Headteachers and the pandemic: themes from a review of literature on leadership for professional learning in complex times

This paper draws from a review of the global literature on school leadership during the first 30 months of the pandemic (2020–2022), when educational leaders were faced with complexity on an unprecedented scale. COVID-19 challenged school leadership, providing opportunities to reflect on: leadership practice within and beyond school contexts; building relationships with wider communities and external stakeholders; established bureaucratic systems and ways of working (Author et al. under review). School leaders’ reliance on organisational stability, hierarchy and standardised practice was also challenged: reflective practice was needed, whilst responding to complex and demanding situations. Increased teacher autonomy and agency was encouraged and embraced, with ‘profound collaboration borne out of necessity and urgency’ (p. 393), highlighting the fluid practice of leadership rather than the role specificities of a leader. As school systems return to the business of in-person schooling and further away from the shock of the pandemic, the article renews calls to learn from experience and innovation. Three aspects are discussed, for supporting the development of school leadership/leaders capable of navigating complexity: school leadership; informal professional learning; formal professional learning. Our analysis provides insights into advancing professional learning approaches: accounting for complexity; enhancing teaching and learning; strengthening educator empowerment

Emotions and ethics: A Foucauldian framework for becoming an ethical educator

This paper provides examples of how a teacher and a principal construct their ‘ethical selves’. In doing so we demonstrate how Foucault's four-part ethical framework can be a scaffold with which to actively connect emotions to a personal ethical position. We argue that ethical work is and should be an ongoing and dynamic life long process rather than a more rigid adherence to a ‘code of ethics’ that may not meaningfully engage its adherents. We use Foucault's four-part framework of ethical practice as a framework through which an ‘ethical self’ can be purposely constructed. This is important work, as those who have authority over others must know how to monitor themselves against the misuse of the power of their positions

Deconstructing educational leadership: Derrida and Lyotard

Jacques Derrida and Jean-François Lyotard constitute two of the most notable figures of poststructuralist thought and philosophy of the postmodern period. Both worked to reveal instabilities and uncertainty, and to destabilise assumptions and self-evident traditions for the purposes of reflection, creativity and innovative thinking. This significant volume explores the key concepts central to the work of Derrida and Lyotard in relation to educational leadership, and reveals how these ideas challenge existing structures, hierarchies and models of thought

Discipline through documentation: Grant applications as a form of governmentality for school principals

The aim of this paper is to illustrate how principal subjectivities are constructed by particular normalizing processes that occur through the disciplinary power of grants and submission writing. An increasing part of the principal's job, under moves towards self-governing schools, is a reliance of grants and submissions in order to obtain funding. This paper uses case studies of two school principals who are concerned about the increasing time and energy spent on these funding applications. Foucault's notions of governmentality and disciplinary power are used to theorize the constitution of these principals as subjects through the mechanisms of grants and submissions. This paper therefore contributes to much needed theory building around principals' work under school-based management