Global Perspectives on Educational Leadership Reform: The Development and Preparation of Leaders of Learning and Learners of Leadership

Citation

Nkhata, D.B. (2013), "Global Perspectives on Educational Leadership Reform: The Development and Preparation of Leaders of Learning and Learners of Leadership", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 232-235. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231311304724

Global Perspectives on Educational Leadership Reform: The Development and Preparation of Leaders of Learning and Learners of Leadership is the 11th volume of Advances in Educational Administration (also edited by Anthony Normore), which highlights current understandings in the area of educational administration, identifies problems and provides educators, policy makers, and government officials with research‐based strategies for making improved decisions. In response to Jean‐Marie et al. (2009) call for “global research studies of leadership preparation and training programs outside the United States” (as cited by Normore, 2010, p. 24), the editors of this volume have brought together authors from various parts of the world (see also Shields, 2003; Walker and Dimmock, 2005). This three‐part volume is a guide to addressing the challenges of preparing educational administrators for current and future political, economic, cultural, and social pressures.

Beginning with Stevenson and Toomb's critical analysis of the link between global politics and policy (up there) and the everyday enactment of school leadership (down here) (p. 3), the first part highlights the interconnections of educational leadership, politics, policy, and reform. Arguing that the “educational policies of individual nation states are framed within a global orthodoxy underscored by neo‐liberalism” (p. 5), the authors of this chapter provide individual school leaders with a critical examination of the interplay between structure and their everyday wrestling with conflicting values as they continually negotiate the free‐market exchange system that shapes outcomes of schooling. The second chapter is an overview of the literature on attributes of good educational leaders and leadership preparation programmes. In this chapter, Slayton and Mathis call for a restructuring of leadership programs. According to Slayton and Mathis, a good leadership preparation programme should prepare school leaders who are competent in facilitating “both first‐ and second‐order change processes” (p. 29). First‐order changes include “improving the technical, instructional activities of the school through close monitoring of teachers’ and students’ classroom work” while second‐order changes on the other hand, are capable of transforming education (p. 29). They thus include “the creation of shared vision, greater systems for communication and activation, and installation collaborative decision‐making processes” (p. 29). In Chapter 6, Anthony Normore and Gaetane Jean‐Marie discuss “what leading for learning looks like in practice” (p. 105). They show how leadership influences teaching and student learning; describe the socialization process of beginning educational administrators, which leads to the formation of school leader professional identity; and identify three dimensions to preparation and development of school leaders – academic preparation, field‐based learning, personal and professional identity formation.

Part II “Culturally relevant and responsive leadership for learning” focuses on issues that affect leadership and learning “from the front lines” (p. xiv). Chapter 1 of this section illustrates the significance of preparing educational leaders as lifelong learners of school leadership. Lorenzo Cherubini and Louis Volante describe how public school leaders in Ontario, Canada are challenged by the mandate to implement culturally responsive practices aimed at improving Aboriginal student achievement. The authors describe how in implementing such culturally responsive practice for Aboriginal students requires utilizing pedagogical strategies that are grounded in their epistemic values. Like Chapter 1, Chapter 4 is another example of the value of culturally responsive pedagogy. They show the power of another type of culturally responsive pedagogy – “culturally responsive pedagogy of relations” (p. 186) – in influencing Maori student learning. In this chapter, Mere Berryman, Suzanne SooHoo, and Paul Woller go beyond descriptions to include an analysis of pedagogical theorizing and practices of three different teachers at one school in New Zealand.

Next, Viv Aitken and Pare Kana tell the story of collaboration, nurturing, and support among school leaders in New Zealand. Reflecting on their collaboration with colleagues within a New Zealand teacher education programme, they describe how they grappled with design and implementation of an undergraduate course aimed at preparing Maori student teachers for culturally relevant pedagogy. In Chapter 3 Mary Alfred and Anthony Normore discuss findings of an investigation of a school improvement initiative in one large urban school district in the USA. In their study the authors explored school principals’ perspectives on the structure and processes of the change initiative, their experiences with implementation and, how the reform was impacting student learning. Although school principals who participated in this study reported that they were satisfied with the school improvement zone initiative, any reader would agree with Alfred and Normore that redesigning professional development would go a long way in achieving sustainable implementation of such reforms at all levels of the school system. Chapter 5 is a call for inclusive school leadership in which Cristina Devecchi and Ann Nevin recommend rethinking the role of educational leaders to focus on student learning (“leadership for learning” (p. 211)). Concluding Part II, Hollie Mackey and Jacqueline Stefkovich (Chapter 6) expound on an important facet of inclusive school leadership – school discipline. They trace the development of zero‐tolerance policies in the USA, highlighting the implications of such policies in relation to educational leadership and learning and argue for the viability of the “restorative justice” (p. 244) approach as an alternative with potential for improving student engagement and alleviating some of the unintended consequences of zero‐tolerance school discipline policies. This chapter provides the reader of this book with a seamless transition from challenges of school leadership to frameworks for proactively addressing issues that school leaders face in their everyday practice found in Part III.

Part III focuses on frameworks for transforming education leadership, including redesign and implementation of leadership development programmes. The authors introduce and analyze various frameworks for fostering “educative leadership” (p. 269), “community‐based leadership learning” (p. 285), transformational learning, adult learning, and “inquiry‐based leadership” (p. 397). First, Bezzina and Burford advocate for schools that are built around the moral purpose of education, arguing that such schools promote “authentic learning”, which is the essence of transformation of learners (p. 268). Next Bezzina and Burford introduce the Leaders Transforming Learning and Learners (LTLL) framework. The visual on page 269 especially enhances our understanding of the power of the LTLL framework in that it underscores the centrality of having a shared moral purpose. Because this conceptualization necessitates teachers to act as leaders, it combines dimensions of professional development, school reform, and research.

Perhaps one of the most exciting chapters for leadership preparation programme practitioners is Pauline Leonard and Heather Rintoul's “An international collaboration: examining graduate educational leadership in Louisiana and Ontario”, in which they provide a comparative analysis of two North American graduate educational leadership programmes. The similarities and differences between the two programmes in terms of their focus, admission requirements, number of instructor contact hours, nature and dimensions of course content, assessment procedures, and accountability requirements are intriguing! Those interested in designing adult‐educational programmes should read George Spais’ “Building adult educational programs in entrepreneurship based on Mezirow: the case of agricultural entrepreneurship” (p. 323). This chapter also discusses the benefits of the Integrated Education in Agricultural Entrepreneurship – an initiative aimed at fostering lifelong learning. Carly Ackley and Paul Begley's chapter on “purpose‐driven school administration” is specifically based on “green school leadership” (p. 377). It is a research‐based example of effective school leadership that paints a portrait of a green school leader. According to Begley, such a portrait includes the following six dimensions: “roles and responsibilities, leadership styles, values, actions, motivations, and special challenges” (p. 389). The last chapter by Meta Kruger concludes the book with a discussion of the notion of “inquiry‐based leadership” (p. 397), which has captivated the interest of both national and international scholars of as they seek to strengthen their leaderships in preparing for twenty‐first century challenges.

Essentially, this book is not just a collection of chapters authored by diverse researchers; it is a harmoniously organized book, whose authors are committed to promoting “positive education reform, leadership growth, development, and learning” (p. xiii). As the authors highlight, the need for educational leadership programmes that prepare leaders (not just managers) with appreciable grounding in the “educational” aspects of schooling, capable of disrupting neo‐liberal hegemony cannot be overemphasized (Murphy, 1992). What schools need are educational leaders who can “enact” change rather than “manage” (p. 23) neo‐liberal reforms and policies that perpetuate inequality. By engaging local, national, and international authors, this volume demonstrates how the impact of the “invisible hand of the free market” (p. 8) plays out in different contexts. The book shows how despite differences in public policies of different nation states, “what matters in their school systems is a reflection of values within the global neo‐liberal policy hegemonic framework” (p. 9). Certainly, there could have been more examples of how leaders at various levels of school leadership grapple with moral and ethical decision making when determining “the best interest of the students” (p. 106). Considering the centrality of and ambiguity associated with this concept as Shapiro and Stefkovich (2005), Frick (2011) and others have discussed elsewhere. Surely, many school leaders look forward to more examples and guidance on such processes.

Notwithstanding, it is beyond question that the authors in this volume have accomplished a herculean endeavour; that of facilitating “dialogue across local, national, and international boundaries” (p. xiii). Truly, Global Perspectives on Educational Leadership Reform: The Development and Preparation of Leaders of Learning and Learners of Leadership generates “a cross‐fertilization of ideas and experiences” (p. xiv) from which both emerging and practicing leaders of learning must learn!