between equality and equity within Early Years and what remain the challenges for leadership. Questionnaires and interviews in English multi-cultural and mono-cultural schools with Early Years age phases were conducted. The findings showed that the ideology of social justice, equality and equity was interpreted differently in each Early Years setting. The multi-cultural schools used a variety of activities to embed social justice principles that involved their diverse communities more to enrich the curriculum in contrast to the mono-cultural schools. In mono-cultural schools however, leadership had to be more creative in promoting equality and equity, given the smaller proportion of their diverse pupil and staff population. Our conclusions suggest that most schools are struggling initially with implementing the current changes in Early Years, therefore their vision for permeating this curriculum with an equality and equity focus is at the early stages.     

Effective Leadership is Not Enough: Critical Approaches to Closing the Racial Discipline Gap

A review of student discipline and suspension data disaggregated by race highlights how school leader biases influence disciplinary decisions. Yet, the majority of principal preparation programs have failed to develop structures and norms that result in critical conversations pertaining to race and racial inequities. This article is written from a stance that school leaders must move away from traditional leadership approaches and toward a social justice leadership orientation that creates critical spaces and discourses, empowers communities, and enables the adoption of social justice practices in all aspects of the school. After reviewing literature on critical race theory and social justice leadership, three leadership action areas are recommended to support principals and assistant principals in closing the racial discipline gap.     

Positional matters: school leaders engaging with national equity agendas

ABSTRACT

This paper claims a central role for school leaders (principals or head-teachers) in the enactment of social justice policy in schools, who act as key agents or ‘gate keepers’ for what counts as social justice in their contexts of practice. Social justice means different things in different contexts depending on where leaders – who use policy as an opportunity to advance what they think is achievable within the limits of available resources – are positioned in the field and how that defines their stances. Drawing on qualitative data generated through in-depth interviews with ten secondary school principals in two Australian cities, the paper analyses the engagement of school leaders with nationally prescribed equity-related policies. Our analysis shows that, depending on the institutional ethos and resources of schools and their own social justice dispositions, school leaders tend to take different stances towards nationally defined equity agendas. Their responses range from compliance to compromise to contest. The paper suggests that doing social justice in schools can never be unilateral, as policy documents suppose, but is characterised by context-informed policy translation, mediated by a range of interactive forces and interests.     

Principal Leadership for Technology-enhanced Learning in Science

Reforms such as technology-enhanced instruction require principal leadership. Yet, many principals report that they need help to guide implementation of science and technology reforms. We identify strategies for helping principals provide this leadership. A two-phase design is employed. In the first phase we elicit principals’ varied ideas about the Technology-enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) curriculum materials being implemented by teachers in their schools, and in the second phase we engage principals in a leadership workshop designed based on the ideas they generated. Analysis uses an emergent coding scheme to categorize principals’ ideas, and a knowledge integration framework to capture the development of these ideas. The analysis suggests that principals frame their thinking about the implementation of TELS in terms of: principal leadership, curriculum, educational policy, teacher learning, student outcomes and financial resources. They seek to improve their own knowledge to support this reform. The principals organize their ideas around individual school goals and current political issues. Principals prefer professional development activities that engage them in reviewing curricula and student work with other principals. Based on the analysis, this study offers guidelines for creating learning opportunities that enhance principals’ leadership abilities in technology and science reform.     

Developing Critical Social Justice Literacy in an Online Seminar

The purpose of this article is to report on an effort to cultivate a critical social justice perspective and critical social justice praxis among educators enrolled in an online graduate program. Although the entire program was organized around themes of equity, collaboration, and leadership, this study focused on educators’ perspectives of the purposes, pedagogy, and outcomes of one course, Critical Pedagogy. Fourteen of the 19 students enrolled in the online course participated in one of six online focus groups following the conclusion of the course. Using constructivist grounded theory methods, the researchers identified the different ways in which students responded to the course, what they learned, and how they enacted their learning as well as the features of the course that the students believed contributed to their learning and practice. The study provides insight into features of online pedagogy that appear to facilitate transformative learning. It further provides insight into the kinds of content and assignments that may promote critical social justice praxis among educators.     

Seeing What They Want to See: Racism and Leadership Development in Urban Schools

This critical race theory (CRT)-framed qualitative study (n = 9) examined racism within a context of urban teacher leadership development. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with three White principals, who each identified one White and one African American teacher as “most promising” leadership potential. These teachers were interviewed, leading to analysis of principal support and teacher perceptions of being supported. The findings clarify principals who adopted a language of equity, while simultaneously arguing that their White teachers were more effective (based erroneously on the belief that the White teachers’ students had higher test scores). The African American teachers, on the other hand, were framed as experts in culturally responsive approaches, given increased teaching responsibilities, and not provided similar leadership opportunities. This difference in opportunities and expectations had lasting impacts on the African American teachers, who internalized the lack of resources and negative messages they received from their principals. The paper concludes with CRT implications for inclusive leadership development processes.     

Exploring the notion of inclusivity as facilitating students' ontological engagement for personally relevant learning

In India, inclusivity in education can be seen as an expression of commitment to social justice. It reflects a deep commitment to the goals of universalisation of education promoted by world agencies such as UNESCO. However, pitched between the aspirational goals of achieving equity and social justice on one hand, and the economic imperative of a competitive market on the other, inclusivity in education seems an ever-elusive goal. Students' voices and all the cultural and experiential resources they hold, are marginalised in school, contributing to alienating students from school learning. The study on which this article reports sought to support teachers glean insights from participation in a purposive modelling activity, set in a Vygotskian dialectic frame of reference. The activity focused on how learning from students and their communities can be harnessed to engage students ontologically in class, to enhance students' agentive role in an inclusive learning environment. It is rooted in a funds of knowledge approach. The qualitative data for this ethnographically oriented study have been gathered from multiple sources over 2 years and analysed thematically. The findings show that modelling not only helped teacher learning and development of practice, but also familiarised teachers with issues of equity and inclusivity. Notably, by making teachers aware of the differentiated needs of all the students in the process of invoking their unique contribution to learning from their cultural locations. The insights are used to discuss the challenges posed for teachers in making their new learning part of their teaching practice.     

The Importance of Principals Supporting Dual Language Education: A Social Justice Leadership Framework

Recent calls for social justice to be a key aspect of principal preparation have been made, but content related to the efficacy of dual language education has been a neglected area of educational leadership research, coursework, and principal preparation standards. We draw on scholarship focused on dual language education, social justice leadership, and the new Professional Standards for Educational Leadership to describe how principals can create dual language programs and lead for social justice and conclude with implications for preparation programs.     

Social justice leadership and inclusion: a genealogy

The purpose of this article is to engage in an historical analysis of research about two concepts: social justice leadership and leadership for inclusion. Recent experiences have caused me to wonder about our interpretations of justice, equity, and inclusion. Analysis of the relevant literature revealed a lack of consensus among scholars as to a clear, operational definition of both social justice leadership and inclusion. I use a Foucauldian genealogical method to examine texts and uncover the historical development of social justice leadership and leadership for inclusion in the United States. Uncovering past meanings and contexts should help illuminate current meanings and uses of these concepts. It is recommended that leaders engage in critical reflection to uncover the common sense language of equity-oriented leadership practices and that researchers take a more critical, historical, open stance of social justice leadership, and inclusion.     

Democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya: cultural and historical challenges

In this article we discuss students’, teachers’ and school principals’ perceptions of democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya. The article is based on a study that was conducted in two phases. In phase one (conducted between September and December 2007), interviews were undertaken with 12 school principals in which understandings of democratic school leadership were explored. These data were then used to develop a rationale for selecting the case schools. The second phase (conducted between January and April 2008) was an in‐depth case study of two schools. The findings reveal that school principals have made efforts to inculcate democratic school leadership by involving teachers in decision making on school matters. The principals also allow students to participate in matters such as election of prefects and holding class and house meetings. However, most teachers and principals do not support what they referred to as ‘full democracy’ for students and instead prefer what they called ‘partial democracy’ based on historical and cultural factors.     

Teachers and tolerance: Discriminating diversity dispositions

Abstract

Prevailing values of equity and social justice are increasingly espoused in the mission and policy statements of public institutions, organizations, and agencies. In higher education, teacher preparation programs are considered to be key contributors to the cultivation of mores of inclusiveness, where diversity is embraced and appreciated in its multitude of forms. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the diversity dispositions of a group of preservice and inservice teachers participating in a multicultural education course at a university in the deep southern region of the United States. Data were collected in the following ways: (a) autobiographical accounts that participants compiled and shared; (b) responses to abbreviated biographies in an online discussion forum; (c) face‐to‐face discussions of issues related to goals of equity, tolerance, and social justice in schools; and (d) instructor observations of participants' interactions with each other. The research revealed that in the electronic forum the teacher candidates and practicing teachers were particularly candid in reflecting upon and revealing their cultural roots, perceptions, and experiences and validated many—but not all—‐peer self‐reports of marginalization. Three major diversity dispositions emerged in the data analysis: (a) cultural consciousness, (b) intercultural sensitivity, and (c) commitment to social justice. The study also illuminated the challenge inherent in critically examining and sharing diversity dispositions when considering issues of discrimination, prejudice, and segregation in a multicultural setting. Although limited in scope and generalizibility, the findings provide insights into ways of framing tolerance sensibilities and for improving educators' capacities to reassess candidates' diversity dispositions.     

Practising leadership in newly multi-ethnic schools: tensions in the field?

This paper explores the leadership practices of three principals following a period of intensive immigration in Ireland. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, it conceptualises schools as structured social spaces and of their leadership work as a form of practising. This practising is an outcome of the intersection between deeply embedded subjectivities operating in diverse fields of action that shape, constrain and transform each principal’s practices. Presenting an analytical model that highlights the circular and capillary-like dimension to such practising, the paper explores how principals’ recognition of immigrant children (their recognitive practices) as well as investment in supporting their learning (distributive practices) are shaped by the logics of practice across different fields, as well as by their own evolving habitus and struggle to be authentic in a period of rapid social change. Practising effective leadership in newly multi-ethnic schools must be conceived as layered and multiple but must be underpinned by an ethic of justice, if the minoritised status of ‘ethnic’ others is to be challenged and overcome.     

Preparing Students for Social Action in a Social Justice Education Course: What Works?

The purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceptions of how the curriculum and teaching strategies in a social justice education course prepared them for social action engagement. Past studies using a similar approach to teaching about social justice issues did not include student interviews. Students’ perspectives can shed light on how experiences in a social justice education course prepared them to challenge social oppression and work toward equity in their daily lives. Six students were interviewed one semester after they completed a social justice education course. Findings indicated teaching strategies (e.g., experiential activities) that included students’ lived experiences also increased their personal awareness, empathy, confidence, and knowledge about tools for social action. These teaching strategies were identified more often than content as key in preparing students to take action. Classroom implications are discussed.     

Novice principals setting goals for school improvement in New Zealand

While principal goal-setting has been shown to be an important leadership practice, there is little research examining principals’ goal-setting and goal-achievement. This research examined novice principals’ school improvement goals and factors affecting their achievement. Goals from 460 principals enrolled in a national induction programme were categorised revealing a strong emphasis on instructional and student-centred leadership. After 18 months, 258 of those principals, and their mentors, rated their achievement. Principals also rated five potential achievement predictors. Goal achievement tended to be high, with commitment, effort, learning and support serving as positive predictors of success. In contrast to what goal-setting theory suggests, goal challenge was a negative predictor of achievement. The analysis of two contrasting cases revealed possible explanations for this negative relationship. These included novice principals’ ability, self-efficacy and attributional processes. This study highlights the role of self-efficacy in the process of goal-setting and pursuit. It emphasises that consideration needs to be given to how novice principals’ self-efficacy can be developed and sustained. Implications for practice in the area of educational leadership and leadership development are discussed.     

School leaders’ dilemmas and measures to instigate changes for inclusive education in Hong Kong

The roles of principal leadership in change management have long been documented. The key concern to examine in this study was the dilemmas and measures confronting principals’ when they led changes to instigate inclusive education in Hong Kong. Thus, this paper aims to report sources of dilemmas and how principals tackled them in the change process. Ten principals of schools recognized for effective inclusive education practices were interviewed in a qualitative study. Findings suggested that the process of leading change was very complex. Two dilemmas were identified: (a) principals’ struggles between benefits and issues of participating in inclusive education and (b) autocratic initial decisions versus need for staff involvement. The second dilemma stemmed from not involving key staff while the implementation required their active participation. Thus, the existing organizational culture and personnel capacities became obstacles required for the success of inclusive education. The leadership measures to tackle the obstacles began by building a shared vision which in turn required both transactional and transformational leadership activities in order to increase teacher commitment to reforms. This study has contributed to change leadership theories in affirming the need to include socio-political contexts in examining leadership decisions toward school reforms.