Description
Book SynopsisThe best leaders lead by example, not by mandate. However, so much leadership has become conscripted by neoliberal values. Educators and politicians, who are increasingly making policy for educators, have come to believe that standardized test scores are the same as knowledge acquired, as if test scores actually measure knowledge as opposed to information. Simply put, educational policy is no longer being developed for educational purposes but education is increasingly being manipulated as an experiment in social engineering.
Educational leaders are caught on the horns of a dilemma – to follow and inscribe policies they do not agree with or to “go rogue” and do what they know is needed. Leading under Pressure is aptly titled, as there is significant pressure being placed on school leaders at any stage in their careers. However, in an otherwise increasingly hostile political, commercial and natural environment, there are some rays of hope. For example, teachers still know what it is that their students need and strive to provide that, despite mandates that try to create consumers of us all.
This volume is divided into three sections, the first of which seeks to explore social contexts of educational leadership. The second section explores the experiences of a variety of educational leaders in various contexts, while the third section of this volume looks at some of the consequences, unintended and otherwise, of the neoliberal commodification of education.
Table of ContentsThe Future is Now: Educational Leadership in Crisis; S. Chitpin and R. E. White
Part I: Social Contexts
Chapter 1. Workplace Conditions that Contribute to Principals’ Emotional Labour; C. Hauseman
Chapter 2. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Considerations for Leadership in Medical Education; A. Larocque, D. Lewis, P. Rezaiefar, M. J. Venables, and D. Archibald
Chapter 3. Race, Ethnicity and Leadership Pressures in Neoliberal Times; C. Vieler-Porter
Part II: Leading under Pressure
Chapter 4. Leading under Speculation: Small Schools, Context and the Principalship; S. Eacott, F. Munoz Rivera, and A. Raad
Chapter 5. EQAO Standardized Examinations: An Inequitable Measure of Academic Success for Food Insecure Students; O. Karoui
Chapter 6. School Improvement does not Take Place in a Vacuum; E. Anderson
Chapter 7. School Leadership to Prevent Collateral Damage: A Case Study of a Thai Principal during the COVID-19 Pandemic; T. Luanrit, E. Saito, and V. Saejea
PART III: FutureScapes
Chapter 8. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Principals in the Middle; D. Fink, J. Hannay, S. Lazenby, and W. Marks
Chapter 9. Applying an Adult Development Lens to Explore School Leadership Patterns in Equity and Social Justice; N. Sirois
Chapter 10. What’s Research got to do with It? Middle Leadership in the Modern University; T. Heffernan, L. Macaulay, and L. Bosetti
Epilogue
The World Crisis and the Key to Its Resolution; N. Maxwell
