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The paper seeks to examine the potential implications for leadership preparation programs of the intersection between emotions and leadership for social justice.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to examine the potential implications for leadership preparation programs of the intersection between emotions and leadership for social justice.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology followed was grounded in an ethnographic case study of a Greek‐Cypriot principal who struggled to transform his elementary school into a community that truly included students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Findings
The findings of the case study highlight: the vision and practices of leadership for social justice; the ambivalent emotions of social justice leadership; and strategies for coping with the personal and structural dimensions of social justice leadership.
Practical implications
The practical implications are discussed in relation to the emotional knowledge and skills that are needed for preparing social justice leaders to navigate emotionally through existing school structures and to cultivate critical emotional reflexivity about the changes that are needed to school discourses and practices so that justice and equity are placed at the center of school leadership.
Originality/value
The paper offers insights into the emotional aspects of leadership for social justice, focusing on the implications for leadership preparation programs.
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Elson Szeto and Annie Yan Ni Cheng
Empirical research on leadership for social justice is in progress in many parts of the world. The purpose of this paper is to explore principals’ school-leadership journeys in…
Abstract
Purpose
Empirical research on leadership for social justice is in progress in many parts of the world. The purpose of this paper is to explore principals’ school-leadership journeys in response to social-justice issues caused by specific contextual changes at times of uncertainty. It seeks to answer the following key questions: What social-justice issues do principals identify as arising from their schools’ transformation due to contextual changes? How do principals practise leadership for social justice in response to these contextual changes at different levels?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on qualitative data from a cross-case study of two principals’ school-leadership journeys. The authors pay particular attention to the understanding of leadership for social justice grounded in principals’ efforts to foster equality in learning development for a diverse student population.
Findings
Timely adverse conditions may be required to foster leadership for social justice in schools. The principals reacted to contextual changes at several levels, planning and implementing innovative and flexible interventions to ensure equality in students’ learning development. These findings contribute to international accounts of educational leadership.
Research limitations/implications
This study of leadership for social justice in schools is contextually specific. Therefore, more empirical comparisons of school leadership are required in future studies, as principals’ practices vary between education settings.
Originality/value
This paper offers insights into the evolution of leadership for social justice in schools in response to contextual changes. Principals’ leadership strategies can be reoriented and their actions reshaped to overcome threats to social justice in schools. Accordingly, although leadership for social justice in school communities is culturally and pedagogically inclusive, it is also socially distinctive.
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Anthony H. Normore and Gaetane Jean‐Marie
The purpose of this study is to explore the leadership experiences of four female secondary principals (two Black, two White) in one south‐western state to create significant…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the leadership experiences of four female secondary principals (two Black, two White) in one south‐western state to create significant discourse for understanding school leadership nested in complex social, political and cultural contexts. These women confronted education challenges of social justice, democracy, and equity in their schools.
Design/methodology/approach
The philosophical tradition of phenomenology was chosen as the qualitative methodology for this study “which is understood to be a concern for human meaning and ultimately for interpreting those meanings so that they inform our practice and our science”. As a secondary analysis of a specific finding (i.e. female leaders who exemplified a values‐orientation around issues of social justice in their leadership practices) from the original study the lived experiences of four female secondary school leaders were further explored.
Findings
All four women engaged in leadership praxis by: transforming school practices to promote equity and access for all students and embracing diversity of their student populations; connecting the world of research and practice; adopting democratic and participative leadership styles that relate to female values developed through socialization processes including building relationships, consensus building, power as influence, and working together for a common purpose.
Practical implications
While the focus is secondary school female leaders and educational leadership in a North American context, the implications have a broader transnational focus, exploring themes and issues that may span national boundaries and cultures.
Originality/value
For purposes of this article, the original data were revisited to conduct secondary analyses of the experiences of four women. Research contends that this approach can be used to generate new knowledge, new hypotheses, or support for existing theories; and that it allows wider use of data from rare or inaccessible respondents.
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Mari Ysela Noopila and Henrietta Williams Pichon
This scholarly paper explores leadership education across Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the Southwest of the United States. We searched for inclusion of social justice…
Abstract
This scholarly paper explores leadership education across Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the Southwest of the United States. We searched for inclusion of social justice, ethics, and community engagement aspects within leadershipprograms.LeadershipeducationprogramsinhighereducationandspecificallyatHSIsmustbeintentional about offering programs, curriculum, and experiences that adopt inclusion of those who are underrepresented within the leadership realm. While scholarship concerning HSIs as complex organizations has grown, consideration of how leadership education programs contribute to truly serving their unique students is still in its infancy. This inquiry found that there are a number of similarities among leadership programs at HSIs in the way of academic location, degree offerings, and class format, but it also details missing characteristics of social justice, ethics, and community engagement within these areas. We propose that through further examination and future research, a framework of leadership education with underpinnings of social justice, ethics, and community engagement can be beneficial in truly serving underserved and underrepresented student populations specifically at HSIs.
School principals should see themselves as social justice leaders, who have the ability to allow all students to succeed, regardless of their characteristics and backgrounds. At…
Abstract
Purpose
School principals should see themselves as social justice leaders, who have the ability to allow all students to succeed, regardless of their characteristics and backgrounds. At the same time, school principals are also called upon to demonstrate instructional leadership, which emphasizes the teaching and learning aspects of school principalship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between these two roles of today’s school principals.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate the relations between social justice leadership and instructional leadership, this paper adds the question of the goal of schooling to the mix. After identifying possible goals of schooling, the paper conceptualizes social justice leadership and instructional leadership, respectively, while also examining their relations with schools’ major goals. Possible commonalities and contradictions between social justice leadership and instructional leadership are discussed.
Findings
The prevalent expectation that school leaders should give top priority to ongoing improvement of teaching quality and academic outcomes may be seen as reducing school leaders’ involvement in some aspects of social justice leadership, such as nurturing students’ active citizenship.
Research limitations/implications
This paper opens new research avenues. Based on the findings of this paper, the connection between principals’ perceptions regarding the goals of schooling and their leadership behaviors should be explored.
Practical implications
It seems advisable to discuss the interplay between social justice leadership and instructional leadership with prospective and current principals, as well as with other school stakeholders.
Originality/value
Insofar as the relations between social justice leadership and instructional leadership have not been explored so far, this paper narrows a gap in the available knowledge.
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The purpose of this paper is to present the gap between conceptualizations of social injustices and the desired social transformation that addresses multiple social subsystems and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the gap between conceptualizations of social injustices and the desired social transformation that addresses multiple social subsystems and levels on one hand, and social justice leadership that addresses intra-school efforts on the other. The paper aims to expand the conceptualization of social justice leadership and tie it together with concepts of activism and social change.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a socio-ecological perspective. It reviews works about social justice leadership in education, activism, and social change to present the notion that in light of existing social justice barriers educational leaders should serve as activists in schools and in the community and policy areas.
Findings
The paper presents a macro framework, focussing on individual leaders in the field and on the consolidation of intentions, actions, and outcomes in a manner necessary for using social justice as an effective socio-political agenda in a socio-ecological system.
Originality/value
The paper presents a conceptual framework which can enable practitioners and researchers to better understand social justice efforts.
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This article proposes the concept of an ethic of community to complement and extend other ethical frames used in education (e.g. the ethics of justice, critique, and care)…
Abstract
This article proposes the concept of an ethic of community to complement and extend other ethical frames used in education (e.g. the ethics of justice, critique, and care). Proceeding from the traditional definition of ethics as the study of moral duty and obligation, ethic of community is defined as the moral responsibility to engage in communal processes as educators pursue the moral purposes of their work and address the ongoing challenges of daily life and work in schools. The ethic of community thus centers the communal over the individual as the primary locus of moral agency in schools. The usefulness of the ethic of community in regard to achieving the moral purposes of schooling is illustrated with the example of social justice. The author concludes that the ethic of community is a vehicle that can synthesize much of the current work on leadership practices related to social justice and other moral purposes of educational leadership.
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Jeffrey S. Brooks, Anthony H. Normore and Jane Wilkinson
The purpose of this paper is to explore theoretical connections between educational leadership for social justice and support for immigration. The authors seek to identify…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore theoretical connections between educational leadership for social justice and support for immigration. The authors seek to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for further study and improved practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a theoretical research paper that introduces, evaluates and expands two frameworks for understanding leadership and immigration.
Findings
Findings suggested that there is a need for educational leadership scholars to more purposefully investigate issues related to social justice and immigration.
Originality/value
This study offers a novel theoretical perspective on leadership, social justice and immigration.
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Fundamental aspects of educational leadership preparation programs regarding social justice are embodied in program design elements, yet the scholarly community did not adequately…
Abstract
Purpose
Fundamental aspects of educational leadership preparation programs regarding social justice are embodied in program design elements, yet the scholarly community did not adequately address these issues. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The essay suggests that organizational theories dealing with person-environment fit can shed light on the models, possibilities, and limitations of various preparation programs.
Findings
The essay proposes a meta-conceptual framework that builds on Schneider’s attraction-selection-attrition theory and on the socialization literature to classify leadership preparation programs by design. In addition, the paper reflects on the implications of program design in relation to the power and the responsibility of the faculty.
Originality/value
The essay argues that design decisions made by the faculty a priori enable and constrain its power and responsibility. The conclusion is that design decisions should be made by faculty with awareness of these issues.
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Colleen A. Capper, George Theoharis and James Sebastian
The purpose of this article is to propose one possible framework for conceptualizing the preparation of leaders for social justice. To this end, three central questions guided…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to propose one possible framework for conceptualizing the preparation of leaders for social justice. To this end, three central questions guided this conceptualization: “What are the common themes in the literature and research on preparing leaders for social justice?”; “How can this framework serve as a guide for developing a course, set of courses, or an entire program toward preparing leaders to lead socially just schools?”; and “How can this literature and conceptualization inform future scholarship in administrator preparation?”.
Design/methodology/approach
This work included a review of 72 pieces of literature. To address the research questions, the growing body of leadership for social justice literature was reviewed. Each of these articles was analyzed and explicit recommendations for preparing school leaders noted. These recommendations were then catagorized into the proposed framework.
Findings
Three domains: critical consciousness; knowledge; and practical skills focused on social justice are positioned on the horizontal dimension of the framework. To achieve these ends, requires curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment oriented toward social justice – the vertical dimension of the framework.
Originality/value
It is suggested using this framework to guide the review and development of administration preparation programs whose aim is to prepare socially just leaders. Additionally, this article calls for increased attention to assessing preparation programs and how they prepare leaders for social justice.
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