Science Chats Forum

Beginning Question
(all comments/questions, etc are appreciated)

How do school leaders manage group dynamics and relationships in school settings.

In this topic I want to look at the position of leaders when they must work between their superiors and their subordinates. I also want to think about the impact of sex and race on leader effectiveness.

Questions: How could I determine indicators of leader effectiveness connected to how the leader relates with others or how the leader's social position is viewed?

Thanks to some dedicated scholars, I was given recommendations to help me narrow and focus this discussion. It is refreshing to have communicated with them: Professor ES from Canada and Professor BM from Missouri were so very helpful Professor Mike also gave me great pointers. Many Thanks to you!

Professor BM suggested that I look at the work of James Gee and Norman Fairclough on discourse analysis.

Professor ES indicated that this is a very involved area. She indicated that distinction is rarely made between administration and leadership.

Professor ES offered information on race, ethnicity, and gender. She mention the 4 equity groups recognized in Canadian legislation: aboriginal, women, visible minorities, & people with disabilities).

Professor ES mentioned that Catherine Lugg's (Rutgers) work/studies is very good.

Professor ES indicated that leader effectiveness is often interpreted bureaucratically or neo-liberal but can also be viewed from a social justice perspective. She named John Rawls as a major player.

Professor ES indicated other models for looking at leader effectiveness: communitarianism, shared leadership, values-oriented administration, and cultural approaches adopted from management theory. She recommends a combined approach involving social psychology, organizational culture, and micropolitics.

Professor BM indicated his tendency toward the pragmatic rational/technical side. He cautions that often times too little thought is given to the ways the educational leaders contribute to and reinforce some of the ills they seek to cure.

I was finally able to access the resources from Professor Mike (UK). Professor MIke indicated that Knowledge is a Key element to schooling. He pointed out that "knowledge of the powerful" refers to the kind of knowledge (high status) that is usually acquired by the elite. Professor Mike posited that the authority (those making decisions (my words)) are intrinsic to pedagogy in schools especially their relations with teachers. Based on the comments of Professor Mike, it appears that the responsible leaders should assess the cultures within the school and strategize on ways to facilitate content-independent knowledge within the school.

Professor Mike commented onthe basis for differentiation of knowledge - a) different forms (domains) of specialized knowledge; b) how specialized knowledge differs from everyday knowledge; c) how specialized knowledge relates to everyday knowledge and other forms of specialized knowledge; d) how the scope, sequence, and pace of specialized knowledge is selected for different groups of learners.