Educational Leadership: Culture and Diversity

The aim in writing this book is to explore the relationships between school leadership and culture. Educational leadership is a socially bounded process. It is subject to the cultural traditions and values of the society in which it is exercised. In this it is no different from other social processes. It thus manifests itself in different ways in different settings. In this sense it is remarkable that many current debates in educational leadership continue to be couched in general or universal terms without taking into account the particularities of the local cultural context that influences and shapes. Threading through the book are three central propositions. First, leadership is a culturally and contextually bounded process that means it is inextricably intertwined with its larger environment--at levels ranging from the organizational, to local community through to larger society. Writers and practitioners who continue to ignore this fact fail to appreciate the conceptual and practical complexity of leadership and invariably present a piecemeal picture at best. Second, the cultural influence on leadership is multidimensional, often difficult to discern, subtle and easy to overlook--to the point that it is underplayed by many, and even dismissed and ignored by some. Yet it is no less important for that. Its true recognition by researchers and practitioners often involves them in "mining deep" to find it. Third, and lastly, the book contends that recognizing the nexus between leadership on the one hand, and cultural and contextual influences on the other, can lead to improvement in its practice. School principals and leaders at all levels-- including middle managers and teachers--will find substantial sections of the book helpful to their practice. Many such practitioners may also be studying for postgraduate degrees and/or professional qualifications, such as leadership training programmes aimed at preparing for, or improving, the principalship. If so, then this book contains much that will be of assistance in furthering understanding of leadership and placing it in context. It is divided into the following twelve chapters: (1) Leadership, Culture and Globalization; (2) Conceptualizing Cross-Cultural Leadership; (3) A Cultural Approach to Leadership: Methodological Issues; (4) Leadership and Organizational Culture (Michael Wilson); (5) Leadership and Diverse Sociocultural Contexts; (6) Strategic Leadership and Cultural Diversity; (7) Leadership, Learning and Teaching in Diverse Cultures; (8) Leadership and Staff Management in Diverse Cultures; (9) Teacher Appraisal in Culturally Diverse Settings; (10) Leadership Dilemmas and Cultural Diversity; (11) Leadership of Culturally Diverse Schools; and (12) Developing Educational Leadership in Culturally Diverse Contexts. The book also includes a foreword, an introduction, overview, and index.