Mentoring School Leaders through Cultural Conflict

This article advances compelling information about deficits in training for inclusive school leaders, and presents viewpoints along with options intended to help support their efforts to lead others through cultural challenges and conflicts. It asserts that social justice on a whole and related values and norms have increasingly been caught up in added complexity and challenge that inclusive leaders may not have been prepared to lead through. The article also presents a rationale and supporting data for better developing overlooked administrator abilities. Finally, noting a lack of currently available resources to expedite training and foster important growth in key skill areas, this article ultimately advocates for expanded informal but qualified mentoring support being offered to inclusive school administrators.

___

  • Belle, C. (2019). What is social justice education anyway? Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/01/23/what-is-social-justice-education-anyway.html. Bettez, S., & Hytten, K. (2013). Community building in social justice work: A critical approach. Educational Studies, 49, 45-66. Celoria, D. (2016). The preparation of inclusive social justice education leaders. Educational Leadership and Administration: Teaching and Program Development, 27, 199-219. Davies, L. (2004). Education and conflict: Complexity and chaos. New York, N.Y: RoutledgeFalmer. Delpit, L. (2006). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom, 2nd Ed. New York, NY: The New Press. English, F. (2006). The unintended consequences of a standardized knowledge base in advancing educational leadership preparation. Educational Administration Quarterly, 42 (3), 461-472. Fairhurst, G. (2005). Reframing the art of framing: Problems and prospects for leadership, Leadership, 1(2), 165-185. Fullan, M. (2014). The principal: Three keys to maximizing impact. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Furman, G. (2012). Social justice leadership as praxis: Developing capacities through preparation programs. Educational Administration Quarterly, 48 (2), 191-229. Goodwin, B. (2015). The road less traveled: Changing schools from the inside out. Report. Denver, CO: McREL International. Gray, C. & Gordo, A. (2014). Social media in conflict: Comparing military and social-movement technocultures. Cultural Politics, (10) 3, 251-261. Hughes, T. (2014). Hiring at risk: Time to ensure hiring really is the most important thing we do. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 8 (1), 90-102. Hughes, T., & Mouw, J. (2017). Getting more than was registered for: Reciprocal benefits from post-graduate faculty e-mentoring. International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), 8 (1), 2944 – 2953. Hughes, T. (2018). Have we outgrown hand-me-down hiring practices? School Administrator, 8 (75), 16. Hughes, T., & Davidson, F. (Forthcoming). Leading through conflict with credibility. In R. Papa (Ed.), [Oxford] Encyclopedia of Educational Administration. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. Klein, A. (2019). Trump Jr.: Don’t be indoctrinated by ‘loser teachers…trying to sell you on socialism. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/02/donald-trump-jr.-socialism-teachers-rally.html. Laura, C. (2018). Enacting social justice leadership through teacher hiring. Urban Review, 50, 123–139. McKenzie, K., Christman, D., Hernandez, F., Fierro, E., Capper, C., Dantley, M., Gonzalez, M., Cambron-McCabe, N., & Scheurich, J. (2008). From the field: A proposal for educating leaders of social justice. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44 (1), 111-138. Mercer, D. (2016). Who is building the leader: Commentary on educational leadership preparation programs for the future. Educational Considerations, 43 (4), 6-10. Merriam-Webster.com (2019). Culture conflict. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture%20conflict#h1. Miller, P. (2018). The nature of school leadership: Global practice perspectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Murray-Johnson, K., & Guerra, P. (2018). Ready for change? Emotions and resistance in the face of social justice leadership. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 21 (3), 3–20. Napolitano, A. (2019). Trump has unleashed a torrent of hatred. Fox News. Retrieved August 5, 2019 from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-the-longest-pleasure. NPBEA. (2018). National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) Program Standards–Building Level. Retrieved from: www.npbea.org. Roofe, C., & Miller, P. (2015). Mentoring and coaching in academia: Reflections on a mentoring/coaching relationship. Policy Futures in Education, 13 (4) 479–491. Ross, S. (2013). Examining the role of facilitated conflict on student learning outcomes in a diversity education course. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 7 (1), Article 9. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2013.070109. Rubin, J. (2019). Americans in the age of Trump: Less tolerant. The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2019 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/25/americans-age-trump-less-tolerant/. Sakoui, A. (2018). Tucker Carlson boycott worsens tension between. Fox, Twitter. Retrieved June 22, 2019 from https://w.w.w.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-19/tucker-carlson-ad-boycott-worsens-tension-between-fox-twitter. Singleton, G. E. (2014). Courageous conversations about race: A field guide for achieving equity in schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Sogunro, O. (2012). Stress in school administration: Coping tips for principals. Journal of School Leadership, 22 (3), 664-700. Spring, J. (2011). The American School: A global context from the Puritans to the Obama era. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Srikantiah, J., & Sinnar, S. (2019). White nationalism as immigration policy. Retrieved June 22, 2019 from https://stanfordlawreview.org//online/white-nationalism-as-immigration-policy/. Strom, K. & Martin, A. (2017). Thinking with theory in an era of Trump. Issues in Teacher Education, 26 (3), 3-22. Theoharis, G. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward a theory of social justice leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43 (2), 221-258. Theoharis, G., (2008). At every turn: The resistance that principals face in their pursuit of equity and justice. Journal of School Leadership, (18), 303-333. Young, M., & Laible, J. (2000). White racism, anti-racism, and school leadership preparation. Journal of School Leadership, 10 (5), 374-415.