SESSION OUTLINES:

NB: This is a tentative outline subject to revision. Required readings may be added, (or be deleted) to those listed below as the quarter progresses. I will aim to avoid unnecessary, untimely, or "surprise" changes; however, the course is expected to "evolve" according to participants' interests, background, and emerging topics.

Session 1 – January 8 - Introduction: The personal foundations of leadership theory

•      Course introduction and overview

•      We will explore our tacit assumptions about leadership and what has informed our conceptions of leadership. In addition, we will discuss a number of ways that the course aims and constructs may connect to your research and practice.

•      We will locate leadership perspectives in relation to matters that are important to us, including problems of practice in schools, colleges, and universities and particularly to those that call us toward a socially just stand.

Readings:

•      (none pre-assigned; in-class)

Session 2 – January 15 - Educational leadership theory and the problem of power: Nesting the concepts

•      Leadership theory has undergone a number of developmental shifts over the last century. We will focus in this session on surveying this development utilizing a "three-frame approach." We will be exploring early understandings of leadership embedded in heroic manifestations and structural ends. In addition, we will consider the contribution of James MacGregor Burns in his development of transformational leadership theory. Finally, we will initiate our examination of how problems of practice and concerns for social justice have nurtured the current emerging domains of critical and post-structural conceptions of leadership.

      Call for proposals distributed

Readings:

      Evers, C. & Lakomski, G. (1991). Knowing educational administration. Oxford: Pergamon. Ch. 15, Bates, R. On knowing: Cultural and critical approaches to educational administration (pp. 189-198).

      Kezar, A., Carducci, R., & Contreras-McGavin, M. (2006). A World Apart: New Paradigms of Leadership. ASHE Higher Education Report. 31 (6), 15-29.

      Watkins, P. (1989). Leadership, power and symbols in educational administration. In J. Smyth (Ed.), Critical perspectives on educational leadership (pp. 9-37). London: Falmer.

      Marshall, C., & Oliva, M. (2006). Building the capacities of social justice leaders. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 1-15). Boston: Pearson.

      Lagerkvis, C. (2006) Empowerment and anger: Learning how to share ownership of the museum. Museum and Society, 4(2), 52-68.

Recommended readings:

•      Hodgkinson, C. (1978). Towards a philosophy of administration. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Ch. 5, Power, authority, and leadership (pp. 80-100).

•      Starratt, R. J. (2003). Centering educational administration: Cultivating meaning, community and responsibility. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum. Ch. 1, The challenging world of educational leadership (pp. 3-26).

Session 3 – January 22 – Critical leadership: Interests for social justice

•      In this session, we deepen our exploration of the idea of "leadership as critical." The focus for this week will be around "voices" in context. Whose voices are least heard? How does leading ensure that organizations grapple with the core question of "whose interests are being served" (Ken Sirotnik) by the museums, schools, colleges, and universities we have established?

•      A central question this week will be: Critical of what and for what purpose? One centerpiece of this critical imperative is the informing idea of "reflective practice." In addition to the readings, we will consider the relationship between reflective practice, leadership, and emancipation. A further extension this week will be to develop the questions that leaders/we need to be asking about our social context in order to be "critical" leaders (e.g. see the types of questions posed by Capper, 1998 [see week 4]). Furthermore, we now turn our attention to the potential of leadership to address historic marginalization and exclusionary practices in organization. Some of these perspectives are outlined in the Capper article. In addition, we will weave this into Starratt's developing themes of postmodern challenges and flawed institutions.

Readings:

      Starratt, R. J. (1993). The drama of leadership. London: Falmer. Ch. 4, Leadership of flawed institutions (pp. 63-87).

      Sirotnik, K. A. (1989). The school as the center of change. In, T. J. Sergiovanni & J. H. Moore (Eds.), Schooling for tomorrow: Directing reforms to issues that count, (89-113). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

      Dantley, M. E., & Tillman, L. C. (2006). Social justice and moral transformative leadership. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 31-63). Boston: Pearson.

      Marshall, C., & Parker, L. (2006). Learning from leaders' social justice dilemmas. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 194-213). Boston: Pearson.

      Zolberg, V. L. (1984). American art museums: Sanctuary or free-for-all? Social Forces, 63(2), 377-392.

Recommended readings:

•      Scheurich, J. J., & Imber, M. (1991). Educational reforms can reproduce societal inequities: A case study. Educational Administration Quarterly, 27(3), 297-320.
•      Skrla, L., Scheurich, J. J., Garcia, J., & Nolly, G. (2006). Equity audits: A practical leadership tool for developing equitable and excellent schools. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 251-278). Boston: Pearson.

•      Dantley, M. E. (1990). The ineffectiveness of effective schools leadership: An analysis of the effective schools movement from a critical perspective. Journal of Negro Education, 59(4), 585-598.

•      O'Neill, M. (2006). Essentialism, adaptation and justice: Towards a new epistemology of museums. Museum Management and Curatorship, 21(2), 95-116.

•      Giroux, H. A. (1992, October). Educational leadership and the crisis of democratic culture. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the University Council for Educational Administration, University Park, Pennsylvania. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 366 086)

•      West, S. (1994). Market values, civic culture and schools. Cambridge Journal of Education, 24(3), 383-391.

•      Maxcy, S. J. (1995). Democracy, chaos, and the new school order. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Ch. 4, Three efforts to restructure schools (pp. 75-109)

Session 4 – January 29 - Critical theory and postmodern contributions to leadership understanding

•      Following on from the last session, we will spend most of our time in this session making sense of the philosophical underpinnings of emerging leadership perspectives. To make that connection, we will explore the issue of "empowerment" as a leadership imperative, as well as how notions of shared leadership intersect with emerging leadership perspectives. In addition, we will delve (briefly) into the sociological influence of Anthony Giddens ("Structuration theory") on leadership theory. Giddens will resurface again in future sessions.

Readings:

      Capper, C. (1998). Critically oriented and postmodern perspectives: Sorting out the differences and applications for practice. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 354-379.

      Gibson, R. (1986). Critical theory and education. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Ch. 1, What is critical theory? (pp. 1-19).

      Hoffman, L. P., & Burrello, L. C. (2004). A case study illustration of how a critical theorist and a consummate practitioner meet on common ground. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(2), 268-289.

      Tierney, W. G. (1989). Advancing democracy: A critical interpretation of leadership. Peabody Journal of Education, 66(3), 157-175.

Recommended readings:

•      Retallick, J. A. (1990, April). Educational leadership in a critical theory of education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, Massachusetts. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 323 610)

•      Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society. Cambridge: Polity Press. (see particularly, chapter 1, Elements of the theory of structuration)

•      Hirst, P. (1982). The social theory of Anthony Giddens: A new syncretism? Theory, Culture and Society, 1(2), 78-82.

•      Lord, B. (2006). Foucault's museum. Different, representation, and genealogy. Museum and Society, 4(1), 11-14

Session 5 – February 5 – Race, gender, language, ethnicity and religion in critical leadership

•      In this session we take time to consider important aspects of identity and experience, particularly around race, gender, ethnicity, language, and religion. An entire course could be taught from each perspective. Our aim in this session is to consider how these matters shape, at an elemental level, how we construe leadership; how they differ and challenge the dominant leadership paradigms.

•      Our aim is to explore how a rich and diverse way of thinking about leadership provides a more hopeful and helpful way to promotes socially just educational institutions and museums.

Readings:

      López, G. R., González, M. L., & Fierro, E. (2006). Educational leadership along the US-Mexico border: Crossing borders/embracing hybridity/building bridges. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 64-84). Boston: Pearson.

      Lugg, C. A., Tabbaa-Rida, Z. (2006). Social justice, religion, and public school leaders. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 130-145). Boston: Pearson.

      Sanders-Lawson, R., Smith-Campbell, S., & Benham, M. K. P. (2006). Wholistic visioning for social justice: Black women theorizing practice. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 31-63). Boston: Pearson.

      Shah, S. (2006). Educational leadership: An Islamic perspective. British Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 363-385.

      Thurber, F., & Zimmerman, E. (2002). An Evolving Feminist Leadership Model for Art Education. Studies in Art Education. 44 (1), 5.

☞      Proposals due

Session 6 – February 12– No on-campus session. Critical theory and postmodern contributions to leadership understanding (reading week)

•      The readings for week 4 were heavy-going and merit further reflection. In addition, this week will provide a couple readings in preparation for next week's guest instructor. In these readings, we delve deeper into how (relatively) recent paradigms are challenging leadership viewpoints that have held sway for decades (if not centuries). Whether through the lens of Queer Theory or Feminist critique, traditional structures and practices of domination, exclusion, and marginalization are powerfully confronted with a new reality.

•      Again, our foray is brief, but the intent is to create an expansive view of what it means to lead and to purposefully confront the question of whose interests are served when dominant leadership paradigms are allowed to persist without question.

•      This week is set aside for you to:

o      grapple with the readings
o      explore other literature
o      Provide feedback to your colleagues on the proposals

Further Independent Readings:

      Furman, G. (1998). Postmodernism and community in schools: Unraveling the paradox. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 298-328.

      Foster, W. (1989). Toward a critical practice of leadership. In J. Smyth (Ed.), Critical perspectives on educational leadership (pp. 39-62). London: Falmer.

      Blackmore, J. (1989). Educational leadership: A feminist critique and reconstruction. In J. Smyth (Ed.), Critical perspectives on educational leadership (pp. 93-129). London: Falmer.

      Fennell, H-A. (1999). Power in the principalship: Four women's experiences. Journal of Educational Administration, 37(1), 23-49.

      Korschoreck, J. W., Slattery, P. (2006). Meeting all students' needs: Transforming the unjust normativity of heterosexism. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 145-166). Boston: Pearson.

      Moghadam, V., & Bagheritari, M. (2007). Cultures, Conventions, and the Human Rights of Women: Examining the Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Declaration on Cultural Diversity. Museum International, 59 (4), 9-18.

Recommended readings:

•      Anderson, G. L., & Grinberg, J. (1998). Educational administration as a disciplinary practice: Appropriating Foucault's view of power, discourse, and method. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 329-353.

•      Shapiro, L. (2006). Releasing emotion: Artmaking and leadership for social justice. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 233-250). Boston: Pearson.

Session 7 – February 19 – LGBT/Queer Research, Policy, and Practice for Social Justice
(Brad away to South Africa)
Guest instructor: Joseph Daniels, EDLPS Ph.D. Student
Joseph is the Graduate Assistant for the Higher Education Program in EDLPS and took this course in 2006. Joseph's research includes leadership theory, international perspectives, and LGBT/Queer theory.

•      The objective of this class is to examine the queer/LGBT dimension of social justice leadership. We will review some research, policy and practice that address current issues and conversations within Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities--and queer (theory)--in both higher education and K-12 contexts. Our class cannot be exhaustive, and our discussion on queer theoretical frameworks will be limited due to time. However, I ask you to consider these questions prior to class and as you read the materials: What are the research, policy and practice issues at play? What are the tensions and arguments? Who or what organizations are conducting the research, designing policy and practice? Finally, how do these individuals and organizations represent social justice leadership?

•      The class will begin with a general overview of LGBT so that we can have a basic foundation to start our conversation. Fumbling over the "right" words during class will be completely accepted. We will discuss both higher education and K-12 contexts separately, and then we will conceptualize how these areas of education are possibly interconnected. The class will include break-out sessions for higher education and K-12. Prior to class, I ask everyone to select a case study group based on the topic in the K-12 section below. Each group will present the case to the class after organizing their thoughts based on the questions above. Finally, we will finish with a reflection on how this may--or may not impact--your individual research, conceptualizations and practice. Time will be provided for you to voluntarily share these reflections with the class.

Readings:

Higher Education

      Davis, James Earl. 2002. "Race, Gender, and Sexuality: (Un)Doing Identity Categories in Educational Research". Educational Researcher. 31 (4): 29-32.

      Kapczynski, Amy. 2002. "Queer Brinkmanship: Citizenship and the Solomon Wars." Yale Law Journal. 112: 673.

      Daniels, Joseph. 2008. "An Implemention Analysis of Don't Ask, Don't Tell." In progress. http://www.law.georgetown.edu/Solomon/index.html

K-12

      GLSEN. 2007. "The 2007 National School Climate Survey: Key Findings on the Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in Our Nations Schools". Executive Summary. http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2340.html

Case Studies:

      "Boy wants to return to school as a girl", http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=85989 Lawrence King, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/us/23oxnard.html and http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/08/local/me-oxnard8

Session 8 – February 26 – The transformative intent of critical leadership

•      Perhaps the center of transformation can be found in the notion of change. Change might be considered at an individual, organizational, or even societal level. Our focus in this session will be to examine this idea of change and link it to the empowering characteristics of leadership. In this session, we will also link-in notions of transformative leadership and discuss some of the paradoxes that are represented in transformational perspectives.

•      An originating idea in transformational leadership is that through collaborative engagement and shared commitment to common goals, the leader, the led, and the organization are mutually raised to higher levels of motivation and empowerment. In this session, we revisit the question: How do leaders make a difference in matters of social justice?

Readings:

      Furman, G. (1998). Postmodernism and community in schools: Unraveling the paradox. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 298-328.

      Merchant, B., & Shoho, A. R. (2006). Bridge people: Civic and educational leaders for social justice. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 85-109). Boston: Pearson.

      Oliva, M., & Anderson, G. L. (2006). Dilemmas and lessons: The continuing leadership challenge for social justice. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 279-306). Boston: Pearson.

      Boyd, W. L. (1999). Museums as centers of controversy. Daedalus : Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 128 (3), 185.

      Welsh, P. H. (2005). Re-configuring museums. Museum Management and Curatorship, 20(2), 103-130.

Recommended readings:

•      Choi, W. C. (1998). How Students Transform a "Stuffy Building with a Bunch of Rules". Art Education, 51(2), 46.

•      Starratt, R. J. (2003). Centering educational administration: Cultivating meaning, community and responsibility. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum. Ch. 8, Cultivating a responsible community (pp. 137-156).

Session 9 – March 5 – Ethical issues for the practice of critical leadership

•      Clearly, when we think about leadership we must simultaneously consider the manifestations of power (influence and authority) in the nature of the relationship between the leader and the led. The opportunities for abuse of power abound and as leadership scholars it is important for us to consider the various ways power can be manifest from "power over" to "power through" to "power with." As Foster notes, "leadership is founded on the fact of moral relationships," and, therefore, "must maintain an ethical focus which is oriented toward democratic values within a community" (1989, p. 55). In this session, we will weave these considerations of power with the democratic imperative under girding many social/organizational relationships.

Readings:

      Codd, J. (1989). Educational leadership as reflective action. In J. Smyth (Ed.), Critical perspectives on educational leadership (pp. 157-178). London: Falmer.

      Krause, J. K, Traini, D. J., & Mickey, B. H. (2001). Equality versus equity. In J. P. Shapiro & J. A. Stefkovick (Eds), Ethical leadership and decision making in education (76-90). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

      Curtis, N. G. (2006). Universal museums, museum objects and repatriation: The tangled stories of things. Museum Management and Curatorship, 21(2), 117-127.

Recommended readings:

•      Bottery, M. (1992). The ethics of educational management: personal, social and political perspectives on school organization. London: Cassell. Ch. 12, The ethics of leadership (pp. 178-190).

•      Bonnell, J., & Simon, R. I. (2007). ‘Difficult' exhibitions and intimate encounters. Museum and Society, 5(2), 65-85.

•      Curtis, N. G. (2006). Universal museums, museum objects and repatriation: The tangled stories of things. Museum Management and Curatorship, 21(2), 117-127.

•      White, P. (1983). Beyond domination: An essay in the political philosophy of education. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Ch. 1, Democratic principles and basic assumptions (pp. 6-32).

Session 10 – March 12 – Developing critical leadership for social engagement & Critical Leadership Symposium

•      A key thesis for this course is that we are all leaders—that leadership has less to do with position and more to do with influence. In any social context, we each have the capacity to provide significant and responsible influence. At the same time, we often have the opportunity to lead from specific vantage points—sometimes through expertise, sometimes through responsibility and context. The idea here is that we can both learn to lead and also that we have a unique opportunities to expand the circle of those who can influence and shape or educational institutions.

•      In this session, we'll explore what it means to prepare for leadership—both our own and others'.

•      The second half of this session will be devoted to presenting final papers as well as course evaluation. Each will make a brief presentation of their paper to a small group of colleagues.

Readings:

      Cambron-McCabe, N. (2006). Preparation and development of school leaders: Implications for social justice policies. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 110-139). Boston: Pearson.

      Hafner, M. M. (2006). Teaching strategies for developing leaders for social justice. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 167-193). Boston: Pearson.

      Brunner, C. C., Opsal, C., Oliva, M. (2006). Disrupting identity: Fertile pedagogy for raising social consciousness in educational leaders. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 214-232). Boston: Pearson.

      Marshall, C, & Young, M. (2006). The wider societal challenge: An afterword. In C. Marshall, & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 307-318). Boston: Pearson.

Recommended readings:

•      Anderson, G. L., & Grinberg, J. (1998). Educational administration as a disciplinary practice: Appropriating Foucault's view of power, discourse, and method. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 329-353.

•       Baldwin, J. H., & Ackerson, A. W. (2006). Who's next? Research predicts museum leadership gap. Museum Management and Curatorship. 21(4), 349-352.

•      Boylan, P. J. (2006). Museums: Targets or instruments of cultural policies? Museum International. 58(4), 8-12.

 Course paper due