Toward a Framework of Research and Practice for Social Justice Leadership: The Case of Cyprus

Abstract

This chapter explores the lack of engagement with the notion of “educational leadership for social justice” in Cyprus. It may sound surprising that there has not been any research on educational leadership for social justice in Cyprus so far, but some explanations will be discussed in consideration of the social and political circumstances of this country. Cyprus remains a deeply divided society since 1974, when Turkey invaded and still occupies the northern part of the country. In addition, the increasing number of immigrants during the last few years adds another complexity in the social and political reality in Cyprus. Therefore, our goal is to seek some understanding of why social justice leadership has not been explored so far in the context of Cyprus and then to develop an initial theoretical framework and a plan of action that can promote research and practice for social justice leadership in the future. The first part of the chapter reviews briefly how we perceive the notion of social justice (education) and its link to educational leadership, particularly in relation to issues of multiculturalism. The next part of the chapter focuses on how the link between multiculturalism and school leadership is manifest in Cyprus and discusses the prospects of “social justice leadership” in the context of a divided society. The final part of the chapter describes our suggested framework to advance research and practice on social justice leadership in light of the social and political circumstances in this society.KeywordsSocial JusticeAsylum SeekerSchool LeaderProfessional Development ProgramEducational LeadershipThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.