In this book Reynold Macpherson initiates a politically-critical theory of educative leadership as a fresh line of inquiry in the practice, research and theory of educational administration and educational leadership. Divided into four parts, the book introduces the sub-discipline of political philosophy to the field of educational administration, management and leadership. It does this by clarifying the knowledge domain of each and identifying how four political ideologies, specifically pragmatism, communitarianism, communicative rationalism and egalitarian liberalism, have primarily informed and surreptitiously provided contestable justifications for power in the development of practice, research and theory in the field of study. The book goes on to offer three case studies illustrating how political philosophy can be used to interpret how people become leaders and administrators of educational institutions and systems. Additional case studies then demonstrate how crises in governance in educational institutions and systems can be analyzed and improvements made using the tools of political philosophy. The final part uses the sub-discipline to critique the author’s decades of research into educative leadership, and concludes the book by both establishing the relativity of politically-critical critique and the ideology it favours; neo-pragmatism. Political Philosophy, Educational Administration and Educative Leadership will provide practitioners, researchers and theorists in educational administration, management and leadership with a deeper appreciation of power by formally introducing them to the assumptions, limits and tools of political philosophy.

This collection explores the political philosophy and theory foundations for educational administration and leadership as they influence our understanding, analysis and practice in the field. The first section, "Political Philosophy: The Foundations," discusses the work of such writers as Machiavelli, Kant and Hegel, Hayek, Habermas, and Bourdieu as their theories apply to the educational context. The second section, "Political Analysis: The Critique," examines various types of political analyses, such as the politics of the policy process, minority politics, civil society, micro-politics, community politics, and cosmopolitan theory. The last section, "Current Political Controversies: The Practice," addresses current topical issues of a political nature, including the serving of the state economic agenda, the democratisation of educational organisations, the neo-conservative agenda, and globalisation. The broad international perspective from which these topics are covered makes this volume an excellent addition to the fields of educational leadership, organizational studies, and educational administration theory.

This collection explores the political philosophy and theory foundations for educational administration and leadership as they influence our understanding, analysis and practice in the field covering a broad range of topics, such as values, ethics, governance, policy, and power. The volume is organized into three section: the first discusses the work of such writers as Machiavelli, Kant and Hegel, Hayek, Habermas, and Bourdieu as their theories apply to the educational context; the second examines various types of political analyses, such as the politics of the policy process, minority politics, civil society, micro-politics, community politics, and cosmopolitan theory; and the third addresses current topical issues of a political nature including serving the state economic agenda, the democratization of educational organizations, the neo-conservative agenda, civil disobedience, the politics of transition states, globalization, and the role of international educational organizations. This volume is an excellent addition to fields as the politics of education, educational leadership, organizational studies, and educational administration theory.

Responding to the international problem identified by the US National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration, that the field of educational leadership lacks a "good definition", this book reports a collaboration process that produced a practical theory of educative leadership. In offering a holistic theory which deals with the abstract world of ideas and reflection, this volume shows how these ideas are translated into management practice and what happens, or what is likely to happen in such a process. The theory integrates management and evaluation with the philosophical, strategic, political and inspirational services that educative leaders give. It is aimed at lecturers in education administration/management, headteachers, MEd lecturers and students, leadership and management lecturers and students.

This book makes the case for the continued and expanded use of social, critical and political theories in the field of educational leadership. It helps readers understand educational leadership by introducing them to a wide variety of theoretical and philosophical approaches and positions. The book incorporates a rich blend of ideas and concepts, and compares and contrasts the approaches discussed. The content largely focuses on four educational thinkers: Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Bernard Stiegler and Karen Barad. The chapters do not cover each thinker’s oeuvre exhaustively, but instead provide a brief overview of his/her ideas, while also helping readers understand a particular aspect of the educational leadership discourse. Each chapter also provides supplementary reading recommendations for those interested in pursuing these ideas in more depth.

This volume provides diverse perspectives and paradigms in educational administration and leadership. Focusing on particular philosophical and theoretical schools of thought, it traces the contemporary history of debates in the field while also exploring emerging, non-traditional schools for insight and potential contributions to educational administration in multi-cultural contexts. It critically examines trends and issues in society and their impact on educational theory, and gives an overview of the scholarly study of organizations, administration, and leadership to develop introductory understandings of significant concepts and theories.

The purpose of this book is to examine and learn lessons from the way leadership for social justice is conceptualized in several disciplines and to consider how these lessons might improve the preparation and practice of school leaders. In particular, we examine philosophy, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, public policy, and psychology. Our contention is that the field of educational leadership might consider taking a step backward in order to take several forward. That is, educational leadership researchers might re-examine social justice, both in terms of social and individual dynamics and as disciplinary-specific, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary phenomenon. By adopting this approach, we can connect and extend long-established lines of conceptual and empirical inquiry and thereby gain insights that may otherwise be overlooked or assumed. This holds great promise for generating, refining, and testing theories of social justice in educational leadership and will help strengthen already vibrant lines of inquiry. That is, rather than citing a single, or a few, works out of their disciplinary context it might be more fruitful to situate educational leadership for social justice research in their respective traditions. This could be carried out by extending extant lines of inquiry in educational leadership research and then incorporating lessons gleaned from this work into innovative practice. For example, why not more clearly establish lines of educational leadership and justice research into the Philosophy of Social Justice, Economics of Social Justice, Political Studies of Social Justice , Sociology of Social Justice, Anthropology of Social Justice, and the Public Policy of Social Justice as focused and discrete areas of inquiry? Once this new orientation toward the knowledge base of social justice and educational leadership is laid, we might then seek to explore some of the natural connections between traditions before ultimately investigating justice in educational leadership through a free association of ideas as the worlds of practice and research co-construct a “new” language they can use to discuss educational leadership. Such an endeavor may demand reconceptualization of both the processes and products of collaborative research and the communication of findings, but it will demand a breaking-down of methodological and epistemological biases and a more meaningful level and type of engagement between primary and applied knowledge bases.

A provocative and authoritative compendium of writings on leadership in education from distinguished scholar-educators worldwide. What is educational leadership? What are some of the trends, questions, and social forces most relevant to the current state of education? What are the possible futures of education, and what can educational leadership contribute to these futures? To address these questions, and more, editors Duncan Waite and Ira Bogotch asked distinguished international thought leaders on education to share their insights, observations, and research findings on the nature of education and educational leadership in the global village. The Wiley International Handbook of Educational Leadership brings together contributions from authors in twenty-one countries, spanning six continents. Topics examined include leadership and aesthetics, creativity, eco‐justice, advocacy, Big Data and technology, neoliberalism, emerging philosophies and theories, critical democracy, gender and radical feminism, political economies, emotions, postcolonialism, and new directions in higher education. A must-read for teachers, researchers, scholars, and policy makers, this Handbook: Champions radical pluralism over consensus and pseudoscientific or political solutions to problems in education Embraces social, economic, and political relevance alongside the traditions of careful and systematic rigor Challenges traditional epistemological, cultural, and methodological concepts of education and educational leadership Explores the field’s historical antecedents and ways in which leadership can transcend the narrow disciplinary and bureaucratic constraints imposed by current research designs and methods Advances radically new possibilities for remaking educational leadership research and educational institutions

Ideologies in Educational Administration and Leadership explores ideological dimensions of educational administration in a number of Western and Central European contexts as they influence or shape the understanding, analysis, and practice in the field covering a broad range of topics, such as ethics, governance, diversity, and power. The first section, Philosophical and Theoretical Foundations, includes a range of sociological, political and linguistic approaches to examining ideology in an educational context. The second section, Ideologies of Research and Teaching, includes examinations of neoliberal and technological effects on research and teaching, as well as ideological shifts and challenges, in the West and in Eastern Europe. The last section, Contemporary and International Issues, includes critiques of social media, neoliberal impact on schooling, managerial leadership, university ideologies in Finland, the rationalisation of universities, and the impact of administrative ideologies on school systems. The book will appeal to researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, academics, as well as post-graduates in educational administration theory, and related courses in the ethics and politics of education, educational leadership, and organisational studies.

In this book, Starratt enters the national conversation among educational administration scholars and practitioners about what constitutes the core of their knowledge and practice. In Part I, he develops three main themes--cultivating meaning, community, and moral responsibility--which he then positions against national themes about the core of educational administration: school improvement, democratic community, and social justice. Rather than focusing on the routine managerial tasks normally associated with school administration (budgeting, personnel and legal problems, time and resource management, etc.), this text asks aspiring school leaders to reflect first on the underlying philosophical and sociological perspectives that constitute the substance of administrative work in education. Centering Educational Administration provides: *A Unique Perspective on Leadership--The author views leadership as organically related to teaching and learning, as concerned with internal capacity building in response to state-imposed accountability pressures, and as an existential process of writing one's autobiography through their day-to-day work. *An Interdisciplinary View of Educational Administration--Centering Educational Administration asks educational administrators to bring contemporary philosophical, ethical, and anthropological issues, as well as learning theory, social theory, and political theory into their thinking about the daily operation of the school. *A Unique Perspective on School Improvement--This text asserts that school improvement narrowly defined as improving results on high-stakes tests can likewise place the nation at risk. An equally important agenda is teaching the young the basic satisfactions, norms, and potential of using their knowledge in the service of the community and of a wider humanity. *Exercises in Reflective Practice--This book challenges the reader to use the ideas of each chapter to analyze the current practices in their school and to propose concrete changes to improve the teaching and learning environment of their school.