El salto de la comba

study

Mireia Tintoré, Xavier Ureta, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Barcelona), Member of the EDO group

Keywords: Leadership, Social justice, Postgraduate program

Introduction and Purpose

The current circumstances in classrooms make it necessary that schools learn to provide equal opportunities to people from very different backgrounds (Hay & Reedy, 2016). This re- quires school leaders who are involved in equity and social jus- tice, although this need was not taken into account by acade- mia until a few years ago (Jean-Marie, Normore, & Brooks, 2009). However, the scientific literature has recently seen a significant explosion of studies focusing on educational leader- ship from the perspective of promoting equal opportunities and social justice (e.g.: Arar, 2015; Ayers, Quin, & Stovall, 2009; Bogotch et al., 2008; Bogotch & Shields, 2014; Chap-

man et al., 2016; Furman, 2012; Jean-Marie, 2008; Lindsey & Lindsey, 2011; Marshall & Oliva, 2006; Oplatka, 2013; Rigby & Tredway, 2015; Shields, 2013; Shoho, Merchang & Lugg, 2005; Stevenson, 2007; Theoharis, 2007, 2010).

Some examples reveal the changing trends and the impor- tance being given in recent years to leadership and social jus- tice. First, there is the fact that an article on leadership and so- cial justice that was published in 2007 (Theoharis, 2007) be- came in 2015 the second most cited article on the Web of Sci- ence1_{. Second, the United States recently added a 2015 stan-}

dard exclusively dedicated to social justice to the standards that it publishes from time to time for describing the charac- teristics of an effective educational leader (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2015).

Having this in mind makes we wonder not only how universi- ties and particularly the schools of education are able to train administrators and future administrators in becoming com- mitted to improving social justice in schools, but also how aca- demia can help them overcome any obstacles that may arise. To this end, we focus on finding out what educational profes- sionals do for promoting inclusion, what difficulties they face and how they overcome them. The purpose of this research is to answer these questions in the context of professionals who are immersed in a process of management training (Post- graduate Degree in Educational Leadership and Manage- ment).

We began with a conceptual analysis: social justice is related to many other terms, such as equity, equality, inclusiveness, equal opportunity, affirmative action, diversity, and culturally

responsive leadership (Blackmore, 2009; Bogotch & Shields, 2014; Khalifa, Gooden & Davis, 2016; Rigby & Tredway, n.d.). Of these, we have focused on the concept of equity as a way to manifest social justice.

Equity does not consist of treating all students equally, but rather ensuring that all students receive what they need in or- der to develop their full potential (Blankstein, Noguera, & Kelly, 2016). Therefore, certain principles exist for achieving equity (Blankstein, 2004, 2010, 2013; Blankstein, et al., 2016), and these require increasing the capacity of schools to meet the more and more complex needs of their students.

Methods/methodology

After revising the literature on leadership and social justice, we have conducted research on a small-scale and among cur- rent and future school administrators with the goal of deter- mining: their level of awareness towards social justice; the dif- ficulties they encounter in the process of achieving equity; and how they overcome these problems.

Our case study, which is highly qualitative, uses the adminis- trators as a unit of analysis and studies 14 cases correspond- ing to graduate students in a leadership and management pro- gram at a private Catalan university. Of these students, 2 were directors at subsidized private schools with many years of teaching and administration experience; 2 were graduates without teaching or administration experience, and 10 were different types of middle-level school leaders with teaching ex-

perience and some experience in administration. Of the total participants, nine were women and five were men. The partici- pants’ schools were all situated in three of the four Catalan provinces and, with the exception of one Central American person, all were of Spanish origin.

As part of the program, participants had to write a composi- tion describing an event experienced by either themselves or someone close. They were also asked to answer three ques- tions: In what ways do you promote equity in your school? What kind of obstacles do you face? What strategies have you developed for overcoming these obstacles?

Afterwards, the results were collected, discussed among the participants, and then compared with the results obtained by Theoharis (2007).

Results and conclusions

From a theoretical point of view we show that leadership for social justice is gaining academic legitimacy inside the aca- demic field and the leadership practice.

From a practical point of view: Among the strategies that teachers identify for promoting equal opportunities, they em- phasize that the leadership team should have an open and positive attitude towards inclusion. Furthermore, this team should also allocate resources and support and motivate the teachers in their commitment to equity.

Administrators also need to help teachers overcome any obsta- cles they encounter in their work by providing support when

they occasionally feel they are unprepared or lack the capacity to meet the challenges. In addition, the leadership can help de- velop proactive strategies as well as manage the number of problem cases in schools.

Regarding obstacles, some are external and linked to difficul- ties in obtaining support from the administration or even re- sources for troubled students. Most are internal and related to a lack of preparation, lack of capacity, or fear of the responsi- bility involved in the task. Others have to do with parents of students with "no problems" who resist increasing the hetero- geneity of the classroom or complain when the situation is poorly controlled. In addition to the lack of coordination and support from the institution, receiving only sporadic support from the families or the institution is seen as another obstacle. Among the adopted strategies for continuing in the face of these difficulties, some participants indicate that more dedica- tion and hours of work are required. They also describe more proactive ways of overcoming obstacles: asking for help from specialists, frequent communication with families, and team- work with professionals.

The responses remarkably parallel the results obtained by Theoharis in 2007 (results that were unknown to the partici- pants), and in all cases they called for more training to ad- dress issues related to equity and social justice.

Our recommendations are therefore in line with many studies that advise undergraduate and graduate programs to incorpo- rate the knowledge and skills related to equity and cultural sensitivity (i.e. following the “Profile of inclusive teachers”, de- veloped in 2012 by the European Agency for Special Needs

and Inclusive Education). Furthermore, they should help de- velop culturally responsible teachers and administrators who are committed to social justice, particularly if they truly want to meet the needs of today's society.

It is necessary to inform future educational leaders about the results of the latest research that have provided scientific argu- ments in favor of equity, particularly in terms of pedagogy, neurology, and actual classroom experience. However, we can- not forget that there still exist many "arguments for inequal- ity" (Blankstein et al., 2016) and much prejudice.

All these issues require a paradigm shift and, above all, a change in attitude that administrators must learn to cultivate in themselves and in their institutions – with courage and con- viction. Therefore, we must convert the challenge and the ur- gency into opportunity.

Notes

1 Search done in the Web of Science (18th February 2016). Search criteria: The words “educational” and “leadership” in the title.Timespan=All years. Second most cited article over 477 with “educational” and “leadership” in the title.

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