How instructional leaders promote social justice

Abstract

Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach with a strong focus on the development of teaching and learning. This study explores how instructional leaders act to promote social justice and eliminate school inequities. The participants in this qualitative study were 24 Israeli elementary school principals. Data collection was based on semi-structured interviews, and data analysis was theory-driven. The findings revealed that instructional leaders incorporated a social justice perspective into the three key dimensions of instructional leadership—defining the school mission, managing the instructional program, and developing a positive school learning climate—to address three main areas of inequity in the school: outcomes, belongingness, and discipline. This study suggests that as an instructional leader, the principal has to take specific actions supported by particular intentions to ensure fairness and equity.