26. Educational Leadership
Paper
Controversial Issues for Principals in Sweden - an Exploratory Approach
Magnus Larsson, Pär Poromaa Isling, Anna Rantala, Ulf Leo, Björn Ahlström
Center for Principal Development, Umeå University, Sweden
Presenting Author: Larsson, Magnus
Controversial issues (CI) are a part of everyday life in schools’, inside and outside the classroom. How principals understand and manage these issues are therefore an interesting topic of inquiry. In this paper we set out to examine, from the theoretical standpoint of agency, principals understanding of what a CI is and how they can and cannot be managed. CIs has been a recurring topic in the educational literature for the last four decades (Hand & Levinson 2012; Anders & Shudak 2016) and in a globalised world characterized by polarisation and mediatisation the need for schools to handle CI has potentially become increasingly salient (Larsson & Lindström 2020). However, what is perceived as a controversial issue differs between contexts and can change rapidly.
The primary focus in the literature concerning CIs is teachers and teaching situations. This paper takes another point of departure focusing on principals and how they understand and manage CIs. Even though CIs are present outside formal teaching situations at the school, research on principals’ understandings and management of CIs are scarce and seldomly explicitly addressed. In addition, international educational policy discussions have underscored the importance that principals (not just teachers) manage and develop strategies in relation to CIs (Council of Europe, 2017). The aim of this paper is to explore how principals understand and manage CIs, more specifically the following research questions are applied:
- What do school leaders understand as controversial issues in the Swedish education system?
- How and why do school leaders manage controversial issues in the Swedish education system?
To categorize and analyse what principals understand as CIs (RQ1) the literature on what constitutes a CI is invoked. There is an ongoing debate on what criteria should be applied to deem something a CI (cf. Anders and Shudak, 2012). This debate differentiates between behavioural, political, epistemic, social, and theoretical criteria for defining an issue as controversial. However, this debate is primarily grounded in the question what teachers should (and should not) teach as a controversial issue which means that several of the criteria are unapplicable in principals professional practice. Based on the literature and the specific professional practice of principals’ we apply the following definition: a controversial issue is any issue that creates opposition or disputes at an organisational or societal level in schools and pre-schools.
In order to analyse how principals manage CIs (RQ2) we build on Emirbayer and Miche’s (1998) conceptualisation of agency as well as Eteläpelto et al (2013) conceptualisation of professional agency. Emirbayer and Miche’s (1998, p. 953) argue that agency should be seen as ‘temporally embedded process of social engagement’ informed by and directed towards the past, future, and present. This is complemented by Eteläpelto et al’s (2013) understanding of professional agency, which is dependent on professional knowledge and competencies as well as specific conditions of the workplace. Taken together, we understand professional agency as a dynamic concept rooted in temporal dimensions that emerges in relation to socio-cultural conditions of the workplace and professional identity, knowledge, and experience.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe empirical part of the study is made up of 29 interviews with principals in Sweden. In the selection process we elected a heterogenous sample aiming for maximal variation among the principals (Ritchie & Lewis, 2013). This process started with identifying central categories of principals to make sure that the sample would include principals in different contexts and with different prerequisites. This, in turn, allows our mapping of principals’ understanding of controversial issues to include several different points of view. The categories used in the selection process was: including both men and women (gender); principals working in schools from different education stages (education stage): whether the school was placed in a central or rural setting (city-countryside) and whether the principal was experienced or novel (professional experience).
Since the research on principals understanding of CIs is limited, we elected an exploratory approach to make sure that we did not steer the principals’ understandings of what a CI is for a principal. However, to provide some sort of guidance we presented the respondents with the following generic definition of a CI in the beginning of all interviews: by controversial issues we mean issues that arouse strong feelings and/or divide opinion in schools, communities, and society. After the respondents was asked to give a brief professional background, the respondents were invited to bring up the most pressing controversial issue in their role as a principal. To each controversial issue a set of follow up questions were asked including: “why is this a controversial issue; who are involved; who are affected; how do you manage this issue?”. After the respondent had brought up their most pressing CIs questions intended to help to broaden the respondents’ perspective was applied. These questions entailed aspects such as: previously encountered controversial issues; controversial issues regarding teaching situations, norms and values, or connected to the larger society or the immediate community.
To answer the first research question the answers from the respondents were categorised thematically. First, any issues brought up by the respondents that fell outside our broad definition of CI were sifted out. After that the controversial issues were thematically organised into specific topics (religion, sustainability, racism, LGBTQI etc) and types of controversial issue (social, political, behavioural etc.). To answer the second research question the respondents answers to how they handle and manage controversial issues were analysed through the concept of professional agency as depicted above.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsPreliminary results concerning the first research question show that themes concerning segregation, racism, LGBTQI and religion are recurring examples the principals give of CIs. Apparent difference can be found between the different categories of principals. For example, pre-school principals deal with CIs concerning the relation with parents claims to a larger extent than other principals. In addition, several issues brought up by the principals are not deemed controversial given the definition applied in this paper. The most salient of these issues are interpersonal issues between principals and teachers or other school staff. When these issues are not clearly connected to an organizational and/or a societal level they were not deemed a controversial issue.
Preliminary results concerning the second research questions show that how principals relate to and understand social-temporal aspects of their professional work influences how they perceive the CI at hand and have consequences for how they manage the CI. For example, how the principal understands racial tensions at his or her school influences whether s/he manages the issue proactively or simply deals with the issue as it flares up. Even though this paper is a first step in mapping and understanding CIs for principals more research is needed to provide a better understanding of how principals understand and manages controversial issues.
ReferencesAnders, P. & Shudak. (2016) Criteria for Controversy: A Theoretic Approach. Thresholds in Education, 39(1), 20–30.
Council of Europe (2017) Managing controversy – Developing a strategy for handling controversy and teaching controversial issues in schools. A self-reflection toll for school leaders and senior managers.
Emirbayer, M. & Mische, A. (1998) What is agency? American journal of Sociology, 103, 962-1023.
Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P. and Susanna Paloniemi, S. (2013) What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work, Educational Research Review, 10, 45-65.
Hand, M. & Levinson, R. (2012) Discussing controversial issues in the classroom. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(6), 614-629.
Larsson, A. & Lindström, N. (2020) Controversial societal issues in education: Explorations of moral, critical and didactical implications. Acta Didactica Norden, 14(4), 1-6.
Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., McNaughton Nicholls, C. and Ormston, R. (2013) Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers. SAGE.
26. Educational Leadership
Paper
The Case of La Verneda-Sant Martí School: Leading Change Through Dialogue
Gisela Redondo-Sama1, Shiza Khaqan1, Teresa Morlà2
1University Rovira i Virgili; 2University of Barcelona
Presenting Author: Redondo-Sama, Gisela;
Khaqan, Shiza
Relevance and research question
La Verneda-Sant Martí school is an adult school located in a deprived area in Barcelona, and the first experience of adult education in Spain published in the Harvard Educational Review (Sánchez Aroca, 1999). Renowned scholars such as Catherine Compton-Lilly (University of Wisconsin), John Comings (Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts at Amherst), or Courtney Cazen (Harvard University) have expressed the impact of visiting the school, highlighting how it contributes to transforming people´s lives through education (Escola d’Adults de la Verneda, 2023). Since its foundation in 1978, the school has increased the participation of the educational community, multiplying the learning processes of vulnerable groups in challenging situations.
Although the analysis of the actions contributing to school improvement in La Verneda-Sant Martí has been widely developed, the investigations about what facilitates the creation of community leaders in the school are limited. In this vein, the following research question underlines this contribution:
- To what extent the forms of leadership development in the school are aligned with the dialogic leadership?
Thus, this paper aims to study how this school members create and develop leadership practices resonating with the conceptualization of dialogic leadership. To this aim, one of the pillars at the core of the study is to analyse how the participation of the whole community is generating leadership beyond the school walls. Concerning the ECER2023 theme “The Value of Diversity in Education and Educational Research”, this paper includes the diversity of agents exercising leadership in La Verneda-Sant Martí school, to provide evidence regarding the full potential of diverse students and members of the community to transform education through educational leadership.
Conceptual/Theoretical framework
The role of dialogue is at the core of theoretical and empirical works on educational leadership (Shields, 2019) and different leadership conceptualizations highlight the dialogical dimension of learning to build and consolidate effective leadership practices (Bennet, Wise, Woods & Harvey, 2003; Pont et al, 2008; Hallinger, 2009). These contributions resonate with dialogic dynamics of change in societies (Flecha, Gómez & Puigvert, 2003) that serve to understand the school systems as a vivid agent, with openness towards families and educational agents, including what occurs within the school community in a broad sense (students, families, teachers, volunteers…). In line with this approach, dialogic leadership is conceptualized as the process by which leadership practices of all the members of the educational community are created, developed, and consolidated (Padrós & Flecha, 2014). Under this conceptualization of dialogic leadership, the community can exercise their leadership capacity by sharing knowledge and building capacity together. This facilitates the creation of an environment in which the skills and expertise of grassroots actors can also capitalize in advancing towards ‘accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose under conditions of uncertainty’ (Ganz, 2009). Research on dialogic leadership has demonstrated that leaders in different positions can contribute to improving democracy in organizations and at diverse educational levels (Campos, Aubert, Guo & Joanpere, 2020; Redondo-Sama, 2020). Furthermore, there is evidence of the relevance of empowering the diversity of communities existing in schools to create, develop and sustain leadership practices within and beyond the school. The literature shows that it is necessary to advance knowledge about the synergies between all educational agents to identify dialogic leadership practices that improve education.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedMethodology
This work is based on a case study conducted under the Communicative Methodology (Gómez, 2011; Flecha & Soler, 2014) and inspired by the “Art of Case Study Research” defined by Robert E. Stake (1995). The Communicative Methodology has been highlighted by the European Commission as the most useful to identify actions that contribute to overcoming situations of inequality (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, 2010). It implies an egalitarian dialogue between researchers and end-users along the different phases of the research. In particular, this work uses the communicative approach to study how the educational agents in La Verneda-Sant Martí are leading change and enhance the participation of the community through dialogic leadership, enabling the improvement of learning processes.
The relevance of the communicative methodology in educational leadership research, as in other research areas as cultural studies or sociology, has two main methodological advantages. On the one hand, it focuses on two main analytical dimensions, the exclusionary and the transformative ones. The former seeks to identify and describe the obstacles and barriers in the particular situation that is being studied, in this case the barriers to develop and exercise dialogic leadership practices. The later focuses on the possibilities that are enabling improvements in the situation studied, in this case the actions and initiatives that are facilitating and encouraging dialogic leadership practices. The transformative dimension is crucial to allow us to go beyond the description of the situation and identify instead actions that contribute to address the problem that is being analysed. On the other hand, the communicative methodology implies a permanent dialogue between the researchers and the educational agents involved in the process. This dialogue strengthens the link between research and citizens’ needs, thus contributing to generate societal impact.
Research instruments
Data collection consists of communicative interviews and observations, including recording of interviews with teachers and other members of La Verneda-Sant Martí school developing dialogic leadership practices. The analysis includes communicative analysis and data coding according to transformative and exclusionary dimensions as explained before.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsDialogic leadership practices identified in the adult school La Verneda-Sant Martí have achieved impact within and beyond school walls. Since it raised motivation for change, it enables a better understanding of the school system and how education can contribute to generating forms of leadership for social justice. The results also indicate that the participation of the community members linked to dialogic leadership is opening spaces for interaction and transformation, seeking responses to achieve school improvement in adult education, and expanding dialogic leadership practices in the neighbourhood.
The educational community approaches their leading roles from a dialogic standpoint, gathering with other educational members (teachers, students…) to become informed leaders. Therefore, their decisions are based on the needs of the community, but also on the informed scientific knowledge gathered from shared meetings with other agents. By including educational decisions on the basis of successful actions proved from the international research to improve education, educational agents improve the students’ academic results and gain support and motivation of other community members. This powerful dynamic influences participants in the school and the community as everyone becomes much more aware of the school needs and possibilities. Besides, relationships are transformed between the community members.
This work provides insights on how to improve adult education in deprived areas by developing dialogic leadership that promotes community participation. This process of change allows the overcoming of stereotypes, facilitates the social inclusion of diverse populations in schools, and brings the opportunity to facilitate the creation of leaders for social justice. This paper provides details on the processes that enable educational agents to lead, share, and enhance spaces of reflection, solidarity, and dialogue to strengthen the positive influence of the school for the improvement and social transformation.
ReferencesBennett, N., Wise, C., Woods, P., & Harvey, J. (2003). Distributed Leadership: A Review of Literature. National College for School Leadership.
Campos, J.A., Aubert, A., Guo, M. & Joanpere, M. (2020). Improved Leadership Skills and Aptitudes in an Excellence EMBA Programme: Creating Synergies with Dialogic Leadership to Achieve Social Impact. Frontiers in Psychology.
Escola d’Adults de la Verneda. (2023). Social Impact. Available at: http://www.edaverneda.org/edaverneda8/en/node/17
Flecha, R., & Soler, M. (2014). Communicative methodology: Successful actions and dialogic democracy. Current Sociology, 62(2), 232-242.
Flecha, R., Gómez, J., & Puigvert, L. (2003). Contemporary sociological theory. New York: Peter Lang.
Ganz, M. (2009). What is public narrative: Self, us & now. (Public Narrative Worksheet). Working Paper
Gómez, A. (Guest Editor). (2011). Special Issue: Critical Communicative Methodology. Qualitative Inquiry, 17 (3), 235-312. doi: 10.1177/1077800410397802
Hallinger, P. (2009). Leadership for 21st Century Schools: From Instructional Leadership to Leadership for Learning. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Institute of Education.
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. (2010). Conclusiones “Science against Poverty” conference. La Granja, 8-9 April 2010.
Padrós, M. & Flecha, R. (2014). Towards a conceptualization of dialogic leadership. International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management. 2, 207–226.
Pont et al. (2008). Improving School Leadership. Brussels: OECD.
Redondo-Sama, G. (2020). Supporting Democracy Through Leadership in Organizations. Qualitative Inquiry, 26(8-9):1033-1040.
Sanchez Aroca, M. (1999). La Verneda-Sant Martí: a school where dare do dream. Harvard Educational Review, 69(3), 320-335.
Shields, C.M. (2010). Transformative Leadership: Working for Equity in Diverse Contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 46(4), 558 – 589. doi: 10.1177/0013161X10375609.
Stake, R. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
26. Educational Leadership
Paper
(Re)Contextualising the Field. A Bourdieuian Analysis of Small Rural School Principal Leadership in a Post-Conflict Society
Carl Bagley, Montserrat Fargas-Malet
Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Bagley, Carl;
Fargas-Malet, Montserrat
In relation to the conference theme, the research featured in the paper is situated within the religiously diverse and educationally divided schooling system in Northern Ireland. As such, it speaks directly to the conference theme and the need to understand the diversity, complexity and impact of context as it relates to small rural primary school leadership.
According to Eurostat (2020), in total, just over a quarter (28%) of the population across 28
European countries live in what can be designated a rural area. These areas, however, vary markedly in socio-economic, geographical and educational terms. For example, while rural areas close to urban centres are likely to be economically dynamic, remote and sparsely populated areas present weaker economic growth and experience population decline and reduction in services, including education. It is precisely these areas that are served by small rural primary schools, largely defined by the number of pupils enrolled, ranging from under 70 to under 140 for primary schools (Fargas-Malet and Bagley, 2022). Throughout Europe, the principals of these small rural schools appear to face similar challenges (Fargas-Malet and Bagley, 2022), most seriously living under constant threat of closure or amalgamation, due to a combination of factors. These include the rationalization of services; a decrease in student numbers; difficulties in attracting and retaining staff and lack of funding (Bagley and Hillyard, 2019; Beach and Vigo Arrazola, 2020). In contrast to this pan-European policy trajectory and its cultural, socio-economic educational impact, previous research findings have championed the cause of small rural schools and their leadership, highlighting the potential they have for adding educational value, and the building of community engagement and social cohesion for sustainable change (Gill, 2017).
In this context, the paper focuses on the complexities associated with contemporary small rural primary school leadership in the post-conflict setting of Northern Ireland. It draws on case study research undertaken in five small rural primary schools and their surrounding diverse and divided communities, with a particular focus on the experiences and perspectives of the five principals of these schools. A recent scoping review of research on small rural schools in Europe (Fargas-Malet and Bagley, 2022), while revealing the similarities in the challenges facing rural school principals, found a significant number of studies remained under theorised (Fargas-Malet and Bagley, 2022). In attempting to fill this gap, the research findings are theoretically and conceptually informed by Bourdieu (1984) and his work on field, habitus and capital as a means of understanding practice. As the neo-liberal economic and political fields contaminate the field of education, a contextual understanding of the complex and shifting social space small rural primary school principals occupy, along with their habitus and the capital they deploy, is of central importance to understanding practice (Addison, 2009; Clarke and Wildy, 2004; Eacott, 2010; Torrance and Angelle, 2019). This understanding is especially relevant to a post-conflict divided society such as Northern Ireland. Thus, while the research context is Northern Ireland, the findings and outcomes from this study are of wider academic relevance and significance for those interested in a deeper theoretical understanding of small rural primary school leadership especially in divided and diverse post-conflict settings, on which research is extremely limited.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe Small School Rural Community Study, from which the sub-set of data presented in this paper are derived, adopted a mixed method explanatory sequential approach (Aldridge et al. 1999) involving an initial on-line questionnaire survey of all small rural primary school principals in Northern Ireland followed by five case-studies. Principals were emailed an information sheet about the study, a link to the online survey, an anonymous identifier to enter into the survey and asked to tick a consent form. A process of informed consent (Byrne, 2001) was adopted with each individual and group prior to commencement of individual and focus group interviews.
The purpose of the wider study was to explore quantitatively and qualitatively the interrelationship between small rural schools and their communities. The online questionnaire covered a range of closed questions regarding general information, the challenges the school faced, and school-community relations. It also included an open-ended question where principals could leave any further comments they wished to make. The survey was emailed to the principals of 201 small rural schools (based on the definition of NISRA, 2016), and achieved a response rate of 43%. Out of the 91 respondents, fifty principals ticked a box agreeing to be contacted regards the possibility of participating in the case-study aspect of the research.
The data presented in this paper are subsequently derived from a purposive sample range (Robinson, 2014) of five case study schools and interviews with their principals. The schools (two Controlled, two Maintained and one Integrated) and their communities were selected based on the type of school, school size, geographical location and willingness of the principal to participate. The name of the schools and the townlands and villages have been given pseudonyms to maintain anonymity. For data collection, the case-study phase utilised secondary source data such as schools’ prospectuses, semi-structured individual interviews (Denscombe, 2007) and focus group interviews (Gill and Baillie, 2017) with participants including school principals, teachers, parents, pupils and key school-community stakeholders. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and analysed using NVivo software. For data analysis, an inductive approach was adopted producing the generation of initial codes, identification of specific themes, thematic review and report production (Braun and Clarke 2006). In particular, for the purposes of this paper, data were scrutinised for any evidence pertaining to the impact of different ‘fields’ (Bourdieu, 1984) on the professional experiences and practice of the five respondent small rural school principals.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIn presenting our work on small rural schools, we contend that there is ‘a complex socio-cultural politics to school principal leadership that is context specific and multi-layered’ (Eacott, 2010, 226). Thus, while small rural primary school principals in Northern Ireland face many similar pressures and challenges to principals in secondary schools, urban settings and other European countries (Fargas-Malet and Bagley, 2021), school leadership is always context-specific (Clarke and Wildy, 2004) and culturally situated (Torrance and Angelle, 2019) and it must be viewed and understood accordingly. The contemporary organisational space confronting school principals was dominated by a layered interaction of a number of competing fields. We contend, in Bourdieusian terms, that it is the ways in which principals have to deal with these multiple pressures from different fields, that is at the centre of present-day small rural primary school leadership. In relation to the economic field and the concomitant workload pressures, school principals continually needed to balance their time as teaching principals between the responsibilities of teaching and the management and administration of the school. A situation, likened by one school principal, to continually ‘spinning plates’. In particular, as pupil numbers determined school survival, for these small rural schools, the threat of closure was an ever present and central concern. Moreover, it was found that as a post-conflicts society, the field of politics brought an added dimension in the form of peace and reconciliation to principal leadership in these small rural communities with two schools serving two religiously divided communities. In effect, the boundaries of the educational field have seemingly become increasingly permeated by the field of the economy and politics, informing the habitus and capital of small rural primary school principals and shaping their practice.
ReferencesAddison (2009) A feel for the game – a Bourdieuian analysis of principal leadership: a study of Queensland secondary school principals Journal of Educational Administration and History Vol. 41, No. 4, November 2009, 327–341
Bagley C and Hillyard S (2019) In the field with two rural primary school head teachers in England. Journal of Educational Administration and History 51(3): 273–289.
Beach D and Vigo Arrazola MB (2020) Community and the education market: A cross-national comparative analysis of ethnographies of education inclusion and involvement in rural schools in Spain and Sweden. Journal of Rural Studies 77: 199–207.
Bourdieu, P (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Braun, V., and V. Clarke. (2006). “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101.
Byrne M. The concept of informed consent in qualitative research. AORN Journal.
74(3):401-3
Clarke, S and Wildy, H (2004) Context counts.Viewing small school leadership from the inside out Journal of Educational Administration Vol. 42 No. 5, pp. 555-572
Denscombe, M (2007) The Good Research Guide (3rd Edition), Milton Keynes: OUP
Eacott, S. 2010. “Studying School Leadership Practice: A Methodological Discussion.” Issues in
Educational Research 20 (3): 220–233.
Fargas-Malet M and Bagley, C (2022) Is small beautiful? A scoping review of 21st-century research on small rural schools in Europe. European Educational Research Journal, Vol. 21(5) 822–844
Gill PE (2017) A case study of how an Irish island school contributes to community sustainability, viability and vitality. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education 27(2): 31–45.
Gill, P and Baillie, J. (2018) Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age. British Dental Journal 225, 668–672
Robinson, R.S. (2014) Purposive Sampling. In Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research; Springer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 5243–5245
Torrance, D. and Angelle, P. S. (2019) The influence of global contexts in the enactment of social justice. In: Angelle, P.S. and Torrance, D. (eds.) Cultures of Social Justice Leadership: An Intercultural Context of Schools. Series: Intercultural studies in education. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, Switzerland, pp. 1-19
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