On Becoming a Social Justice Leader: A Fictionalized Narrative Approach

Abstract

Article Info The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences and influences that aided, prompted, and informed a principal in the south-western United States to act as a social justice leader with a keen focus on creating equitable conditions and outcomes for marginalized students within his school (Bruner, 2008

Principals leading for social justice in predominantly white suburban schools

“…Similar to previous studies examining what social justice leaders do differently (Carpenter, Bukoski, Berry, & Mitchell, 2017;Flood, 2017), the principals leading for social justice in predominantly white schools in this study recognize difference, advocate for students who belong to traditionally marginalized groups and empower these students. The advocacy ranged from supporting individual students, creating affinity groups for traditionally marginalized students, responding to racist and antisemitic incidents, and educating students about the history of institutional oppression and its harmful impact.…”

“…Social justice leadership is not just good leadership (Theoharis, 2007). Principals who lead for social justice complete the essential functions of the principalship while placing matters of race, identity, ability, and class in the center of their decision-making (Flood, 2017;DeMatthews, 2018;DeMatthews & Izquierdo, 2017). In addition to improving opportunities and outcomes for individual students, principals leading for social justice are working to transform the broader education system and the greater society (Blackmore, 2002;Theoharis, 2007).…”

“…They found that this leader created a caring, inclusive school culture and responded to students' educational, social, and political needs. What differentiates the school cultures created by social justice leaders from other school cultures is the recognition of difference, the advocacy for students who belong to traditionally marginalized groups, and empowering these students (Carpenter, Bukoski, Berry, & Mitchell, 2017;Flood, 2017). The role of parents and families also influences a school's culture.…”

The Relationship Between Social Justice Leadership and School Climate

“…Dünyada ise son yıllarda sosyal adalet ve okul liderliği konusunda çok sayıda araştırma yapılmaya başlanmıştır (Oplatka, 2016). Ancak bu araştırmaların daha çok liderin bireysel eylemleri ve liderlik kapasitesi üzerine yoğunlaştığı görülmüştür (Flood, 2017). Kavramsal açıdan tartışılan sosyal adalet ve sosyal adalet liderliği (Furman, 2012;Hytten & Bettez, 2011) üzerine yapılan çalışmaların ise ölçme aracı geliştirmeye yönelik olduğu bilinmektedir (Bozkurt, 2017;Özdemir & Kütküt, 2015;Zhang, Goddard & Jakubiec, 2018).…”