Session Information
26 SES 01 A, Contextual Factors Driving the Transformation of Educational Leadership
Round Table
Contribution
This roundtable focuses on the view that leadership can only be understood within the context in which it is exercised. Scholars have recognized that leadership is bound by context (Foster, 1989; Gronn & Ribbins, 1996). Consequently, it has been argued that context should act as the means to empirically investigate the ways in which leadership is understood and practised (Foster, 1989; Gronn & Ribbins, 1996). However, the field of educational leadership research has been dominated by positivist and behaviourist perspectives (Apple, 2004; English, 2011). The adoption of such perspectives has contributed to a separation of schools and school leadership from their cultural contexts resulting in an incomplete picture of this topic (Bates, 2006; Leithwood & Riehl, 2003). Given the current international context of policy reform and changing environments, there is a need to focus on the extent to which contextual factors influence the nature of educational leadership (Bates, 2006; Botha, 2013; Lemon, 2004).
A growing number of investigations has uncovered how various contextual factors influence the nature and character of educational leadership (Hallinger, 2011). This body of work has shown the effect of macro-level factors, such as globalization, national policies, and technological changes, on schools (Bottery, 2004, Dimmock & Walker, 2005). It has been maintained that this range of factors has contributed to a greater number of tasks being given to leaders (Bottery, 2004; Bush & Glover, 2003; Keddie, 2015) and has created new leadership roles, for example the role of ‘system leader’ (Woods & Simkins, 2014). In addition, the research has illustrated how schools are affected by micro-level factors including the school’s size, type, and location as well as its socio-economic status and culture (Bush & Glover, 2003). This connects with investigations which have focused on the ways leadership is understood and practised in various types of schools including small, remote schools and faith-based schools (Brezicha, Bergmark & Mitra, 2015; Clarke & Wildy, 2004; Striepe, Clarke & O’Donoghue, 2014). These investigations have highlighted how a school’s environment and aims can influence the nature of a leader’s daily activities. The studies have also highlighted how a person’s values, morals, and religious orientation can influence their perspectives on educational leadership. Such findings relate to the work of Loder and Spillane (2006) which has highlighted the extent to which personal level factors, including past experiences and ethnicity can shape a leader’s perspective of their work. In sum, this body of work has helped to increase the professional knowledge base within the field of educational leadership. However, it is has been argued that further research needs to be undertaken on contextualizing leadership across different settings in order to understand how various factors have a bearing on the ways in which leaders interact with their particular working contexts (Bush, 2014; Loder & Spillane, 2006).
Consequently, this roundtable constitutes a conceptual paper based on the pertinent literature. Its purpose is to stimulate debate and discussion about how contextual factors impact on a leader’s day to day work. More specifically, the session poses the following questions: what is the nature of the contexts which influence a leader’s work? What are the strategies school leaders adopt to deal with the complexities of their work? To what extent are contextual factors, particularly national policies, reconfiguring the nature of school leadership roles? And how might investigations of leadership take into account such influences? It is envisioned that this session would encourage the development of research agendas which are designed to move beyond the view of leadership as a set of habits, characteristics, and traits to a more comprehensive, detailed, and realistic account of this complex topic.
References
Apple, M. W. (2004). Creating Difference: Neo-Liberalism, Neo-Conservatism and the Politics of Educational Reform. Educational Policy, 18(12), 12-44. Bates, R. (2006). Culture and leadership in educational administration: A historical study of what was and what might have been. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 38(2), 155-168. Botha, R. J. (2013). The Need for Creative Leadership in South African Schools. African Studies, 72(2), 309-320. Brezicha, K. Bergmark, U., & Mitra D. (2015). One size does not fit all: differentiating leadership to support teachers in school reform. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(1) 96–132. Bottery, M. (2004). The challenges of educational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Bush, T. (2014). Educational leadership and leadership development in Africa: Building the knowledge base. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 42(6) 787–791. Bush, T., & Glover, D. (2003). School leadership: Concepts and evidence. Nottingham: National College of School Leadership. Clarke, S., & Wildy, H. (2004). Context counts: Viewing small school leadership from the inside out. Journal of Education Administration, 42(4/5), 555-572. Dimmock, C., & Walker, A. (2005). Educational leadership: Culture and diversity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. English, F. W. (Ed.). (2011). Sage handbook of educational leadership: Advances in theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Foster, W. (1989). Toward a critical practice of leadership. In J. Smyth (Ed.), Critical perspectives on educational leadership (pp. 39-62). London: RoutledgeFalmer. Gronn, P, & Ribbins, P. (1996). Leaders in context: Postpositivist approaches to understanding educational leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(3), 452-473. Hallinger, P. (2011). Leadership for learning: Lessons from 40 years of empirical research. Journal of Educational Administration, 49(2), 125-142.. Keddie, A. (2015). School autonomy, accountability and collaboration: a critical view, Journal of Educational Administration and History, 47(1), 1-17. Leithwood, K. A., & Riehl, C. (2003). What we know about successful school leadership (pp. 1-14). Nottingham: National College for School Leadership. http://www.leadersdesktop.sa.edu.au/leadership/files/links/school_leadership.pdf Lemon, A. (2004). Redressing school inequalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 30(2), 269-290. doi: 10.1080/0305707042000215392. Loder, T. & Spillane, J. (2006). Big change question: How do leaders' own lives and their educational contexts influence their responses to the dilemmas and tensions they face in their daily work? Journal of Educational Change, 7(1/2), 91-2. Striepe, M., Clarke, S., & O'Donoghue, T. (2014). Spirituality, values and the school's ethos: Factors shaping leadership in a faith-based school. Issues in Educational Research, 24(1), 85-97. Woods, P. & Simkins, T. (2014). Understanding the local: Themes and issues in the experience of structural reform in England. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 42(3), 324-340.
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