Towards School Leadership Development: The Essence of Working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Newcomer Families in Saskatchewan

Abstract

The article is based on a study whose purpose was to examine the lived experience of school leaders in Saskatoon with newcomers to whom English is an additional Language (EAL). Phenomenology as a methodological approach was used to gather and analyze data from leaders representing two school divisions. What was common in their accounts was synthesized to establish the essence of the leaders’ experience with EAL newcomers. Findings revealed that the nature of the experience manifests as a celebration, a learning opportunity and as a challenge. Its essence requires school leaders to have knowledge, skills and dispositions for acknowledging and responding appropriately to difference and the associated stereotypes, cultural diversity with its infinite variations, relations between dominant and minority cultures, the role of parents, communities and inter-organizational partnerships in school leaders-newcomer relationship. The essence also calls for school leaders to have self-knowledge, to be more reflective, and to embrace cognitive dissonance as learning opportunities.