Going against the Grain: Challenges to Peaceful Leadership Styles in A K-12/University Partnership

Susan Carson,Susanne Chandler,Debbie Snow,Jerri-Lynn Williams,Elaine C Collins

doi:10.5539/ies.v3n2p32

Abstract

This article shares and examines the challenges, findings, and lessons learned associated with embracing peaceful leadership styles during the first two years of a partnership between a failing K-12 urban school district and a university in the United States. The ongoing daily leadership issues that influenced, but were beyond the scope of, the partnership are also explored. Through the individual and collective lens of six educational leaders (K-12 and higher education) who embraced leadership feminist practices embedded in structures of difference, Buddhist philosophies, equity, and social justice, this study examines and illustrates the administrative efforts associated with “going against one’s grain” when faced with the proverbial brick wall.

Highlights

1.1 Going Against the GrainChallenges to Peaceful Leadership Styles in a K-12/University PartnershipFreedom without opportunity is a devil’s gift (Chomsky, 1997).Very soon, the baby boom generation of teachers around the world is going to be retiring
This study’s focus was primarily on leadership practices related to the development of K-12 school reform initiatives that modeled, implemented, and sustained positive and safe learning environments
We explored questions relating to how language affected the implementation of the peace initiative, which leadership frames were utilized for decision-making, and how difference was supported or constrained

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Going Against the GrainChallenges to Peaceful Leadership Styles in a K-12/University PartnershipFreedom without opportunity is a devil’s gift (Chomsky, 1997).Very soon, the baby boom generation of teachers around the world is going to be retiring. No matter how many teachers graduate from colleges of education in the few years, it won’t be enough to meet the projected shortage. This fact, combined with rapidly changing technologies that continue to link and “flatten” the world, lead to questions about teacher education. In February 2005, six female educational leaders in the United States accepted the challenge implicit in some of these questions – focusing on how to promote change in a failing urban school district while embracing peaceful leadership styles that included practices of inclusion, equity, and honoring differences. This partnership has continued to evolve in the intervening years and is still underway

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Discussion

Conclusion