Leadership Educator as Social Justice Educator

Abstract

Despite tendencies to treat leadership education and social justice education as mutually exclusive, the heart of leadership is social justice and effective activism and advocacy requires leading change. This chapter underscores the overlap between social justice and leadership education, details some of our stories as educators, and highlights aspirational examples to inspire socially just leadership educators.

A Critical Look at Leadership Educator Preparation: Developing an Intentional and Diverse Approach To Leadership Learning and Development: Priority 4 of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda 2020–2025

“…Various voices in the research process will continue to push scholarship forward as we continue to prepare current and future leadership educators. Thus, we call for critical, innovative, and creative approaches to research design and methodologies to push new understandings of the professional preparation of leadership educators, while continuing to disrupt existing notions of who is seen as leadership educators, and in what contexts (Chunoo et al, 2019; Dugan, 2017; Jones, 2016).…”

“…1. Professional identity development cannot be siloed from making meaning of one's personal social identity, which is intrinsically connected to how one builds capacity and efficacy as a leadership educator (Chunoo et al, 2019). Research on professional leadership educator identity should not be rooted only in how others see the educator.…”

“…Research on professional leadership educator identity should not be rooted only in how others see the educator. Instead, it must explore how individuals understand their various other identities in relationship to their identity as a leadership educator (Chunoo et al, 2019;Seemiller & Crosby, 2019).…”

“…In particular, educators perpetuate privilege through the texts they choose and by facilitating professional development opportunities in a power‐ and identity‐neutral manner. In response, a philosophy has emerged in recent years proposing that leadership should be interwoven with social justice aims to engage with shifting societal conditions that are rife with oppression (Chunoo, Beatty, & Gruver, 2019). Such an approach requires educators to reflect deeply on the texts that are currently dominant in the study of leadership and to identify the materials and pedagogy required to engage these critical aims.…”

Book Review: We are the Leaders We'Ve Been Waiting for: Women and Leadership Development in College

“…In fact, Owen remarks that the text arose from her own efforts to compile course materials related to gender, women, and leadership. The text, written primarily for college students, joins a body of critical work in the college student leadership development arena, including Dugan's (2017) Leadership Theory: Cultivating Critical Perspectives , Guthrie, Jones, and Osteen's (2016) culturally relevant leadership learning, and on‐going efforts to integrate social justice and student leadership education (e.g., Chunoo, Beatty, & Gruver, 2019; Guthrie & Chunoo, 2018). While the text's title prompts the reader to critically engage with gender and leadership, Owen recognizes and names the ways gender and leadership are shaped by and intertwined with race, class, nationality, religion, and other important aspects of identity.…”