Bourdieu's strategies and the challenge for educational leadership

The quality of scholarship in educational leadership has frequently been questioned both within and beyond the field. Much of the work in the field is limited to the analysis of either individual or structural influences on practice. The resulting lists of traits, behaviours and organizational structures provide little in furthering our understanding of leadership. Theoretically informed by the work of Pierre Bourdieu and building on a previous special issue edited by Lingard and Christie, in this paper I contend that insufficient attention has been devoted to the temporal features of leadership actions. Analogies provided by practising principals are used to highlight the directly unobservable features of school leadership. The central argument of this paper is that heightened attention to temporal elements of leadership as a social action has the prospect of elucidating that which is not directly observable and consequently move scholarship beyond the superficial measurement of what is directly observable to a thick description of educational leadership

The return on school leadership preparation and development programmes: A study on Australian university-based programmes

Purpose: This paper highlights the potential value of “return on investment” analysis for leadership development investment methods to better providing research informed decision regarding improving organisational outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: Working with published research on leadership dimensions with greatest impact on student outcomes, return on leadership development formula, and empirical research on Australian university‐based educational leadership programmes, this paper demonstrates an illustrative example of estimating the return on leadership investment. Findings: Using an illustrative example of Australian university‐based educational leadership programmes, this paper argues that methodologies for estimating the return on leadership development offers a powerful tool for making research informed decisions at the individual, organisational and systemic levels. Research limitations/implications: This paper provides the basis for substantial further work on the measures of impact of leadership preparation and development such as matters of duration of effect, instrumentations of quality, costing and causal models of effect. Practical implications: The methodology demonstrated in this paper provides a basis for individuals, organisations and school systems to make decisions regarding the resourcing, or not, of school leadership preparation and development. Social implications: The methodology demonstrated in this paper provides a basis for individuals, organisations and school systems to make decisions regarding the resourcing, or not, of school leadership preparation and development. Originality/value: The application of return on investment analysis has been rare in educational leadership preparation and development programmes and its value opens up information for rigorous debate on the resourcing, or not, of programmes by systems, government and individuals

Lacking a shared vision: practitioners and the literature on the topic of strategy

Strategy is an ambiguous term in the field of educational leadership. This article reports on a study in which I sought to investigate how practicing school principals and the literature construct the concept. Specifically, I investigated the congruence between two sources of data: the transcribed texts of interviews with practicing principals and a systematic search of peer-reviewed journal articles extending over a 28-year period. The poor match between practitioners and the literature in how they portray the strategic role of school leaders challenges scholars and practitioners alike to reconsider the conceptualization of strategy. If strategy is to become a meaningful construct in the field, then a broader, more discursive lens is required; otherwise, the concept risks fading into obscurity or becoming little more than yet another adjectival form of leadership

School leadership and strategy in managerialist times

This book is dedicated to an analysis and synthesis of research on strategy and school leadership, with the ultimate goal of suggesting a new research programme. Each chapter takes up this challenge through different means, resulting in an overview of the construct of strategy within the practice of school leadership. It is hoped that each of these chapters encourages students, practitioners and scholars to continue to investigate this important topic and to undertake the methodological challenges set out to advance our understanding of strategy and school leadership in managerialist times. Despite maintaining a primarily scholarly focus – as such a focus is exceedingly important for the advancement of any domain of inquiry – it is also recognised that many of the ideas discussed have profound practical significance for schools and those who lead and manage them. The arguments in this book, particularly those in the latter chapters seek to expand the horizons of scholarship and understanding on the topic of strategy and school leadership. Although this should not be interpreted as a prescriptive call for how further inquiry should be undertaken, it is but one voice in the conversation. The reviews, studies, analysis and proposed research programme of this book argue that the strategies of school leaders are of considerable theoretical and practical importance to schools, the governance of schooling and the behaviour and performance of schools. While this book offers a blueprint for further inquiry, it remains for the reader to accept the challenge. Doing so will enable important new insights into strategy and school leadership

Studying school leadership practice: A methodological conversation

This paper seeks to engage the field of educational leadership in a methodological conversation. It outlines a methodological position taken by the author (a focus on leadership practice using Bourdieu) in a currently funded project and seeks discussion with the wider field. The paper is structured to provide the reader with background to the theoretical position of the author and the implications this has for the study of school leadership practice. The discussion highlights the need for multi-layered descriptions of leadership and the dual purpose of leadership research. This provides for a greater understanding of the phenomenon of leadership, and the subsequent implications for leadership practice and, potentially, preparation. The intent of this paper is not merely to critique existing works in the field, nor to create a modernistic binary between the positions of others and those presented here. Rather, the value of this work is its potential to intervene in the scholarship of the field and disrupt the status quo, highlighting the benefits of embracing the complexity, ambiguity and moment-by-moment contestation that defines the social practice that is school leadership

New look leaders or a new look at leadership?

Purpose: This paper seeks to take up the challenge of complex social, political and cultural influences, uncertain economic conditions, ever advancing technologies and increasingly diverse student populations. The challenge for educational leadership scholars and practitioners is to figure out what their work as leaders should be in new times. The paper aims to discuss the issues. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing loosely on the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu, and a continued research agenda, this paper outlines a framework for educational leadership that can be measured, but is not prescriptive. Findings: The central argument of this paper is that viewing leadership as a complex social activity that is not directly observable has the prospect of moving scholarship and understanding beyond the superficial measurement of what is directly observed to a thick description of educational leadership. Originality/value: The framework presented privileges the philosophical and scholarly elements of being an educational leader over the administrative and managerial. It is argued that this is what is needed in the leadership of educational institutions for the future and a framework for preparing the next generation of leaders

Exploring the leadership practice of school leaders: a pilot study

This paper shares preliminary findings from a multi-method study, investigating the leadership practices of educational managers. Early findings show that school leaders do not critically engage with the issues of the larger discourse of education as much as they believe they do. Building from this, two things are argued: first, school leaders would benefit from having an explicit tool that enables them to monitor their leadership practice; and secondly, there is considerable work to be done to unpack what taking on an administrative role does to educators