Conference Agenda

This session will explore the potential for Positive School Leadership (POS) perspectives to contribute to educational scholarship and practice in different national and regional contexts. POS is based largely on scholarship carried out largely in North America, and focuses on leadership behaviors that are grounded in particular values and assumptions about adult relationships, organizations, and their consequences for individual educators and school teams (Murphy & Louis, 2018). However, articulated and implicit value systems and preferred relationships in work settings are highly variable between countries (Hofstede, 2001). This means that there is a need to translate underlying assumptions into workable options for teacher and leader development in any particular context. The session leaders will first discuss this translation in the context of norther Africa, but will then focus on the countries represented in the group. The session leaders will engage participants in adapting “useable theory” to “powerful practice” in different cultural settings.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Cultures consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Murphy, J., & Louis, K. S. (2018). Positive School Leadership: Building Capacity and Strengthening Relationships. New York: Teachers College Press.