Narratives of Educational Leadership: Representing Research via Creative Analytic Practices (Educational Leadership Theory) 9811658307, 9789811658303

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Educational Leadership Theory Series Editors: Scott Eacott · Richard Niesche

Denise Mifsud   Editor

Narratives of Educational Leadership Representing Research via Creative Analytic Practices

Educational Leadership Theory Series Editors Scott Eacott, School of Education, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Richard Niesche, School of Education, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

The Educational Leadership Theory book series provides a forum for internationally renowned and emerging scholars whose ongoing scholarship is seriously and consequentially engaged in theoretical and methodological developments in educational leadership, management and administration. Its primary aim is to deliver an innovative and provocative dialogue whose coherence comes not from the adoption of a single paradigmatic lens but rather in an engagement with the theoretical and methodological preliminaries of scholarship. Importantly, Educational Leadership Theory is not a critique of the field—something that is already too frequent—instead, attention is devoted to sketching possible alternatives for advancing scholarship. The choice of the plural ‘alternatives’ is deliberate, and its use is to evoke the message that there is more than one way to advance knowledge. The books published in Educational Leadership Theory come from scholars working at the forefront of contemporary thought and analysis in educational leadership, management and administration. In doing so, the contributions stimulate dialogue and debate in the interest of advancing scholarship. International Editorial Board Ira Bogotch, Florida Atlantic University, USA Fenwick W. English, University of North Carolina, USA Gabriele Lakomski, University of Melbourne, Australia Paul Newton, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Izhar Oplatka, Tel Aviv University, Israel Jae Hyung Park, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Eugenie Samier, University of Strathclyde, Scotland Roberto Serpieri, Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy Dorthe Staunaes, Aarhus University, Denmark Yusef Waghid, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa Jane Wilkinson, Monash University, Australia

More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/15484

Denise Mifsud Editor

Narratives of Educational Leadership Representing Research via Creative Analytic Practices

Editor Denise Mifsud University of Bath Bath, UK

ISSN 2510-1781 ISSN 2510-179X (electronic) Educational Leadership Theory ISBN 978-981-16-5830-3 ISBN 978-981-16-5831-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Series Editors’ Foreword

Discussions of educational leadership research are always discussions about theory. Sometimes matters of ontology, epistemological, and axiology are made explicit, other times they are not, but we cannot undertake, dialogue, and debate research without theory. What counts as theory and/or quality research in educational leadership has changed over time. From the influence of sociology and behavioural science in the establishment of university departments of educational administration (as it was known then) through to the rise of the theory movement in the midtwentieth century and subsequent interventions such as Thomas Barr Greenfield’s humanistic science, the Critical Theory of Richard Bates and William Foster, and Colin Evers and Gabriele Lakomski’s naturalistic coherentism, tensions in educational leadership theory have shaped what work is conducted, legitimised, published, and ultimately advanced. This is all set in a field of inquiry where questions of relevance and/or practical significance remain dominant and enduring. The desire for immediacy and direct translation of research into practice, especially for the improvement of outcomes, means that matters of theory are often seen as peripheral at best and more often marginalised or silenced. Theory, which can unsettle assumptions, ask questions of the status quo, and recast our ways of thinking, seeing and doing, is perceived as getting in the way of instrumentalist and/or functional prescriptions of how things ought to be. The Educational Leadership Theory book series is explicitly designed to address what we see happening in educational leadership scholarship. That is, an aversion to rigorous, robust, and most importantly, enduring dialogue and debate on matters of theoretical and methodological advancement. To that end, this series provides a forum for internationally renowned and emerging scholars whose ongoing scholarship is seriously and consequentially engaged in theoretical and methodological developments in educational leadership, management, and administration. Its primary aim is to deliver an innovative and provocative dialogue whose coherence comes not from the adoption of a single paradigmatic lens but rather in an engagement with the

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theoretical and methodological preliminaries of scholarship. Importantly, Educational Leadership Theory is not simply a critique of the field—something that is already too frequent—instead, attention is devoted to sketching possible alternatives for advancing scholarship. The choice of the plural “alternatives” is deliberate, and its use is to evoke the message that there is more than one way to advance knowledge. The books published in Educational Leadership Theory come from scholars working at the forefront of contemporary thought and analysis in educational leadership, management, and administration. In doing so, the contributions stimulate dialogue and debate in the interest of advancing scholarship. Specifically, we aim to: • Foreground the theoretical/methodological preliminaries of educational leadership research; • Sketch areas of relevance and possible theoretical/methodological developments that serve to extend current debates on leadership in education. We interpret these aims widely, consistent with our goal of promoting dialogue and debate in the field. Importantly, we ask our contributors to respond to the following guiding questions: 1. 2.

What are the theoretical/methodological problems from which educational leadership is based and/or have implications for educational leadership? How can we engage them?

These questions, we believe, are vital as the field of educational leadership faces increasing questions of its relevance and status within education research, and as education research itself faces increasing challenges from beyond in the audit culture of the contemporary academy. Our goal is not to bring a series of like-minded contributors together to outline the virtues of a particular research tradition. Such an undertaking would do little more than provide legitimation of existing theorisations and negate theoretical pluralism. Instead, we seek to bring a diverse group of scholars together to engage in rigorous dialogue and debate around important matters for educational leadership research and practice. This is a significant move, as instead of surrendering our thoughts to a singular, stable, and standardised knowledge base we explicitly seek to interrogate the dynamism of contradictions, multiplicities, and antinomies of a vibrant field of theories and practices. Most importantly, we want the Educational Leadership Theory book series to stimulate dialogue and debate. We are broad in our meaning of the label “theory”. The analytical dualism of explanation and description is a poor and weak distinction between what is and is not theory. We too are not against the absence of practical application. However, what we seek are contributions that take matters of theory and methodology (as in theory as method) serious. In short, we are more inclusive than exclusive. This also goes for what is meant by “educational leadership”. We do not limit our interpretation to schools or higher education but are instead open to work discussing education in its broadest possible sense. A focus on theory travels well across geographic and disciplinary boundaries. In taking matters of theory serious, we see the Educational Leadership Theory book series as a key outlet for stimulating dialogue and debate by recognising the problems and possibilities of existing

Series Editors’ Foreword

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knowledge in the field and pushing that further. This is an undertaking that we hope you will join us on—be that as a contributor, reader, or critique—all in the interests of advancing knowledge.

Scott Eacott Richard Niesche Series Editors

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people who all played a significant part in the coming together of this book, from inception to production: My husband Joseph for his unending support that allows me the necessary space to pursue my academic aspirations. Cate Watson, my Ph.D. supervisor, who introduced me to the many facets of narrative analysis and representation almost a decade ago. Michel Foucault, whose theories and legacy have completely transformed my ways of conceptualizing, enacting and exploring educational leadership. Richard Niesche and Scott Eacott who provided invaluable feedback at the book proposal stage, thus indulging my long-standing dream to publish such a book portraying unconventional representations of educational leadership narratives via critical theory. Nick Melchior and the book production team at Springer who worked on the publication of this book.

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Contents

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Educational Leadership Research and Creative Analytic Practices: A Critical Mapping of Theoretical and Methodological Terrains? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denise Mifsud

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Educational Leadership, Critique and the Critical Researcher . . . . . Richard Niesche

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Turning Water into Wine: Scripting Multi-academisation Through Messianic Educational Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steven J. Courtney and Ruth McGinity

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(Mis)Leading for Social (in)justice and (in)equity… (Un)Following a Script? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denise Mifsud

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Is Inclusive Educational Leadership for Social Justice and the Common Good Possible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Enrique Javier Díez Gutiérrez and Katherine Gajardo Espinoza

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Potential Theoretical Approaches to Support the Critical Exploration of ‘The Problem(s)’ of Preparing, Recruiting and Retaining Headteachers in Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Deirdre Torrance, Christine Forde, Margery A. McMahon, Alison Mitchell, and Julie Harvie

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The Lockdown Files: University Performance and Development Reviews (PRDs) as a Form of Governmentality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Stephen Day and Anne Pirrie

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The Views of the Few or the Voices of Many: Methods of Exploring Leadership Roles Through Alternative Approaches Within Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Moira E. Lafferty

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Ghostly Mirroring: How Taxidermy Could Teach us Something Important About Current Attempts to Inspire STEM Aspirations in Young Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Jette Sandager and Justine Grønbæk Pors

10 Conclusions: A Critical Commentary on the Theory and Methodology of Educational Leadership Narratives . . . . . . . . . . 223 Denise Mifsud Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Editor and Contributors

About the Editor Denise Mifsud is Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management and Governance in the Department of Education at the University of Bath. She has many years of practitioner experience in education settings in both teaching and leadership roles, the most recent being that of Head of College Network, a top-management position within the Ministry for Education, Malta, besides being an independent education researcher and consultant. She previously held a full-time lecturing post at the University of the West of Scotland as well as being a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta. She is also an Associate Fellow of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research within the same university. She was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Stirling in 2015. Research areas of interest include educational policy analysis, generation, reception and enactment; critical leadership theories, with a particular interest in educational leadership, especially distributed forms; school networks and educational reform; initial teacher education; power relations; Foucauldian theory; Actor-Network theory, as well as qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on narrative, as well as creative and unconventional modes of data representation. She has presented her research at various international conferences, besides winning numerous academic awards, namely, from the American Education Research Association, the European Education Research Association and the Scottish Education Research Association. She is a member of several professional organizations, in addition to being an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has published in several international top-rated journals, in addition to monographs and edited volumes.

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Editor and Contributors

Contributors Steven J. Courtney University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Stephen Day University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland Katherine Gajardo Espinoza University of Valladolid, Segovia, Spain Christine Forde University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland Enrique Javier Díez Gutiérrez University of León, León, Spain Julie Harvie University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland Moira E. Lafferty School of Psychology, University of Chester, Chester, UK Ruth McGinity University College London, London, UK Margery A. McMahon University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland Denise Mifsud University of Bath, Bath, UK Alison Mitchell University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland Richard Niesche UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, Australia Anne Pirrie University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland Justine Grønbæk Pors Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark Jette Sandager Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark Deirdre Torrance University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland

Chapter 1

Educational Leadership Research and Creative Analytic Practices: A Critical Mapping of Theoretical and Methodological Terrains? Denise Mifsud Abstract This introduction aims to set the context for the subsequent chapters that draw on narrative methodologies and creative analytic practices, while employing distinct theoretical frameworks, to document and deconstruct the concept of educational leadership within various education settings originating from diverse global environments. It argues the case for the new ‘theory turn’ in educational leadership scholarship, thus calling for the problematization of educational leadership discourses. Moreover, it debates the relevance of narrative and creative analytic practices for the analysis and representation of critical educational leadership scholarship. This acts as a prelude to explorations of educational leaders’ mundane practices, and perceptions, that enable a textured reading of educational leadership with various layers. This creates a space for the various writers to map the diverse ways in which leadership discourses are received, translated, and enacted at the practitioner level within the constraints of local and global policy. Keywords Creative analytic practices · Critical leadership theory · Educational leadership · Post-qualitative inquiry · Representation

1.1 Introduction: Setting the Scene for the Narratives of Educational Leadership Every time I have tried to do a piece of theoretical work it has been on the basis of elements of my own experience: always in connection with processes I saw unfolding around me. It was always because I thought I identified cracks, silent tremors, and dysfunctions in things I saw, institutions I was dealing with … (Foucault, 2002, p. 458)

My desire to publish this particular edited volume that brings together a distinct group of scholars who adopt a critical perspective to educational leadership research in their consideration of its variation, incoherence, and complexity across a multitude of contexts stems from my direct experience of educational leadership theory, policy, D. Mifsud (B) University of Bath, Bath, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_1

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and practice (in reverse order) in my four-plus decades of existence. As a very diligent, hardworking, and quite inquisitive student at primary school who spent far more time in the company of books rather than kids my age and playground antics, the class teacher was someone to be respected and the Headmistress/master someone to be feared. This experience continued in secondary school, where the only interaction with the Head was on special activities or to be summoned to ‘The Office’ for your name to be put down in ‘The Black Book’ if you happened to carry out even the most minor of misdemeanours. No one dared protest, I noticed, back then, with teachers keeping to their quarters, the staffroom, with the Head’s office kept under lock and key, and accessible to the privileged few. My obvious choice of course at University was a Bachelor of Honours in Education, from which I graduated with First-Class Honours. The theory was imparted to us during lectures which did not prepare us at all for our six-week block practicum every year as student-teachers. This ‘baptism of fire’ (in hindsight) paved the way for what I consider to have been a very rewarding career in teaching, which led me to my current path as an educational leader. As a teacher of English at secondary school, I exercised leadership in my own classroom by taking heed of the students’ voices and having a particular vision for each particular group of students. My innovative teaching methods were welcomed by the students and parents and frowned upon (and even criticized) by the more established and experienced teachers in the English Department who were very set and conventional in their ways as change meant preparing new notes, adjusting lesson plans, and taking time from their free periods in the staffroom … I got involved in various posts of responsibility and was the staff representative, serving as a bridge or negotiator, between the teachers and the senior management team. It was then time for me to move on both career-wise and academically after less than a decade in the classroom. I enrolled for a Diploma in Educational Administration at my local university, which was a required qualification for Deputy Headship but dropped out after the first semester and obtaining full marks in two exams …. It turned out to be a very didactic course on how a headmaster should ‘manage’ a school, with no reference at all to leadership, let alone critical thinking …. I soon enrolled in a Masters in Educational Leadership at a foreign university where I could choose modules myself and was thereby exposed to a plethora of leadership values, models, and styles …. In the meantime, I moved on to post-compulsory education where I practised a deeper engagement with the subject and with the 16+ students. Two years after obtaining my Masters, I embarked on my doctoral journey that was a three-year vortex of enlightenment and engagement with theory and scholarship that has shaped my being and becoming into the educational leader/practitioner, academic, scholar, and critic I am at present …. From deputy headship, I moved to a job in academia (in the area of educational leadership and initial teacher education) which fostered a deeper engagement with critical scholarship. Due to unforeseen family circumstances, I ended up back in my home country, as Head of College Network, providing educational leadership (and management) to 13 primary and secondary schools (conglomerated according to geographical location). Considered a top management position within the Education Ministry, with the selection process going through the Office of the Prime Minister, I am a 42-year-old Ph.D. graduate

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responsible for 13 Heads (the majority of whom are a decade or so older than me), hundreds of teachers, ancillary staff, and thousands of students.1 At the triage of theory (my academic self), policy (my involvement in high-level ministerial meetings where we ‘discuss’ issues and are then presented with readily-prepared policy documents from unknown origins), and practice (as a direct stakeholder in all the teaching and learning and related activities unfolding in my college schools), I have the unenviable positioning that enables me to identify the ‘cracks, silent tremors, and dysfunctions’ in the things that I see and the institutions I am dealing with …. My experience of the various competing discourses of educational leadership in which I have been positioned and also in which I have positioned myself have shaped my various identities as a leadership practitioner, but first and foremost, scholar and academic that led to my particular research interest (Mifsud, 2014) and eventually, this publication. What identifies this edited volume from other publications on leadership is the adoption of critical perspectives, what I consider to be. A core part of what will progress the field beyond the relentless, simplistic, prescriptive accounts of educational leadership that have been so prevalent for so many decades … [thus developing] alternate, more diverse understandings of educational leadership … beyond the more traditional and narrow mainstream framing (Niesche, 2018, p. 153–154).

I, therefore, present an exploration of educational leaders’ mundane practices and perceptions that enable a textured reading of educational leadership with various layers, rather than conceptualizing leadership as a range of competences and models that are common in many of the popular leadership discourses. Consequently, these narratives will foster a critical re-engagement with theory, policy, and practice via scepticism, critique, and problematization of educational leadership.

1.2 The Conceptual Confusion and Romanticization of Leadership Notoriously little agreement exists about how leadership may be defined, while the increasing popularity of using the idea of leadership has reinforced ‘conceptual confusion and endemic vagueness’ (Alvesson & Spicer, 2012, p. 369) within the field. Ladkin (2010) celebrates this lack of definitional clarity while inviting us ‘to consider the very indefinability of leadership as significant’ (p. 2), with each expression of leadership contributing to our understanding of its identity—the total determination of which remains elusive. Moreover, while leadership is not easy to pin down and definitions may not always be significant, notable differences exist in 1

At the manuscript submission stage, I can now speak of a career progression that strengthens my academic self as I embark on my new position as Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management & Governance at a reputable HEI in the UK. [And at the manuscript submission stage, I have also turned 43!] I can therefore state that while writing the book, I have come the full circle and will now be engaging with critical leadership theory scholarship and practice in a more holistic manner.

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people’s notions of the meaning of leadership and its actual existence in organizations (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003; Lakomski, 1999). Consequently, such ambiguity has been brought about, while also being strengthened by a plethora of perspectives, theories, models, and typologies. A critical performative approach to leadership (Spicer et al. 2009) aids researchers in the recognition of the negative consequences implicit in leadership theory and practice that are ‘too often masked or even wilfully ignored in today’s leadership obsessed culture’, thus moving beyond ‘naïve celebration or earnest interpretations’ of leadership while developing ‘a suspicious engagement’ (Alvesson & Spicer, 2012) with the concept. ‘The leader has become one of the dominant heroes of our time … Whatever the problem, leadership has become the solution’ (Alvesson & Spicer, 2011, p. 1). We now inhabit a ‘leadership-obsessed culture’, a world dominated by the idea that leadership is one of the major factors (sometimes the only determining factor) of the success or otherwise of an educational organization. It is a society that according to Alvesson and Spicer (2012) practises a ‘blind faith in the curative powers of leadership’, while extolling its ‘celebration and naturalization’ (p. 368), pushing us to deny ‘ambiguities, incoherencies, and shifts in our great leaders’ (ibid 2011, p. 3). Collinson (2014) argues for the recognition of these dilemmas, paradoxes, tensions, and contradictions that practising leaders often underplay in favour of the ‘apparent certainties of polarized thinking’ (p. 48), such ambiguities having also been neglected by the intractability of dichotomization in leadership studies. An outcome of society’s love affair with leadership is what Fairhurst (2011) describes as ‘leader centrism’ (p. 190). This is a tendency to focus primarily on leaders’ actions, as well as the oftenunchallenged assumption of leadership as a positive thing, reflecting broader social beliefs in the power of the heroic individual, therefore manifesting a preference for the avoidance of what Festinger (1957) terms as ‘cognitive dissonance’. ‘Admittedly, to stop talking about leaders might be easier said than done … [one of the reasons being] that the language of leadership is becoming so institutionalized … [and] the rhetoric is becoming so widespread’ (Learmonth & Morrell, 2017, p. 267). Wood and Case (2006) suggest that studies of leadership have been dominated by the search for a blueprint of competences, capabilities, and models that can be implemented to achieve similar results. The existing frameworks of leadership construct it as something that exists as an ‘exceptional practice’, resulting in a normalizing of leadership into models dominated by stories of heroic endeavours (Niesche, 2011, p. 2). This idealized concept of leadership is deconstructed by Christie and Lingard (2001), for whom leadership is ‘a dynamic process where forces that are conscious and unconscious, rational and irrational, play out in complex social situations’ (p. 138), thus doing away with any notion of heroism. The model of the heroic leader is demolished by Alvesson and Sveningsson (2003). ‘Leadership is seldom a matter of a great leader with a clear self-understanding who directs, supports, and controls followers’, instead it is best understood as ‘full of ambiguities, paradoxes, confusions, inconsistencies’ (Alvesson & Spicer, 2011). Notwithstanding, Collinson et al. (2018) argue that while romanticism stretches beyond leader attribution, the implications of romanticized thinking stand their ground in leadership and followership theorizing due to the fact that ‘many scholars remain fixated by a

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romanticized view of leadership, ignoring the challenge of the romanticism critique or side-stepping its critical emphasis in ways that, ironically, seem to romanticize romanticism’ (p. 1640). Alvesson and Spicer (2011) suggest that studying leadership means facing up to a dilemma with the possible or probable co-existence of multiple leadership constructions that simultaneously converge with and diverge from each other in a particular setting, due to the ‘illusiveness and slipperiness’ (p. 195) of the concept. They further add that ‘one of the most pressing questions is what exactly is it that the language of leadership does not allow us to see’ (p. 200). Niesche (2018), whose scholarship calls for critical perspectives within the field, positions leadership as the object that is both attractive and seductive for solving some of the difficult education problems … The obsession with finding this holy grail of leadership is obscuring the multitude of other issues and factors that are at work in schools (and still need to be researched, analyzed, theorized, and understood) and this constant search … is flawed, a relation of cruel optimism (pp. 147–148).

This volume, therefore, seeks to present an exploration of educational leaders’ mundane practices and perceptions that enable a textured reading of educational leadership with various layers, rather than conceptualizing leadership as a range of competences and models that are common in many of the popular leadership discourses. This creates a space for the various writers to map the diverse ways in which leadership discourses are received, translated, and enacted at the practitioner level within the constraints of local and global policy.

1.3 Re-conceptualizing Educational Leadership from The Lens of Critical Scholarship Gunter (2001) projects the leadership theory as ‘an arena of struggle in which researchers, writers, policymakers, and practitioners take up and/or present positions regarding the theory and practice of educational leadership’. This thus calls for the problematization of educational leadership despite the suggestion of popular models that ‘we have settled the debate’, as little is known about ‘the realities and possibilities for leaders, leading and leadership in educational settings’ (p. 1), consequently leading to the identification of the leadership terrain as ‘a space of struggle over and within theory and method’ (p. 2). This struggle exists not simply between competing theories but also in arguments about the actual role of theory in the research space of leaders and leadership in education located as it is within debates about the value and values of educational research. Gunter (2001) calls for awareness of ‘the structures that structure who we are and what we can and cannot do’ through the adoption of a critical approach in the presented knowledge claims over ‘theories of and about leadership’ (p. 75, added emphasis). Taking England as a site of major financial and symbolic investment in school leadership with rapid changes to roles,

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work, and status, Gunter (2015) raises serious questions for policymakers, professionals, and researchers located within and interested in the educational leadership field. She argues that the purposes, rationales, and narratives within England are less about educational leadership and more about functional delivery and outcome measures, thus voicing critique of the ‘(largely) Anglocentric policy IKEA flat-pack of policy ‘levers’ that will produce the actions and effects that count in national elections and international testing’ (Blackmore et al., 2014, p. xi). This is a call for the critical re-thinking of educational leadership within a context where those outside Anglophone countries may wish to investigate with a view to policy borrowing and development according to their own local context. Likewise, Wilkinson and Eacott (2013a) make their case for re-thinking critical educational leadership ‘as a tool for disruptive scholarship and practice’ (p. 135) that is very timely given the rapid social, political, and economic change experienced during this global pandemic and its still obscure aftermath. Grace (2000), defining critical leadership studies (CLS) as ‘a set of critical responses to developments in a number of countries’ (p. 236) (namely the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere in their reactions to the perceived dominance of education management studies), attempts to localize school leadership at the onset of the twenty-first century within CLS. CLS may contribute to school leadership policy and practice in terms of: (1) aspiring to the common good as ethical practice; (2) transforming hierarchy through democratic practice; (3) overcoming patriarchal leadership through the contribution of feminist scholarship; (4) maintaining a sense of philosophy, morality, and spirituality in the ‘vocation’ of leadership. While scholarship in the field of educational leadership does exist, it is of an ‘insular nature … that tends to favour a narrow pool of research and writing from within the field, and specifically leadership and education’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 148), approaches that for most of their existence ‘hovered in the wings of mainstream educational leadership studies’ (ibid, p. 145). This is due to a perceived misconception that critical approaches fail to give ready-made prescriptive solutions on ‘what works’ in educational leadership. Nevertheless, critical leadership studies in education have their own caveats, among which are their theoretical weaknesses; an over-reliance on prescriptive models; failure to acknowledge the messy work of school leaders; the seductiveness of the ‘hero’ paradigms; disengagement with issues of social justice, gender, race, ethnicity, and the like (Niesche, 2018).2 Moreover, the side-lining of such critical approaches results in few reliable sources and venues for such scholarship, as well as their publication in outlets outside the ‘mainstream’ educational leadership, management, and administration journals. Niesche (2018) thus proposes a new ‘theory turn’, which is basically an intensification of scholarship with a variety of theoretical underpinnings at its nucleus, making a vital distinction that these theories are not models of leadership. This turn highlights the need for critical perspectives ‘both in and of the field’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 145), thus allowing for ‘an interpretation of leadership practice as a phenomenon 2 For more details on critical perspectives of and within educational leadership, refer to Niesche (2018). I cannot elaborate more here due to word length restrictions.

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that is contested and fluid, open to change, moving between different positionings, and disrupting the search for that essential human feature’ (Niesche & Gowlett, 2015, p. 382), in the hope that ‘critical perspectives in educational leadership may no longer be the wallflower at the party’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 153–154). In response to Niesche’s (2018) claim for a ‘theory turn’, Eacott (2018) argues that notwithstanding the growing international infrastructure adding value to (social critical) theory in educational leadership, the important question is whether the emerging theory turn has provided an epistemological breakthrough. On the basis of Niesche’s argument, I think such a claim is premature. This is not to say it is not the case, rather that greater nuance is required (p. 322).

Furthermore, the educational leadership scholarly community is ‘fractured’, suffering from identity crisis in/on the field while producing ‘parallel monologues’ (Eacott, 2018, p. 317). Foregrounding Niesche’s (2018) proposal for a new ‘theory turn’, Niesche and Gowlett (2015) argue for a post-structuralist politics as such an analysis that positions leadership as a site of political struggle and subsequently opens up traditional ways of seeing the world thereby enabling more avenues for doing leadership research … This will create more genuine possibility for alternative ways of being a leader and importantly, move the ELMA (educational leadership; management; and administration) field beyond fixed, limiting discourses of leadership … lead[ing] to a productive (re)thinking of leadership practice as it occurs, which is vastly different to the hegemonic method of analysis in leadership at present that is based on pre-existing categories and norms (p. 383).

1.4 Critical Engagement with Educational Leadership Theory, Policy, and Practice: Some Examples of Scholarship from the Field Leadership is often presented as the solution for education’s problems or as the major factor that determines the success or otherwise of education reform, however, despite its constitution as a political issue, the leadership field remains theoretically weak (Gorard, 2005; Gunter, 2010; Kelly, 2008). While acknowledging that educational leadership has a vital role to play and that school leaders are indispensable for reform to succeed, they are not all that matters. Despite Eacott’s (2018) presentation of the educational leadership scholarly community as ‘fractured’, there are examples of a (post)critical tradition of leadership scholarship that engages with social theory in order to critique and problematize dominant ways of thinking about and conceptualizing leadership. I will be outlining some of these critiques and problematizations. Adopting the Foucauldian notion of discourse, Thomson et al. (2013) promote a discourse-conscious leadership ‘as a state of being and knowing which might simultaneously enact, de-construct, and disrupt taken-for-granted and dominant discourses’ (p. 155). School leaders would be able to work both normatively and deconstructively towards a novel and different reconstruction of school cultures, policy enactments,

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and leadership practices. Fitzgerald and Savage (2013) explore school leadership as a form of performance ritualized through official policy scripts that allow ‘limited scope for leadership in schools to occur as accountability mechanisms and policy directives codify the professional expertise that leaders are required to possess, act out, and act on’ (p. 126). ‘Ritualized and routinized’ leadership is being scripted by educational policies that revolve around a number of myths, namely that: (a) there is a crisis in schools (generated by the emphasis on international data and benchmarks); (b) the role and dominance of the educational marketplace (where only ‘good’ schools will survive); (c) accountability and compliance will automatically ensure outputs and targets; (d) business management practices can simply be transported to schools; (e) parents are consumers who choose the best ‘deal’ for their offspring. However, schooling practices demonstrate that ‘leadership is more than what is officially scripted, ritualized, rationalized, recorded, and sanctioned … [it] simultaneously involves a conscious and unconscious contestation of hegemonic attempts to codify and bureaucratize leadership’ (Fitzgerald & Savage, 2013, p. 137). The latter suggest a rejection of regulated policy by leaders by putting aside models of adjectival leadership; viewing their work as pedagogical; giving importance to the multiple audiences in the school leadership theatre; as well as drawing on their own skills, knowledge, and expertise for improvisation, thus ‘abandoning a tightly choreographed and well-rehearsed script’ (ibid, p. 139). Critical theory has revealed epistemic and theoretical gaps in the leadership field while critiquing educational leadership constructions of research and theory as a white, masculinist practice. This suggests the unfolding of a cultural turn in educational leadership studies (Wilkinson & Bristol, 2018). Shah (2006) draws attention to the knowledge gap in mainstream literature regarding diverse perspectives of educational leadership, thus confirming that ethnocentric concepts, theories, and practices in education, predominantly embedded in Western philosophy and values tend to ignore the growing multicultural nature of educational institutions. Hammad and Hallinger (2017) question the importance of inquiring into the nature of national, regional, and cultural subsets of the knowledge base in educational leadership and management, asserting that scholarship in this area ‘is undergoing a sea of change that has elevated the urgency, legitimacy, and value of understanding the diversity of school leadership and management practices across the world’ (p. 447). There is an increasing body of literature and research that is challenging the applicability of the dominant Westernized approaches in educational leadership scholarship and practice, a critical outlook originating from post-colonial, black, indigenous, and feminist scholarship that also ties in with the confrontation of values occurring in the unproblematic importation of the Western model of leadership in Asia, the Middle East, and African educational systems. Keeping in mind the cultural situatedness of educational leadership, Mifsud and Landri (2021) attempt to explore what is left out and put aside by the mainstream literature in the field within the Mediterranean region that is a point of meeting but also separation between Europe, Africa, and Asia. The authors of Mifsud and Landri’s (2021) edited volume depict enactments and conceptualizations of educational leadership in the EU (Malta, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, and Italy) and non-EU countries (Israel and Algeria) that are located

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geographically at the intersection of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle-East. More space is thus allocated to exploring the actual conditions of the cultural construction of educational leadership while problematizing the universalistic principles of the dominant discourses. For educational leadership ‘is about unequal relationships of power informed by multiple intersectionalities of gender, race, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality, and enacted into practice that is situated within a conjuncture of particular historical, social, political, and economic movements’ (Blackmore, 2018, p. 208). Thus, critical scholarship contests the dominant mindset of the educational leadership field and policy most evident in the globalizing influence of school effectiveness and improvement studies while simultaneously calling for a re-thinking of the grand narratives that set out the empirical sites of and for leadership study and research. Within what Shah (2010) regards as a predominantly ethnocentric field, she debates the presence of a hidden assumption that Western leadership concepts are applicable to all contexts, as well as a negation of knowledge and knowledge sources other than ethnocentric for informing theory and practice. Wilkinson (2008) makes a case for diversity within the educational leadership status quo as when it is examined in relation to Anglocentric norms of leadership, most often it is constructed as the property of an (non-white, non-Anglo) ‘other’, which is to be managed by (white, frequently masculine and middle class) educational leaders. Less often is the spotlight shone on leadership’s own homogeneity, be it in relation to ethnicity or other structural factors such as class or gender (p. 101).

Wilkinson thus queries the scholarship vacuum with regards to studies that critically examine the role of leadership in constructing and perpetuating structural inequalities, in addition to challenging and interrogating them. Consequently, does diversity emerge as the ‘object’ or ‘subject’ of educational leadership? The literature presents examples of studies engaging with a critical theory perspective that provides a depoliticization and decontextualization of educational leadership. While identifying the discursive shifts that have controlled feminist research, Blackmore (2013) argues for a refocusing of the feminist gaze away from numerical representation of women in leadership to the social relations of gender and power locally, nationally, and internationally. A feminist critical sociological perspective regards leadership as a conceptual lens through which to problematize educational systems for a reform driven by social justice, leading to a provision of substantive and normative substitutes to leadership theory and practice. Situated within a Scandinavian vision of democratic reflective leadership, Moos et al. (2004) explore how global social and cultural trends impact education systems and consequently educational leadership, with school leaders caught in the clash between local and national authorities and school culture, asking how it is possible for school leaders to be inspired by ideas and theories from other countries without losing connections and roots in the local culture and practice. Set also within the Scandinavian education system and its approaches to accountability expectations, Moller (2009) explores accountability and performativity as a central issue of education reform, providing a critique of this framework for school leadership that ‘can too easily push schools

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back into more conservative patterns rather than liberating them [with a] focus [that] can be on raising test scores instead of serious concern about how to promote good education for all children’ (p. 45). Set in America, Horsford (2018) provides a harsh critique of educational leadership under the Trump policy/administration in order to reclaim public schools as pillars of democracy through activist educational leadership. While admitting that Trump’s agenda is actually making America’s education system worse, Horsford urges education leaders ‘not [to] stand idly by as our system of public schools and institutions remain under attack in the name of “disruptive innovation” and “education reform”’ (p. 10).3 Wilkinson and Eacott (2013b), both educational administration academics who critically interrogate theory and practice, position themselves as ‘misfits’ within a field with a pragmatic orientation. Their research remains ‘on the margins’ as despite a rich and theoretically diverse discourse, the critical has not provided substantive disruption to the technocratic administrative hegemony of educational administration. Our focus on an ‘outsider within’ subject location is novel within educational administration and runs counter to managerialist discourses of progress (p. 202).

The same can be said for academics within the field of educational leadership who engage with critical theory in order to disrupt the grand narratives with a focus on traits, models, and successful outcomes that can be replicated in real-life contexts and education organization settings. My intention is to open up alternative lines of inquiry into practice and to disrupt the status quo for the generation of narratives that provide an active intervention in the field, with implications for theory, policy, and practice.

1.5 Theory and Practice: A Marriage of Convenience with a Choice Upgrade? The role of theory is indispensable for the field of educational leadership to move forward. There is a tendency in educational leadership scholarship to position some theorists centre-stage, in the limelight, while leaving others on the sidelines. This impinges on the reputation of being and becoming an educational leadership scholar as only using (what is considered to be) the ‘right’ theory allows you privileged access to this exclusive club. In educational leadership, theory often refers to models, traits, and styles of leadership practice that prescribe ‘what works’ for ‘successful’ school 3

The works cited in this section that demonstrate a critical engagement with educational leadership theory, policy, and practice reflect a highly selective list as it is not possible to cover all the researchers due to word manuscript limit and the purpose of this section which was to demonstrate only a few examples from the burgeoning pool of scholars exploring aspects of educational leadership through critical theory. My apologies to all those whose work is providing a highly valuable contribution to this growing field but which I do not refer to in this section.

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effectiveness, improvement, and outcomes. This isolates leadership from the wider issues, ideas, and debates, treating it as if unfolding in a vacuum rather than in a social context. Niesche and Gowlett (2019) argue for the ‘inescapable connection’ between theory and practice, stating that there are hidden theoretical premises in everything, especially in the educational leadership frameworks that espouse ‘what works’. Thus, more theoretical tools are needed in order to critique and problematize the knowledge and truth claims that constitute education policy, reforms, good leadership, and the rest of the polyvocal discourses ubiquitous in education. This is because the educational leadership research field has remained somewhat conservative and untouched by some of the more unsettling approaches such as post-structuralism. Social theory thus serves as the antidote to help us fathom the complexities of schooling and the precarious environment school leaders are operating within. Consequently, leadership as a concept is inevitably flawed, and there will never be a theory to comprehensively explain all situations, behaviours, characteristics, contexts, practices and so on … we many consequently be construed as not being of relevance to “practitioners” … [however] we firmly believe that we do not need sophisticated theories to understand and then inform what goes on in schools and education, for this is a complex site for analysis … It is through the use of theory that practice can be transformative (Niesche & Gowlett, 2019, p. 142, original emphasis).

This volume presents authored works that move away from a conventional form of analysis and representation, offering a release from ‘a methodological straitjacket’ (Barone 2007, p. 460) in their way of ‘do[ing] representation differently’ while ‘unsettling’ the grand narratives of educational leadership research. My critical engagement with educational leadership is deeply influenced by the conceptual underpinnings of post-modernism and post-structuralism, that allowed me as a researcher, policy recipient/actor, and practitioner (educational leader) to ‘offer “readings” not “observations”, “interpretations” not “findings” … look to the unique rather than to the general … to the unrepeatable rather than the re-occurring’ (Rosenau 1992, p. 8 cited in Gubrium & Holstein, 1997, p. 75). Lyotard (1984) assaults the ‘grand narratives’ of modernism, calling rather for ‘local narratives’ and ‘small’ stories, giving weight to ‘difference’ over ‘sameness’. The individual leadership narratives in this volume focus on local, contextualized settings, and interactions, while entertaining and broadcasting plural voices and identities. MacLure (2006) regards post-modernism as ‘education’s Other’ (p. 224), extolling it for its ability ‘to unsettle the still core of habit and order in the uncertain hope of shaking things up, asking new questions, estranging the familiar’ (ibid). This drives researchers to question long-held beliefs and values, as well as entrenched practices, while critically examining methodological assumptions and choices, thus encouraging representational diversity and innovation. Foucault’s trident (Gillies, 2013) of scepticism, critique, and problematization spurred me to raise questioning voices against educational leadership discourses. His analytical methodologies are centred on a critique that is useful for stimulating ‘a wider process of reflection and action leading to other and more tolerable ways of thinking and acting’ (Gordon, 2002, p. xvii). Foucault’s notion of critique helped me

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see what type of assumptions, familiar notions, established and unexamined ways of thinking the accepted practices are based on (Mifsud, 2017), for ‘To do criticism is to make harder those acts which are now too easy’ (Foucault, 2002, p. 456).

1.6 The Methodological Terrain of Qualitative Inquiry Qualitative research as a field of inquiry occurs, and continues, in ‘transitional space’ (Harris, 2011, p. 730). Various concerns have been associated with the nature and process of qualitative inquiry (McGettigan, 1997). The tension between language and representation debated by post-qualitative inquiry4 has been an issue in the field for well over three decades, with the crisis of representation (1986–1990) being the fourth ‘moment’ in qualitative research, as identified by Denzin and Lincoln (2005)—a ‘moment’ whereby researchers struggled with their location and that of their subjects in textual representations of ethnographic studies. This ‘crisis of representation’ which is explored at length by Denzin (1997) problematizes ‘(a) the “real” and its representation in the text; (b) the text and the author; (c) lived experience and its textual representations; and (d) the subject and his or her intentional meanings’ (p. 4). One must therefore question the relationship between reality and its representation (Pettinger, 2005) since research always unfolds in the domain of the politics of representation. This ‘crisis of representation’ eventually led to further crises in legitimation and praxis, constituting a ‘triple crisis’ (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005, p. 19) confronting qualitative researchers. Thus, long-held assumptions and notions such as validity, reliability, and generalizability as well as the ability of the research to change the world through its textual representation were seriously re-thought and re-theorized. A response to these crises led to a renewed focus on qualitative research and creating texts, with qualitative work carrying its meaning in its entire text (Richardson & St. Pierre 2005). This established the need for texts that make a difference, with the researcher being considered as the ‘instrument’ (ibid., p. 960) in the research process due to his/her writing voice/s. The textual staging of the research ‘story’ is never innocent, being influenced by views of reality and the self. In previous work (Mifsud, 2016), I problematize a researcher’s negotiation of the methodological tensions and contradictions in qualitative inquiry encountered in constructing knowledge differently by wrestling with three main concerns that are: (a) the incomplete nature of representation; (b) a problematization of the conceptualization of validity extolling the reductionist view of knowledge and data; (c) an acknowledgement of the importance of textuality while recognizing writing both as

4

There has been the emergence of a discourse around post-qualitative research (Greene 2013; Lather & St. Pierre 2013; MacLure 2013) that rejects the hierarchical logic of representation and language, proposing instead ‘non- or post-representational research practices’ (MacLure 2013, p. 658) that engage the materiality of language itself.

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a process and product of the inquiry. In my vehement avoidance of the use of traditional post-positivistic representation formats, I attempt to situate the educational leadership narratives presented in this volume within Lather’s (2013) framework for different kinds of qualitative research. QUAL 1.0 is the conventional interpretive inquiry with an unquestioned focus on standpoint methodologies, focusing around a humanist subject with an authentic voice providing transparent descriptions of lived experiences that get close to the truth. QUAL 2.0 embraces multiple realities and voices, messy texts, reflexivity, dialogue, empowerment while still grounded in humanist concepts of language, reality, knowledge, power, truth, resistance, and the subject. QUAL 3.0 uses postmodern theories to problematize concepts associated with qualitative inquiry, such as validity, voice, data, reflexivity, experience, interviewing, the field, and clarity. On the other hand, QUAL 4.0 assumes ‘no methodological instrumentality to be unproblematically learned. In this methodology-to-come, we begin to do it differently wherever we are in our projects’ (Lather 2013, p. 635). This leads to postqualitative inquiry that uses ‘an ontology of immanence from post-structuralism as well as transcendental empiricism … is methodology-free and so refuses the demands of “application” … [while] encourage[ing] concrete, practical experimentation and the creation of the not yet instead of the repetition of what is’ (St. Pierre 2019, p. 3, original emphasis). Post-qualitative inquiry is perceived as ‘always in the making’, attending to the surprises, the too strange, and the distinctive, rather than the ordinary (St. Pierre 2018).5 The leadership narratives presented in this volume do not seem to fit in neatly within one framework, crossing the border between QUAL 3.0 and QUAL 4.0 while veering towards the post-qualitative through their unique approaches to theoretical frameworks, methodological diversity, applied possibilities, and creative processes and representations.

1.7 Doing Representation Differently: The Case for Creative Analytic Practices (CAPs) What now seems problematic is the situation in which young philosophers, but also all young writers who are involved in creating something, find themselves. They face the threat of being stifled from the outset. It’s become very difficult to do any work, because a whole system of ‘acculturation’ and anti-creativity specific to the developed nations is taking shape (Deleuze, 1995, p. 27).

As discussed in the previous section and following the line of argument emanating from Lather’s (2013) QUAL 3.0, QUAL 4.0, and post-qualitative inquiry, scholarship around post-structuralism admits the crisis of representation engendered by 5

This paragraph introduces the main issues around with post-qualitative inquiry revolves very briefly. For more details, readers are requested to refer to St. Pierre (2018, 2019), and Kumm and Berbary (2018).

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language and the truths it constructs within specific discourses. Post-structuralism encourages qualitative writers/researchers to understand themselves reflexively as a person writing from exclusive positions at distinctive times while freeing them from trying to write a single text in which everything is said at once to everyone in the wake of an era where ‘the sacrosanctity of social science writing conventions has been challenged’ (Richardson & St. Pierre 2005, p. 961). Researchers have responded to these post-structuralist dilemmas posed by the ‘inability’ to represent ‘Truth’ or ‘the real’ by choosing to ‘do representation differently’ through the use of creative analytic practices (CAPs), thus balancing the line between the fact and the fiction. These practices utilize such genres as fiction, poetry, narrative, and performance, thus rendering data representations more ‘effective’ at portraying the research study (Richardson, 2000). Consequently, ‘rather than try to represent the Truth, instead try to show through creative representations the local, partial, and multiple truths grounded in the data’ (Berbary, 2019, p. 156). In social science, representations of these multiple truths are evaluated along with the following criteria since ‘mere novelty does not suffice’ (Richardson & St. Pierre 2005, p. 960): (a) (b) (c) (d)

Substantive contribution: Does this piece contribute to our understanding of social life? Aesthetic merit: Does the use of creative analytical practices open up the text and invite interpretive responses? Does this piece succeed aesthetically? Reflexivity: How has the author’s subjectivity been both a producer and a product of this text? Impact: Does this piece generate new questions or move me to try new research practices?

Writing as a method of inquiry (WAMOI) (Richardson, 1994) thus emerged, in which the researcher pays attention to both the product and process of writing, with the latter becoming a ‘field of play’ (Richardson, 1997). For St. Pierre (2005), ‘writing is thinking, writing is analysis, writing is indeed a seductive and tangled method of discovery’ (p. 967). Richardson and St. Pierre (2005) discuss some examples of embarking on writing as knowing, writing as a method of inquiry in social science. I outline a selection of these creative analytical writing practices that can be engaged with and upon by academics of educational leadership who embrace critical theory (to analyze and re-think educational leadership theory, policy, and practice). • Use unconventional metaphors to unpack the complexities of educational leadership practice (Heffernan, 2019) • Use ‘writing up’ fieldnotes to develop your voice/s, experiment with points of view to eventually write your writing story, that is, research story (Mifsud, 2017) • Transform your field notes into drama • Transform an in-depth interview into a poetic representation (Watson, 2009)

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• Write a ‘layered text’ by inserting different theories, different speakers, and so on (Mifsud, 2018, 2019) • Construct a dialogue by considering your various subject positions within a fieldwork setting (Mifsud 2021).6

1.8 Overview of the Book This first chapter aims to set the context for the subsequent chapters that draw on narrative methodologies and creative analytic practices, while employing distinct theoretical frameworks, with Mifsud arguing the case for the new ‘theory turn’ in educational leadership scholarship, thus calling for the problematization of educational leadership discourses whilst debating the relevance of narrative and creative analytic practices for the analysis and representation of such scholarship. In Chap. 2, Niesche employs a number of different philosophical approaches and interventions to think differently and critically about educational leadership and educational leadership research by drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida, Jean Francois Lyotard, Lauren Berlant, and Bernard Stiegler. In Chap. 3, Courtney and McGinity present data as scripted drama to highlight the features and functions of educational leadership in the process of multi-academisation through the adoption of a Brechtian approach. Chapter 4 takes us to Malta, where Mifsud presents ‘The Script’, a narrative dramatization that brings out the juxtaposition of policy and leadership practices as school leaders enact social justice and equity in schools. In Chap. 5, Diez-Gutierrez and Gajardo explore educational reform in Spain using the ethnographic method based on critical reflective narrative. Chap. 6 moves to Scotland, where Torrance et al. adopt a critical perspective designed to develop alternative, more diverse understandings of factors behind longstanding international concerns over an apparent headteacher recruitment crisis via a participatory approach. In Chap. 7, Day and Pirrie offer a critical perspective on leadership and management in higher education by exploring the process of performance review and development in UK institutions as a form of governmentality, presented as a series of dialogic exchanges between the co-authors. Chapter 8 also deals with leadership roles in higher education as Lafferty argues for the adoption of diverse research methods to explore leadership journeys with a focus on Q-methodology. In Chap. 9, Sandanger and Pors, illustrate a hauntological methodology in relation to current policy narratives in Denmark, aiming to inspire young women to become interested in STEM careers. In the concluding chapter, Mifsud attempts to open up a dialogue on how to represent educational leadership research differently and critically by presenting the ‘story’ of how this manuscript came about and the (in)complete writing process involving all the chapter authors.

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A specific example of this form of creative analytical writing practice can be found in Chapter 4 of this edited volume, Mifsud, D. (Mis)Leading for social (in)justice and (in)equality … (Un)Following a script?

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1.9 Conclusion When I am stuck with a problem of analysis, I will often turn to Foucault, and read something, anything, relevant or not. He unclutters my mind, enables me to think differently, in new spaces and to escape from the analytic cliches … I also often find his writing elegant and engaging, and although I have never sought to write like him, he has again changed the way I think about writing, about ‘the author function’ and the process of the production of texts (Ball, 2013, p. 7).

I must confess that it was my engagement with Michel Foucault and his theories that led to me being sceptical of the educational leadership theories, policies, and practices by which I was being subjectified while simultaneously subjectifying myself, in order to offer a problematization and critique through my scholarship, in which I am in a constant state of ‘being’ and ‘becoming’. The desire to edit this particular volume of ‘critical’ educational leadership scholarly contributions stems from my conviction that ‘educational researchers must be willing to experiment with new truths’ (Butin, 2001, p. 174). For as Foucault (1983) explained: My point is not that everything is bad, but that everything is dangerous, which is not exactly the same as bad. If everything is dangerous, then we always have something to do. So my position leads not to apathy but to a hyper- and pessimistic activism (p. 231–232).

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Richardson, L. (2000). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 923–948). Sage. Richardson, L., & St. Pierre, E. (2005). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 959–978). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Rosenau, P. M. (1992). Post-modernism and the social sciences: Insights, inroads, and intrusions. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Shah, S. (2006). Educational leadership: An Islamic perspective. British Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 363–385. Shah, S. (2010). Re-thinking educational leadership: Exploring the impact of cultural and belief systems. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 13(1), 27–44. Spicer, A., Alvesson, M., & Kärreman, D. (2009). Critical performativity: The unfinished business of critical management studies. Human Relations, 62(4), 537–560. St. Pierre, E. A. (2018). Writing post qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 24(9), 603-608. St. Pierre, E. A. (2019). Post qualitative inquiry in an ontology of immanence. Qualitative Inquiry, 25(1), 3–16. Thomson, P., Hall, C., & Jones, K. (2013). Towards educational change leadership as a discursive practice—or should all school leaders read Foucault? International Journal of Leadership in Education, 16(2), 155–172. Watson, C. (2009). “Teachers are meant to be orthodox”: Narrative and counter narrative in the discursive construction of “identity” in teaching. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(4), 469–483. Wilkinson, J. (2008). Good intentions are not enough: A critical examination of diversity and educational leadership scholarship. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 40(2), 101–112. Wilkinson, J., & Bristol, L. (Eds.). (2018). Educational leadership as a culturally-constructed practice: New directions and possibilities. Routledge. Wilkinson, J., & Eacott, S. (2013a). Introduction. These disruptive times: Rethinking critical educational leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 16(2), 135–138. Wilkinson, J., & Eacott, S. (2013b). “Outsiders within”? Deconstructing the educational administration scholar. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 16(2), 191–204. Wood, M., & Case, P. (2006). Editorial: Leadership refrains—again, again and again. Leadership, 292, 139–145.

Denise Mifsud is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management and Governance in the Department of Education at the University of Bath. She has many years of practitioner experience in education settings in both teaching and leadership roles, the most recent being that of Head of College Network, a top-management position within the Ministry for Education, Malta, besides being an independent education researcher and consultant. She previously held a full-time lecturing post at the University of the West of Scotland as well as was being a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta. She is also an Associate Fellow of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research within the same university. She was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Stirling in 2015. Research areas of interest include education policy analysis, generation, reception and enactment; critical leadership theories, with a particular interest in educational leadership, especially distributed forms; school networks and educational reform; initial teacher education; power relations; Foucauldian theory; actor-network theory, as well as qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on narrative, as well as creative and unconventional modes of data representation. She has presented her research at various international conferences, besides winning numerous academic awards, namely from the American Education Research Association,

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the European Education Research Association and the Scottish Education Research Association. She is a member of several professional organizations, in addition to being an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has published in several international top-rated journals, in addition to monographs and edited volumes.

Chapter 2

Educational Leadership, Critique and the Critical Researcher Richard Niesche

Abstract In this Chapter, I employ a number of different philosophical approaches and interventions to think differently and critically about educational leadership and educational leadership research. Drawing on and inspired by the work of Jacques Derrida, Jean Francois Lyotard, Lauren Berlant and Bernard Stiegler, my aim is to both interrogate the inherent problems with and acknowledge tensions within educational leadership research through philosophical excerpts and also and through an illustration of my positionality and personal narrative in relation to the field and myself as researcher and writer. It is to be acknowledged that this chapter is both preliminary, tentative and incomplete, but also drawing on historical writings to cast a shadow about meaning and intent and how one can occupy a critical disposition both within and outside one’s field of research. [Headings, introductions, abstracts, forwards, preliminaries distort the temporality of the presented as it occurs, without preface, defacing.]

Keywords Educational leadership · Post-structuralism · Derrida · Lyotard · Stiegler

2.1 This is Not An Introduction The spectre (Derrida, 1994) of the heroic leader casts a long shadow over the field of educational leadership. Such a ghostly haunting is unneeded except in perhaps fields like politics where heroism and charisma do still play such a huge role in appeals to voters’ hearts and minds, for better or worse. This is not to say I support or advocate for those kinds of qualities as necessary, but they do undoubtedly gain popular favour. Arguably leaders in education require different moves in these power games in order to facilitate a quality learning and teaching environment and culture in their school or organisational context. After all, this is the purpose of leadership in education.

R. Niesche (B) UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_2

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However, due to their prevalence, there is a constant need to deconstruct these pervasive and ‘zombie like’ heroic discourse and multiple narratives (see Niesche, 2013, 2016). It is tiresome, yet at the same time, necessary, to remain vigilant in the face of inadvertent but sometimes shameless reversion back to forms of masculine traits (Blackmore, 1995), designer leadership (Gronn, 2003) and methodological individualism (Evers & Lakomski, 2013) that are often put forward as examples of ‘best practice’ and effective leadership. For me in this chapter, this vigilance consists of both drawing upon Derrida and elements of deconstruction and applying alternative narrative forms to create and maintain this critical disposition. I am certainly not the first or only one to be writing in this space, as there has been an extensive history of critical scholarship in educational leadership (see Courtney et al., 2021; Gunter, 2016; Smyth, 1989). [Educational leadership seems particularly vulnerable, susceptible, weak, even amongst disciplines of education]

In this chapter, I undertake a critical approach to educational leadership scholarship through a concurrent examination of literatures and also my positioning as a researcher of and in ’the field’. I undertake a critique of some aspects of this field of educational leadership while constructing a narrative of thoughts, opinions and reflections of undertaking research in educational leadership as a researcher. The style and structure of the chapter and its theoretical approach are influenced by the work of Jacques Derrida and post-structuralist theorising more generally (see Lyotard, 1988). In particular, I draw on some key techniques of deconstruction (Derrida, 1978, 1981, 1997; Peters Biesta, 2009) as well as disrupting traditional forms of representation in educational leadership scholarship (Lyotard, 1988, 1991; Peters & Burbules, 2004). Derrida was well known, or perhaps more appropriately infamous, for taking a more literary style to his writing and disrupting conventional structures and formats as a form of deconstruction as well as the content of his writing. For example, in the book Glas (Derrida, 1986), he wrote with an unconventional style whereby the writing was divided into two columns each with a different purpose on different topics. Other formats and styles were used in written texts (see Derrida, 1982, 1987), and also the book with Geoffrey Bennington (Bennington & Derrida, 1993), where each author wrote narratives divided by a line across the page where Bennington wrote a reflection above the line on Derrida’s works; and below the line, Derrida wrote a series of reflections and entanglements with Bennington’s text. Further inspiration for the structure in this chapter also comes from Jean Francois Lyotard, who also played with structure and format of his writing at times. In particular, I am influenced by his writing in The Differend (Lyotard, 1988), where Lyotard structured the book in the form of numbered paragraphs also with inserted sections of detailed philosophical investigations and elaborations behind much of his thinking throughout the book. One could easily read the book skipping over the italicised sections of complex philosophical influences, but Lyotard recommends an engagement with these for maximum impact and understanding. It is very much a

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different way of reading and engaging with texts that both Derrida and Lyotard were interested in producing with their sometimes-controversial style. Hence, in this chapter, Critique and narrative are structured together with the interspersing of moments of theoretical reflection and explication of the tools used explicitly (and implicitly) throughout the chapter (these are philosophical ‘problems’ with leadership—numbered sections in italics). In doing so, I bring together tensions for scholars and researchers in educational leadership both through process and in approach and content. Through blurring the lines between researcher and researched, this paper tackles a critique of instrumentalist and prescriptive accounts of leadership and those who make such claims. There is a responsibility of the academy to continue deeply critical scholarship at a time where ‘what works’ and ‘best practice’ approaches rule the policy space (Biesta, 2020; Zhao, 2018). Underlying this chapter is the questioning of the role of academics within this superficial privileging of engagement and ‘impact’ in the public sphere; particularly so in the areas of educational leadership where fads, heroes and ‘gurus’ (Eacott, 2017) continue to dominate the policy and, in many respects, the research landscape (Niesche & Gowlett, 2019). [Friends are less useful than antagonists].

2.2 Philosophical Problems with Leadership (1) Cruel optimism (Berlant, ) designates a relation where the thing you desire is actually an impediment to advancing that desire. (Educational) Leadership advances a relation of cruel optimism. Let me expand on this. A number of scholars, including myself, have argued that leadership is a significantly flawed concept, particularly when designated as an indicator of organisational success or performance, or as a model of best practice or effectiveness. Essentially, the prescription of leadership as a marker of organisational success is problematic at best and at worst, a misleading proposition founded on little and contradictory empirical data (no matter what the school effectiveness and improvement literature has tried to put forward). The ‘evidence base’ (and I use that phrase very, very hesitantly) is poor. The desires of many scholars of educational leadership are so caught up in the relentless search for ‘leadership’ to be the solution to education’s problems, and so deep that they actually prevent themselves from deploying leadership in a productive, useful and meaningful way (Lakomski, 2005). At least we critical scholars don’t falsely advocate superficial, seductive and de-contextualised solutions to very complex problems (and usually at a price)! To work with the term leadership requires acknowledging the term, and its limitations (see Lakomski et al., 2016); using it as a signifier, that while certainly open to misinterpretation and misrepresentation, can still function as some form of generalised marker of the exercising of power relations. At the same time, I do believe the work of school principals to be of vital importance to the successful functioning of any education system, organisations, schools and classrooms. However, the seductiveness of leadership discourse is an impedance to acknowledging not just the role that leaders can play in the teaching and learning environment and culture

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of schools but also the factors that both constrain and enable these leaders to do their work. Returning to Berlant, she argues that cruel optimism requires thinking about the ordinary as an impasse shaped by constant crises in which educators are struggling to find and develop skills and approaches to tackle the proliferation of pressures, tensions and challenges in contemporary life (Berlant, 2011, p. 8). It is important to remember that Berlant’s book is focused on examining how our search for the good life is constantly interrupted and thwarted through this impasse of the present, or at least since the 1980s. Berlant’s literary approach seeks to understand the malaise in social contexts with affective and aesthetic implications because of the incoherence of our search for stability and happiness. Berlant writes about ‘the attrition of a fantasy, a collectively invested form of life, the good life’ (p. 11). Cruel optimism is the name she gives to this personal and collective kind of relation in this temporal moment. There are affective forces of subjectivity at work that Berlant thinks through in a more nuanced way than the often simply negative portrayal of neoliberalism that many other authors ascribe to. She is keen not to foreclose the analysis by doing so and instead thinks about the present in its affective sense through a range of modes, habits, styles and responses throughout the book (p. 20). Furthermore, it is our attachment through desire to problematic objects that leads to forms of cruel optimism. Leadership models can only be a form of cruel optimism as they signify the search for something to explain a phenomenon that cannot be the prescriptive it desires to be. Leadership scholars often say that context matters but at the same time develop models, standards and approaches that are designed to work across contexts as forms of ‘best practice’. This is where the blindness and lack of criticality prevents the discourse from doing what it sets out to achieve—thus a relation of cruel optimism.

2.3 Deconstruction Must Take Place Deconstruction, as discussed by Derrida, is that which seeks to identify contradictions of logic within texts. To examine certain assumptions put forward that can go unexplored in a more traditional ‘reading’ of a text. It is not a method to be applied or undertaken that follows a script, or even a form of literary criticism, but rather is a ‘close reading’ of the forces of signification and play in terms of meaning within the text. In particular, Derrida is concerned with the kind if deconstruction of significations that are found in logocentric forms of truth. That is, truth established via Western approaches of metaphysics that privilege language structures in the form of binaries such as man/woman, nature/culture, good/evil, speech/writing, etc. These binaries set up a stabilising structure which is of comfort to many and allows people to make sense of the world through the use of language. Derrida explains, shows and seeks to disrupt these binary formations, to interrupt the stability and hierarchical formation put in place through these binaries. Derrida questions structuralism and the philosophical assumptions inherent in the term structure and its attempt for a centring of thought (Derrida, 1978). It is here that Derrida works through texts to

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illustrate the ‘warring forces of signification’ (Johnson in Derrida, 1981, p. xiv). For example, as Derrida writes: The movements of deconstruction do not destroy structures from the outside. They are not possible and effective, nor can they take accurate aim, except by inhabiting those structures. Inhabiting them in a certain way, because one always inhabits, and all the more when one does not suspect it. Operating necessarily from the inside, borrowing all the strategic and economic resources of subversion from the old structure, borrowing them structurally, that is to say without being able to isolate their elements and atoms, the enterprise of deconstruction always in a certain way falls prey to its own work (Derrida, 1997 p. 24).

Derrida is famously quoted as saying, ‘there is nothing outside of the text’ (Derrida, 1997, p. 158), and by this, and in the long quote above, he is implying that one must look closely into the text for the hidden tensions, significations and movements of play of structures at work in writing. This is why Derrida went to great pains to examine specific elements of texts and writings, often meticulously pointing out the contradiction between what is written, what is meant and what is done. This then is the key work of critique of writing in the field of educational leadership that must take place (see Niesche, 2013 for further examples of this). If there is a point to the philosophical problems with leadership sections in this chapter, it is to highlight spaces, places for this to occur using the associated concepts as illustrative examples. [So far in this chapter, I have been working at a more meta level than getting down into the weeds of deconstructing texts themselves – I have done this elsewhere as cited above, but is this a limitation? Or is this chapter working at the problem from a different level while highlighting that that level of minutiae, walking the talk, or deconstructive reading needs to occur? Is it ok to reflect in text?]

2.4 Philosophical Problems with Leadership (2) The notion of pharmakon, as used by Derrida (1981), and subsequently by Stiegler (2010, 2015), refers to a concept that denotes ambivalence, a deconstructing of binaries whereby a phenomenon can be both poison and cure. Derrida’s particular kind of deconstructive reading of ‘Plato’s Pharmacy’ (Derrida, 1981) is designed to show how Western metaphysics is built on a series of hierarchical binaries, for example, presence/absence, speech/writing, nature/culture, man/woman, leader/follower. Derrida’s aim is to disrupt these stable platforms upon which our knowledge systems are built and challenge the formation of these hierarchies. Specifically, pharmakon describes a written text by Theuth, the God of Writing to King Thamus as a form of remedy to assist with memory. However, Thamus rejects the gift indicating that it will in fact have the effect of encouraging forgetfulness through a reliance on the written text—thus the text is both a poison and remedy. This creates a form of ambivalence as constituted by the play in meaning and difference. Educational leadership is also a form of pharmakon (see also Niesche, 2019), whereby leadership is often presented as the solution to education’s problems. Much of the leadership industry (Kellerman, 2012) exists to provide solutions to many of the problems that are faced by educators—‘if only good leadership could be found then we

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could solve our problems’, is a prevalent discourse, particularly from the school effectiveness and improvement field. However, the link between leadership and student learning and outcomes is heavily mediated, contested or even non-existent and yet still forms the basis of the work by so many education gurus, edu-preneurs and consultants. It is a hugely profitable industry that has caught the eye of policy makers and many educators, inevitably functioning as a form of ‘psycho-power’ within a larger system of hyper-industrial capitalism (Stiegler, 2010, 2015). Leadership is then both the cure and poison. Bernard Stiegler, in his many books, sees one of the most urgent issues for contemporary society is this influence of consumer capitalism of hyper-industrial societies. He uses the term ‘psycho-power’ to designate a form of power exercised on and through individuals, and groups of people, through memory and attention formation. It is through people’s attention that knowledge is ‘proletarianised’ in the form of quick consumable products and solutions. In the development of the term psycho-power, Stiegler is acknowledging the important contribution of Foucault but also recognising the limitations of Foucault’s theorising of power, particularly in the need to re-insert political economy into the analysis, that so many of the post-structuralists took out of their philosophising over time as they become dis-enchanted with Marxism. Stiegler theorises a psycho-technical apparatus through which people’s attention is altered towards a constant consumerism. My philosophising here is reflecting upon our present condition in education and educational leadership as forms of this kind of malaise (also see Niesche, 2019; Niesche & Gowlett, 2019). [The freedom of the guru from thinking critically, deeply and abjectly].

2.5 A Differend with Leadership? Here, I narrate a discourse of personal entanglement with educational leadership as a field. This is similar but different to, and certainly inspired by the excellent work of Wilkinson and Eacott (2013), who describe themselves as outsiders within the field, albeit coming from different biographic trajectories and yet able to come together in the identification of a critical disposition. My ‘history’—the closest I have come so far to writing this has been in Niesche and Gowlett (2019) so I use some excerpts from that and two other texts—is one briefly examined below; however, what I will do first is briefly describe a ‘differend’ (Lyotard, 1988 ) with leadership. For Lyotard, a differend refers to a situation whereby there is an incommensurability between statements due to a different class of language game. In particular, ‘a case of conflict, between (at least) two parties that cannot be equitably resolved for lack of a rule of judgement applicable to both arguments’ (Lyotard, 1988, p. xi). Applying a single rule of judgment in these cases inevitably wrongs at least one of the parties involved. Implicit in these discussions are the detailed explication and analysis of language games and their associated rules (Lyotard, 1984, 1985, 1988). I won’t detail those here, suffice to say that phrasing and moves between different language games within educational leadership texts and discourse have been called

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into question (Lakomski et al., 2016; Niesche, 2013) as a source of weakness and problematic claims. However, my differend with leadership resided in the questioning of the concept and also its continued use as a descriptor of my title, work and desire to still retain the concept even though I see it as hugely problematic. This also is very much currently unresolved—and cannot be resolved, if following the notion of differend—without compromising or constituting a wrong to one of the parties, myself or the notion of leadership. Donmoyer has questioned my problematic approach in me suggesting that ‘leadership is so horribly problematic that it is necessary to draw a line through the term whenever one uses it’ (Donmoyer, 2016, p. 129); or that I have a ‘propensity for cartoon like portrayals of the leadership literature’ (p. 130); or that I succumb to being a ‘French poststructuralist groupie’ (p. 126). These concerns point to an enduring tension in bringing together a sense of unease with the quality of much of scholarship in the educational leadership field, and the using of French post-structuralism for critique where perhaps it was not intended. How can one work in this field at the same time as describe oneself with and putting forward such a deep-seated suspicion and critique? Next, I look to writings about positionality to further unsettle my engagement with this issue. The following excerpt is from Niesche and Gowlett (2019 p. 10) where we wrote about our voice and positionality (with a few minor alterations since its publishing in 2019): In undertaking a brief bio of each of us as authors and academics we are also conscious of the difficulties of allocating a ‘name’ to particular texts. Derrida, Lyotard and Foucault all considered the relationship of a name or author to a text and sought to disrupt to obvious use of a name as a condensation symbol for a particular work, series of texts or concepts. However, they did this in slightly different ways. For example, Lyotard questions the sense that can be made from a proper name. The proper name designates a person in a rigid and consistent way but the meaning attached to the name is multifarious and dependent on the phrase attached to the name rather than the name itself. Reality then becomes the many senses attached to the name via different phrases, statements and language. As he describes in The Differend: Reality entails the differend. That’s Stalin, here he is. We acknowledge it. But as for what Stalin means? Phrases come to be attached to his name, which not only describes different senses for it (this can still be debated in dialogue), and not only place the name on different instances, but which also obey heterogeneous regimens and/or genres. This heterogeneity, for lack of a common idiom, makes consensus impossible. The assignment of a definition to Stalin necessarily does wrong to the nondefinitional phrases relating to Stalin, which this definition, for a while at least, disregards or betrays. In and around names, vengeance is on the prowl Lyotard (1988, p.56). Lyotard uses the name ‘Stalin’ as an example to argue that such a name cannot identify as a single sense or referent, that is, there cannot be a common meaning and association to the name. Stalin will indicate different meanings depending on context of usage and its linking with particular phrasing and language, time and space. Therefore, the name ‘Richard Niesche’ designates, husband, son, brother, academic at UNSW, author, educational leader, musician, associate professor and so on. There is no fixed referent. The allocation of meaning and sense to the name is dependent on the contexts and usage. In a formal academic and author sense, Richard’s bio and author description usually goes like this:

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2.5.1 Current Bio Draft (in a More ‘respectable’ Times New Roman Font): Bio Richard Niesche is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. His research interests include educational leadership, the principalship and social justice. His particular research focus is to use critical perspectives in educational leadership to examine the work of school principals in disadvantaged schools and how they can work towards achieving more socially just outcomes. He has published his research in a number of books and peer-reviewed journals, and he is also the founding co-editor of the ‘Educational Leadership Theory’ book series with Springer. Recent books published include Social, Critical and Political Theories for Educational Leadership (2019, Springer, co-authored with Christina Gowlett); Theorising Identity and Subjectivity in Educational Leadership Research (2020, Routledge, co-edited with Amanda Heffernan); and, Understanding Educational Leadership: Critical Perspectives and Approaches (2021, Bloomsbury, co-edited with Steve J. Courtney, Helen M. Gunter and Tina Trujillo).

(re-starting the excerpt from Niesche & Gowlett, 2019, p. 11): However, much more informally, characterising oneself and one’s work is problematic especially when considering the complex relationship with a field like educational leadership when taking more critical perspectives. When asked about his research area Richard usually describes himself as a researcher in educational leadership more for the sake of simplicity than anything else. To a lay audience this then often requires some explanation of describing Richard’s work with schools, principals and other leaders around examining the problems and issues they face, and how they try to resolve these issues. However, if speaking to another researcher in education or academic from outside the specific field, will come the: “BUT, I draw upon a range of mostly post-structural ideas with which to critique mainstream ideas”. The reason for this is partly the poor profile and perceived quality of educational leadership research and thus as a marker of distinction from this sometimes, maligned work by invoking the name of ‘difficult’ continental philosophy. This also serves to distinguish himself from this perceived poor quality or traditional and conservative scholarship. Furthermore, there is a staking out of one’s theoretical and/or philosophical position in relation to educational leadership. The point we wish to illustrate here goes back to Lyotard’s claim about the name and also Derrida’s work in deconstructing proper names in that it becomes impossible to identify a fixed notion of understanding to the name and its alleged referent in academic discourse and discipline. Another answer could be that who one is depends on who one is talking to, who the particular audience is. As Foucault in his essay ‘what is an author?’ states, “an author’s name is not simply an element of speech…its presence is functional in that it serves as a means of classification” (Foucault 1977, p. 123). There is also an inherent tension in being paid for and recognised as a researcher, teacher and scholar in educational leadership, and then at the same time being critical of much of the field in which one works and associates. This can and has led to some elements of marginalisation (as typical of more critical perspectives generally) and also missed opportunities and recognition. This is not meant to be seen as a form of sour grapes, as Richard has certainly benefitted from a number of opportunities, support and other factors, but rather the tensions and risks with doing critical work and scholarship. It is also interesting that Richard has also largely published outside of the mainstream educational leadership journals as well as having sought out the more critical venues such as International Journal of Leadership in Education and Journal of Educational Administration and History, and other more generalist

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and educational politics and policy journals (due to their reception of such critical styles of work). Thus, it is a curious space to work in when deciding where to publish one’s ideas.

2.5.2 An Alternate Narrative After my first year of teaching music for a year in 2001 in New South Wales, Australia, I moved with my wife to Brisbane, Queensland where she took up a position at the University of Queensland. I subsequently began teaching in Brisbane and undertook a Master of Educational Leadership (part time) while I was teaching. During this study, I first became familiar with a range of critical scholarship in education and was increasingly disillusioned with a lot of the mainstream educational leadership writing and research. Some of the critical researchers I engaged with while at UQ include Pam Christie, Bob Lingard, Allan Luke, Brigid Limerick and Martin Mills. Interestingly, a number of these scholars are not considered traditional educational leadership researchers although many have had an engagement with much of the leadership literature and discourse. They might arguably characterise themselves as researchers in different areas. However, the diversity of the research and approaches and their criticality was hugely influential to my formation as an academic and my approach to educational leadership scholarship. After encouragement from Pam Christie (and Martin Mills—both of whom then became my Ph.D. supervisors), I enrolled in a Ph.D. upon which I immersed myself in the work of Michel Foucault to explore educational leadership from a more critical perspective into the work of two white, female principals of Indigenous schools in Queensland, Australia. Upon completing my Ph.D. in 2008, I took up a position at Griffith University as Research Fellow working on two Australian Research Council Linkage Grants looking at mathematics education in remote Indigenous schools and communities. This then led to me working up to a University of Queensland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship examining socially just leadership in disadvantaged schools and contexts. At the end of this 3-year fellowship, I was fortunate to gain a position as Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, in educational leadership where I have then held roles such as Postgraduate Coursework Program Director and more recently, Deputy Head of School (Research). I have recently been promoted to Associate Professor and am continuing my research into critical perspectives in educational leadership, post-structuralism and social justice. During this time, I have published a range of journal articles, book chapters and books on these topics and issues. In 2016 and 2017, I designed and taught a Masters course on critical perspectives in educational leadership that was very well received by students and always scored very highly on student satisfaction surveys. However, due to university course rationalisation in 2018, any course that had less than 20 students which was considered unsustainable, and this course has been on hiatus ever since (neoliberalism at work in the academy!). Nevertheless, I do continue to include this critical research in the other courses I teach (Courtney et al., 2021 pp. 8–9).

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R. Niesche [This is an academic exercise. I make no apologies for that. At a time when academics are expected to have impact and engagement with non-academic audiences, the ‘public’, with professionals to improve their practice, best practice, what works, scaling up, evidence-based practice, entrepreneurialism…for their benefit so it would seem…yes really. Quite bold isn’t it?] [What do these competing narratives say?].

2.6 Philosophical Problems with Leadership (3) Zombie Leadership (Niesche, 2016; Smyth, 2017) designates ideas about leadership associated with heroes, often great man, that display certain kinds of traits and characteristics that are valorised and yet have proven to be problematic. And yet they still keep re-surfacing and coming back because of their seductive nature and perhaps also the influence of charisma and politics. It is also a kind of leadership that is overly exaggerating the importance of the individual, the ‘leader at the top’ and how problematic this notion is for education, for example. These kinds of exceptional individual approaches to leadership have been seen in discourses such as transformational leadership, instructional leadership amongst many other models; and also in leadership standards and competency frameworks; as well as numerous approaches to effective leadership and best practice. Foucault (1980) remarked how it was important to ‘cut off the king’s head’ in terms of analysing sovereign power relations, and this also inspired my use of the term zombie leadership, as to kill the zombie, one needs to cut off the zombie’s head, as shown through many movies, books and TV series! The metaphor of the zombie is useful for demonstrating the movements of thought within the educational leadership field that need to have their heads cut off so that alternative, more diverse and ultimately more relevant and useful ideas can be promoted that actually may help people in schools and other educational organisations. There is also a definite nod to the significant and powerful work undertaken by a number of feminist scholars and those that have been researching gender and educational leadership for many decades. Foucault theorised power as complex, networks of relations often functioning in an ascending manner, thus in contrast to more traditional approaches to power that are theorised in a more sovereign, authoritarian, dominating descending approach (see Lukes, 1986). I have argued elsewhere that this traditional view of power is less helpful for theorising leadership of the school principal (Niesche, 2011) and rather it is more useful to theorise power in its more diffuse forms. Hence using Foucault’s notion of cutting off the King’s head—also a play on the zombie notion whereby to kill a zombie one needs to cut their head off. Are we yet to really cut off the head of zombie leadership in the field of educational leadership? With all the emphasis on collaborative, democratic, distributed leadership models, etc., there is a constant undercurrent always going back to that dominant discourse of the leader driving decisions and change processes even unintentionally. This notion of zombie leadership is a playful way for me to think through some of these complexities.

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[…many academics question, trouble these approaches, projects and works and yet also are subsumed by them and work for them for the almighty $ to justify their existence. The soul and becoming of the dollar and output. Governing the soul and all that. Foucault was on to something but he’s now passe, trendy, the worst of French intellectuals, THE POSTMODERN if you will. But did he and Lyotard get along?]

2.7 Can There Be a Conclusion? or ‘Why Philosophize?’ (Lyotard, 2013) Much of this chapter has been about problems, critique and criticism of educational leadership research and scholarship. The role of critique is one that dissects, to open up what we know, or think we know, or assume and provide space for alternative approaches and perspectives to flourish. [The violence of the academy].

Lyotard remarks that ‘we philosophize because it desires’ (2013, p. 43). It should be apparent by now that I cannot reflect, write about, comment on educational leadership without philosophising around the meaning of the term, its limitations, weaknesses, problems. This is from a position of caring about this phenomenon we call leadership, revealing that I believe it to be important even if there cannot be any concrete or satisfactory definition. This is a tension I work with whenever I conduct research, write or teach. The role of the critical researcher, or critical approaches and perspectives is to make this tension explicit and clear; to not be so confident in one’s assertions about ‘what works’ or what may constitute ‘best practice’. As an academic, I have no product to sell, solution to market; but rather, I have a critical disposition and a need to be a critical consumer of research and education products. This is a philosophy I subscribe to in my writing and teaching and make no apologies for that. I also realise what a privileged position it is that I occupy to do this, but it is also somewhat of a political commitment to ongoing questioning, or as Lyotard writes, ‘how can we not philosophize’ (2013 p. 123). [This is not that. Unashamedly so. Yes, you might claim its ivory tower obtuseness, irrelevant and dangerousness in its obscurity and pointless(ness) as it seems to benefit no one and improve the lives of no one. Obscurantism at its worst (Searle on Foucault and Derrida) and yet, not.]

2.8 Philosophical Problems with Leadership (4) The development of consumer capitalism through education is both symptomatic and the cause of our current malaise. Bernard Stiegler (2011) has explained in great detail how a particularly American brand of capitalism, a hyper-industrial model of production and consumption, has taken over democracy through the systematic exploitation of people’s addictions and susceptibility to the culture industry (Adorno, 1991). This

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has resulted in a loss of spirit (Stiegler, 2013, 2014) and performatively creating political decadence (Stiegler, 2011). The American consumerist machine works through computers, television, smart phones, Wi-Fi that results in the consuming of ideas and products that is more important than other desires and relations. It becomes the controlling on conscious and unconscious rhythms of bodies and souls that makes life valuable, a form of aesthetic conditioning to consume via marketisation and privatisation. Peoples’ attentions are hijacked through this form of psycho-power (Stiegler, 2010). As a result, the loss of critique has also affected universities as they are rendered complicit and compromised in the destruction of education as a public good. Discourses of consumer capitalism work against those of more socially just or socially responsible ones. The dumbing down of knowledge and knowledge creation in education created educators as consumers not socially critical knowledge creators. Educational leadership, in particular, is being turned into a form of consumerism that both disempowers and de-professionalises school leaders into being required to adopt superficial products and approaches marketed and sold by edu-preneurs, gurus and consultants. Education authorities and policy makers play an instrumental role in this through such vehicles as school autonomy policy, leadership standards, best practice models and frameworks, websites and other sellable products to solve or improve education’s persistent manufactured crises. As we said in 2019, ‘This is a leadership industry of hyper-consumerism developing a relentless thirst and need for more products that take time away from deep knowledge creation, theorisation and conceptual development and thinking beyond how to divert resources to meet the administrative requirements of professional learning accreditation’ (Niesche & Gowlett, 2019, p. 102), when in fact most schools already have the knowledge and expertise to tackle their own problems. Educators are being proletarianised into being consumers through a form of leadership-induced stupidity (Alvesson & Spicer, 2016) resulting in a larger systemic stupidity (Stiegler, 2015). This critique of systemic stupidity and leadership-induced stupidity is targeted at the leadership industry rather than educators ‘doing the work’ in their day-to-day lives. As scholars of educational leadership, we have a responsibility to drive research that is at arm’s length from vested interests that are driven by simple money making and marketised solution to problems. These solutions, usually delivered by gurus, are often empty ideas full of feel-good platitudes that start with the phrase ‘good leadership is…’. Alvesson and Spicer argue that most ideas in the leadership world are based on flawed reasoning and pseudo-science (2016). Simply speaking, we owe it to our hard-working educators to do better and provide them with theoretically robust, nuanced accounts of leadership practice in complex contexts that will be useful beyond a short term, feel good moment. [Can one be an abject critic in education? (Allen, 2020)].

References Adorno, T. W. (1991). The culture industry: Selected essays on mass culture. Edited by J.M. Bernstein. London: Routledge.

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Allen, A. (2020). Principles of abject criticism. The Educator: Studies in Contempt and Excess, 1, 1–7. Alvesson, M., & Spicer, A. (2016). The stupidity Paradox: The power and pitfalls of functional stupidity at work. Profile Books. Bennington, G., & Derrida, J. (1993). Jacques Derrida. University of Chicago Press. Berlant, L. (2011). Cruel optimism. Duke University Press. Biesta, G. (2020). Educational research: An unorthodox introduction. Bloomsbury. Blackmore, J. (1995). Breaking out from a masculinist politics of education. In B. Limerick & B. Lingard (Eds), Gender and Changing Educational Management. Rydalmere: Hodder Education. Courtney, S. J., Gunter, H. M., Niesche, R., & Trujillo, T. (Eds.). (2021). Understanding educational leadership: Critical perspectives and approaches. Bloomsbury. Derrida, J. (1978). Writing and difference. Translated by Alan Bass. University of Chicago Press. Derrida, J. (1981). Dissemination. University of Chicago Press. Derrida, J. (1982). Margins of philosophy. University of Chicago Press. Derrida, J. (1986). Glas. University of Nebraska Press. Derrida, J. (1987). The post card: From socrates to freud and beyond. University of Chicago Press. Derrida, J. (1994). The spectres of marx: The state of the debt, the work of mourning and the new international. Routledge. Derrida, J. (1997). Of grammatology. Corrected Edition. Translated by Gayati Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Donmoyer, R. (2016). Commentary: Questioning postmodernism: Does it have something to offer leadership fields? In G. Lakomski, S. Eacott, & C. W. Evers (Eds.), Questioning leadership: New directions for educational organisations (pp. 125–136). Routledge. Eacott, S. (2017). School leadership and the cult of the guru: The neo-Taylor-ism of Hattie. School Leadership and Management, 37(4), 413–426. Evers, C. W., & Lakomski, G. (2013). Methodological individualism, educational administration and leadership. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 45(2), 159–173. Foucault, M. (1980). Truth and power. In C. Gordon (Ed.), Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings (pp. 1972–1977). The Harvester Press. Gronn, P. (2003). Leadership: Who needs it? School Leadership and Management, 23(3), 267–290. Gunter, H. M. (2016). An intellectual history of school leadership practice and research. Bloomsbury. Kellerman, B. (2012). The end of leadership. HarperCollins. Lakomski, G. (2005). Managing without leadership: Towards a theory of organizational functioning. Elsevier. Lakomski, G., Eacott, S., & Evers, C. W. (Eds.). (2016). Questioning leadership: New directions for educational organisations. Routledge. Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The Postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. University of Minnesota Press. Lyotard, J. F. (1985). Just gaming. University of Minnesota Press. Lyotard, J. F. (1988). The differend: Phrases in dispute. University of Minnesota Press. Lyotard, J. F. (1991) The Inhuman. Trans. G. Bennington and R. Bowlby. Cambridge: Polity Press. Lyotard, J. F. (2013). Why philosophize? Polity Press. Lukes, S. (Ed.). (1986). Power. Blackwell. Niesche, R. (2011). Foucault and educational leadership: Disciplining the principal. Routledge. Niesche, R. (2013). Deconstructing educational leadership: Derrida and Lyotard. Routledge. Niesche, R. (2016). Zombie Leadership, the differend and deconstruction. In G. Lakomski, S. Eacott & C. Evers (Eds.), Questioning leadership: New directions for educational organisations. London. Niesche, R. (2019). (Educational)Leadership and Pharmakon. In G. A. Pederzini (Ed.), Considering leadership anew: A handbook on alternative leadership theory (pp. 115–125). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

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Niesche, R., & Gowlett, C. (2019). Social, Critical and political theories for educational leadership. Springer. Peters, M. A., & Biesta, G. (2009). Derrida, deconstruction, and the politics of pedagogy. Peter Lang. Peters, M. A., & Burbules, N. C. (2004). Poststructuralism and educational research. Roman and Littlefield Publishers. Smyth, J. (Ed.). (1989). Critical perspectives on educational leadership. Falmer Press. Smyth, J. (2017). The toxic university: Zombie leadership, academic rock stars and neoliberal ideology. Palgrave Macmillan. Stiegler, B. (2010). Taking care of youth and the generations. Stanford University Press. Stiegler, B. (2011). The decadence of industrial democracies. Polity Press. Stiegler, B. (2013). Uncontrollable societies of Disaffected Individuals. Polity Press. Stiegler, B. (2014). The lost spirit of capitalism. Polity Press. Stiegler, B. (2015). States of shock: Stupidity and knowledge in the 21st Century. Polity Press. Wilkinson, J., & Eacott, S. (2013). Outsiders within? Deconstructing the educational administration scholar. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 16(2), 191–204. Zhao, Y. (2018). What works may hurt-side effects in education. Teachers College Press.

Richard Niesche is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. His research interests include educational leadership, the principalship and social justice. His particular research focus is to use critical perspectives in educational leadership to examine the work of school principals in disadvantaged schools and how they can work towards achieving more socially just outcomes. He has published his research in a number of books and peer-reviewed journals, and he is also the founding co-editor of the ‘Educational Leadership Theory’ book series with Springer. Recent books published include Social, Critical and Political Theories for Educational Leadership (2019, Springer, co-authored with Christina Gowlett); Theorising Identity and Subjectivity in Educational Leadership Research (2020, Routledge, co-edited with Amanda Heffernan); and, Understanding Educational Leadership: Critical Perspectives and Approaches (2021, Bloomsbury, co-edited with Steve J. Courtney, Helen M. Gunter and Tina Trujillo).

Chapter 3

Turning Water into Wine: Scripting Multi-academisation Through Messianic Educational Leadership Steven J. Courtney and Ruth McGinity

Abstract In this chapter, we present as scripted drama our data from a case study on the features and functions of educational leadership in the process of multiacademisation. Our objectives are to realise the potential of drama, and specifically of a Brechtian-inspired aesthetic, to foreground rich truths about the phenomenon. We do this through materialising the symbolic, symbolising the significant insights and themes, embodying the reported tensions and emotions and puncturing the solemnity of multi-academisation. Our Brechtian approach moves us away from realism and towards a disruptive, challenging dramatic encounter with multi-academisation and its leadership, for example through our explicit characterisation of the MAT CEO as Jesus-like. This permits us to foreground charisma-based messianic educational leadership as the mechanism that we saw operationalising this project of multiacademisation. The CEO, David, inspires his followers through an extraordinary faith in his abilities and charisma to follow a mutable and relatively flimsy vision. This chapter makes contributions that are conceptual, through developing the construct of charismatic messianic educational leadership, and methodological, through widening the dramatic forms that have been used to present data and represent the social world in the field of educational leadership. Keywords Messianic educational leadership · Charisma · Dramatic presentation of data · Scripted drama · Multi-academy trusts · Multi-academisation

S. J. Courtney (B) University of Manchester, Manchester, UK e-mail: [email protected] R. McGinity University College London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_3

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3.1 Introduction In this chapter, we draw on data from a case study research project to contribute to the emergent literature on multi-academisation: this literature complements the rather larger one concerning multi-academy trusts (MATs). The process whereby a single school converts to academy status—academisation—is well understood (McGinity & Gunter, 2017), even in instances where many months of negotiation do not finally end in legal conversion (Rayner & Gunter, 2020; Rayner et al., 2018), yet the equivalent process for MATs is not: indeed, no homologous noun exists. Our multi-academisation and its leadership project sought to address these gaps. Our case study MAT was created ostensibly from its CEO’s desire to avoid the corporatisation inherent in the structure and to do something new, important and different from what had been undertaken within the Local Authority. The research took place at a time of contestation: despite having come into effect months previously, the MAT still provoked important discussions amongst its leaders about purposes, strategy and distinctiveness. Our data reveal the process and mechanisms by which, despite uncertainties and contestations, multi-academisation in this case study was achieved. We are deploying multi-academisation to mean more than the effectuation of the legal contract; we mean it as a process whereby identities, structures, cultures, practices, objectives and values are formed. We attribute its success in this case in large part to the MAT CEO, David, whose particular embodiment of unassuming charisma we noted in our interviews with him. The data show that he inspires sentiments in those of his followers whom we interviewed ranging from open admiration to devotion. They have what we can only characterise as complete faith in him. This faith appears to mitigate the effects of any of the contestations or misunderstandings we highlight in this chapter, and so is functional to the process of multi-academisation. To theorise this process, we therefore embrace faith as a metaphor, explicatory mechanism and thinking tool. Our data were generated through interviews in which leaders spoke singly to us, constructing reasonably internally coherent narratives about multi-academisation from their perspective, but including and alluding to the others who featured in the process. What we intend in this chapter is to recognise multi-academisation as a project with diverse stakeholders, a series of conversations underlain with tensions, interests and embodied positions. We do this by rendering this story as a series of scripted encounters, taking place in a 24-h period. Through reimagining our data as drama, we reinsert the emotion, the moments of contradiction and, importantly, the charismatically leaderful relationships that were reported to researchers. We do this in part through the creation of a character to represent the absent presence in our participants’ stories—the Local Authority—and through our explicit rendering of David, the CEO, as Jesus-like. Our approach draws on narrative analysis, since we follow its principles in ‘organiz[ing] the data elements into a coherent developmental account’ (Polkinghorne, 1995, p. 15). Further, as Polkinghorne suggests, through this method we are advancing a plot: multi-academisation as a leadership project. To our knowledge, only Mifsud (2016, 2017) has used drama to represent data in

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educational leadership research. However, our narrative script is innovative in the way in which it draws on a Brechtian aesthetic to reveal through fantastical and dissonant dramatic elements how David does messianic educational leadership and how this is understood by his followers. Our contribution is consequently methodological, but also empirical, in capturing a moment of uncertain malleability in the creation of a structure by those deemed leaders.

3.2 MATs and Multi-academisation Multi-academy trusts (MATs) are a privatised structure in English schooling provision, created in 2010, and are currently the multi-school grouping most privileged in education policy in England (Courtney, 2015b). The trust is a single legal entity that engages in a contractual arrangement with the Secretary of State for Education to provide education across one or more sites, known as academies. None of the constituent academies in a MAT has a discrete legal identity and so cannot leave of its leaders’ or staff community’s own volition. Instead, any academy deemed mislocated may be re-brokered, that is, signed over to another MAT, following discussion between the Regional Schools Commissioner and trustees at MAT level. MATs were conceived to replace many functions of local authorities, for example, they employ the staff; decide on their conditions of employment and pay; devise and administer pay-related performance management processes; provide teaching and leadership development; and are the admissions authority. These descriptive functions reveal that MATs are the latest utterance in a longstanding policy conversation concerning a school-led system, with structural precedents in England including the requirement that so-called Specialist Schools (1993– 2011) work to benefit local schools and their community (see Bell & West, 2003). Indeed, high-attaining specialist schools were invited to join the Leading Edge Partnership Programme or Raising Achievement Partnership Programme, both having an explicit focus on school-to-school support (Courtney, 2015a). Later iterations of the school-to-school model included federations of local-authority-maintained schools (Chapman, 2015) and umbrella trusts. Unlike in a MAT, all constituent schools in an umbrella trust retain their own governing body. These example instantiations are located in England: the discourse promoting them, however, is international, with support from supra-national organisations such as the OECD (Pont et al., 2008). Homologous structures internationally include Charter Management Organisations in the USA. The analytical functions of a MAT are multiple: first, they are a mechanism for disintermediation, or the removal of the ‘middle tier’ (Courtney & McGinity, 2020; Wilkins, 2017): accountability is, therefore, both reduced and rendered more complex. Second, MATs constitute a mechanism for corporatisation: the most senior role is often called the CEO, and corporatised identities, purposes and practices prevail (Hughes, 2020; Hughes et al., 2020). Third, in a previous article in which we draw on these data (Courtney & McGinity, 2020), we argue that MATs are vital

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contemporary sites in the English education landscape of provision for the system leadership that is privileged in policy and discourse. We reconceptualise this system leadership as a mechanism for, and instantiation of, three forms of depoliticisation. These are, following Wood and Flinders (2014), [F]irst, governmental depoliticisation, where decisions, functions and activities previously undertaken by governments are instead delegated to arms-length bodies and subjected to bureaucratic and/or technical control. The second is societal depoliticisation, where social issues are moved from the public to the private sphere, and so become matters of individual choice. The third form is discursive depoliticisation, where language shifts issues to ‘the “realm of necessity” in which “things just happen” and contingency is absent’ (Wood and Flinders, 2014: 165) Courtney & McGinity, 2020, p. 4).

MATs are consequently a key element of a neoliberal policy agenda, variously realised in a range of nation-states, to de-democratise, corporatise and privatise education, yet to do so at one remove, with school leaders’ activities and standards-agenda-aligned visions filling a policy void created purposively through depoliticisation.

3.3 Theorising with Messianic Educational Leadership In using messianic educational leadership as an analytical metaphor, we want to draw attention as much to the role of followers and followership as to that of the leader. Messiahs are recognised as such by their followers, and not by self-proclamation. Our contribution derives from our location in the critical part of the field of educational leadership: this critical disposition leads us to trouble the identification of leadership only with the actions and dispositions of the top post holder in the organisation. Following insights from, for example, the field of organisation studies (Crevani, 2015; Crevani et al., 2010; Cunliffe & Eriksen, 2011) and educational leadership (Eacott, 2015) we understand leadership to be the product of the relation between actors, who may be understood as leader and follower(s), if only for the duration of that interaction. Messianic educational leadership overlays upon these insights a hierarchy, a reminder that all relations are subject to power, including leaderful ones. Here, we focus not only upon David’s charisma, ambition and skills but also upon the influence of these features on the rest of his leadership team; the ways in which their response in turn recursively influences David, and the subsequent actions, claims and cultures ascribed to this interaction by case study participants. This is a conceptualisation of educational leadership that differs from what might be called the ‘other’ form of ‘shared’ leadership, that is, the contemporarily dominant distributed leadership (see, e.g., Harris, 2013), where leadership does not happen in the space between actors, but at most is individually possessed and enacted, simply by more actors, and at the least is not leadership at all, but delegated responsibility (Gunter et al., 2013). Messianic educational leadership is the model we are using to explain our data, but the key mechanism underpinning these messianic relations and interactions is

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faith: using these terms connotes a conceptual genealogy. Messiah leadership was elucidated by Western (2008) as a discrete organisational leadership discourse and successor to what he delineates as the therapist discourse. Western describes how messiah leadership drew on American fundamentalist evangelism, anthropology, practitioner influences and Asian organisational practices and cultures to construct and privilege a heroic leader whose influence extends beyond the dyadic through creating and enforcing a strong vision. Following Western’s framing, this discourse underpins the transformational leadership model that dominated education and other fields throughout the late 1980s and onwards, until it was either subsumed within distributed forms (Gunter et al., 2013) as the reality of ‘hero headteachers’ failed to live up to predictions, or it mutated into more authoritarian forms, even totalitarian ones (Courtney & Gunter, 2015), as high-accountability regimes required public sanctions for apparent failures to deliver (Courtney, 2016). Through our own usage of messianic educational leadership, we aim both to reclaim it for the contemporary era and to enrich it conceptually. Western’s elucidation foregrounds ‘culture control’ (2013, p. 287) as the mechanism for followership, operationalised by Messiah leaders’ imposing a vision constructed as ‘shared’ and by follower surveillance. We dispute neither objective nor means but want to supplement this conceptualisation to account for followers’ agency in recognising, summoning and thereby empowering their Messiah. Our argument throughout this chapter is that thinking with the concept of messianic leading and leadership helps us to understand not only key features of David’s practice, positioning and dispositions but also those of his followers. Their faith in him is central to explaining how multi-academisation works and why it should do so, and is an active, hard-won force, rather than a passive state. They are disciples, who must maintain the faith and contribute to the aura and mystique of the messianic leadership. Faith can simply mean trust or confidence in a person, process, institution and so on, and therefore arguably underpins most forms of educational leadership where these are conceptualised relationally rather than as organisational, hierarchical imperatives. We are extending faith into its religious domain because the object of faith in this instance is located in two arenas. First, the faith that the members of the leadership team have in David exceeds the mundane to attain the extraordinary. Second, they have faith in the doctrine of multi-academisation that he leads and operationalises. Multi-academisation is the Good News that they all have ears to hear. However, faith is neither passive nor easy; when challenges arrive, it takes effort to keep the faith. Issues of power, jealousies and contestation still arise; the point with thinking these through with faith is that it enables a rich understanding of the contortions and cognitive dissonances that followers actively overcome in order to succeed. Faith is experienced individually and knowledge claims arising from it cannot be objectively verified: for Hick (1988), that is the point: But the proper question is whether the religious man’s [sic] awareness of being in the unseen presence of God constitutes a sufficient reason for the religious man himself to be sure of the reality of God. He does not profess to infer God as the cause of his distinctively religious experiences … The onus lies upon anyone who denies that this fulfills the conditions of a proper knowledge-claim to show reasons for disqualifying it (Hick, 1988, pp. 209–210).

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Multi-academisation, like academisation before it, is an article of faith. Its existence is not in doubt, but claims are made that are largely unverifiable or objectively meaningless, as the following by former National Schools Commissioner, Sir David Carter, demonstrates: It is clear that there are at least three core elements that the strongest trusts exhibit. First, a board that contains a wide range of professional experiences that can deliver the dual responsibility of building strategy to deliver great outcomes for children alongside the culture of accountability that is necessary across the organisation. Second, the appointment of an executive leader, typically an executive head or chief executive officer, who is held to account for standards across the schools. Third, the creation and execution of a school improvement strategy that develops and improves the workforce, builds succession and enables the strongest teachers and leaders to influence outcomes for more children (Carter, in DfE 2016, p. 4).

All of the above are possible in local-authority-maintained schools and federations and so do not make the case for MATs particularly. The superiority of the MAT as a host structure for these three elements is assumed rather than argued. Speaker and audience are all believers. Additionally, any refutation of the claims made for MATs counts for little to nothing, since, as Britzman (1995) reminds us, ‘receiving knowledge is a problem … when the knowledge encountered cannot be incorporated because it disrupts how the self might imagine itself and others’ (p. 159). Multi-academisation shapes the field, produces identities and positions, and informs the rules of the game (Bourdieu, 1990). It is a suite of activities, a political objective and a process that differentiates the modern and modernising from the bog-standard and obsolete.

3.4 Methodology We undertook a single case study of a multi-academy trust that had just been created, which we will refer to in this chapter as Tonbury and Swain MAT, as we do in Courtney and McGinity (2020). The MAT comprised at that time four constituent academies (see Table 3.1). We observed a leadership meeting and carried out semistructured interviews with eight members of the MAT’s leadership team. These had roles comprising the MAT CEO, constituent academy principals, a ‘headship team’ member, academy senior leadership team member and two trustees (see Table 3.2). All these roles qualify them for the label ‘leader’, and/or legitimate their professional practice as ‘leadership’. Calling those occupying senior positions within and across schools ‘leaders’ may seem axiomatic, given the primarily functionalist tendency to locate educational leadership with the person or people at the organisational apex (Gunter, 2004). We follow Gunter in problematising this conflation of leadership, leader and authority in our thinking and scholarship, but methodologically we accepted those sampling parameters because they are intelligible to much of the field and our research participants. However, treating trustees as educational leaders, as we do here again for methodological purposes, requires more justification. We, therefore,

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Table 3.1 The MAT and its constituent institutions. Reproduced from Courtney and McGinity (2020, p. 6) Institution

Description

Tonbury and Swain MAT

Multi-academy trust comprising four academies over two towns in a coastal county in England. Led by David

Oak Manor

Founding academy of the MAT. Secondary phase. Academically successful. Led by David

Skelton High

Taken over by the MAT after Ofsted failure and three Heads in 12 months. Led by a ‘Headship Team’ of three, seconded from Oak Manor, including Sarah

Halsby Junior

Academically successful school that academised to join the MAT. Led by Lucy

Rushton Green Special

Small, special boys’ school that academised to join the MAT. Led by Ben

Table 3.2 The MAT’s leaders. Reproduced from Courtney and McGinity (2020, p. 6) Name

Role(s)

David

CEO of Tonbury and Swain MAT and Principal of Oak Manor

Ben

Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Rushton Green Special School

Lucy

Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Halsby Junior

Sarah

Headship team member of Skelton High. Originally from Oak Manor

Nicola Assistant Headteacher of Skelton High. Arrived as NQT Roger

Board member of Tonbury and Swain MAT

Paul

Board member of Tonbury and Swain MAT

draw attention to the endorsement of this collocation by the state, whose ‘Competency Framework for Governance’ (Department for Education, 2017) explicitly aims at MAT trustees and devotes its first area of ‘Knowledge and skills’ to ‘Strategic leadership’ (p. 8). This suite of state-sanctioned competency expectations operationalises a market, whose product is leadership and whose consumers are trustees. The private company GovernEd, for instance, ‘has been contracted by the [UK] Department for Education to deliver leadership development training for Academy Trustees’ (GovernEd, 2021, np) and has created targeted leadership training for MAT trustees. MAT trustees are to think of themselves as educational leaders who engage in strategic leadership: this is constructed through the competency framework as doing vision work (see also Courtney & Gunter, 2015), working to a set of values, collaboratively, making decisions, and managing risk (Department for Education, 2017).

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3.4.1 Rendering Multi-academisation Data as Drama We alluded in the introduction to important methodological issues of presentation arising from our use of interview data. Specifically, we see it as a methodological problem that these data are generated in a series of conversations with single protagonists who are reporting, narrating and constructing their role in group processes and cultures. Researchers have long grappled with how best to present these data so that they, in turn, best represent the social phenomena they describe (Donmoyer & YennieDonmoyer, 1995; Eisner, 1979, 1997; Mifsud, 2016, 2017). Qualitative researchers have typically reconstructed from such individual accounts a social world in which notions of the social are at best invoked through thematised arrangement, or through reporting or constructing a narrative (e.g., Courtney, 2017). This attempt is destined to fail on its own terms; the individually derived paradigmatic or even narrative account is not adequate to represent pluralistic social experiences, processes and encounters (Donmoyer & Yennie-Donmoyer, 1995; Mifsud, 2017). In fact, we make the more fundamental argument that data are usually represented in ways that reflect reified custom rather than any inherent truth or universal applicability; and that much is lost in their being rendered so (Donmoyer & Yennie-Donmoyer, 1995; Mifsud, 2017), in ways that have largely lost their capacity to impinge upon the scholarly reader’s consciousness. Attempting to do research otherwise raises questions concerning legitimacy and rigour, yet a thematised account reveals a truth, or an experience no more fully, precisely or meaningfully than a film, poem or dramatic work. However, education research traditions construct such paradigmatic reports as more valid or trustworthy (see Cohen et al., 2017). Axiomatically, no data representation is the social world, encounter or process that it reports. All events, relations, processes and so on are reported in ways that are partial, interested, reduced and pre-interpreted by the research participant even before they encounter the researcher, who further mediates, locates, imagines, construes and infers. As Mifsud (2016) notes, ‘the textual staging of the research “story” is never innocent, being influenced by views of reality and the self’ (p. 864). This applies whether the product is a series of themes or a poem or play. But what of rigour? Can a dramatic rendering of data be trusted without the verbatim quotes that are usually found in qualitative research? Let us unpack the key assumption underpinning such questions, which is that verbatim quotes are the closest the researcher can get to a window into the research participant’s soul. But why is that desirable, or more rigorous? On the contrary, we suggest that it is a problem for knowledge production where research rigour is understood to be achieved when accepting more-or-less uncritically the participants’ interpretation of events and phenomena. This happens when researchers use verbatim quotes primarily as a proxy for analytical rigour and trustworthiness. More extreme examples include researchers’ memberchecking not just their interview transcripts, but also their analysis, or through their adopting participants’ ideological or discursive framings. We see three major issues with understanding rigour in this way.

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The first two issues are interlinked and concern the object of analysis and the role of the researcher. Analysis in education research ought to consider the political, social and discursive contexts within which data are generated, and to use theory or thinking tools to illuminate and explain what it all means. This is integral to the tradition of policy scholarship within which we locate ourselves (Grace, 1995) and implies an active role for the researcher. This approach enables the inclusion of objects of analysis such as the lies that participants tell themselves and are told in order to construct an identity and life narrative that makes sense to them and that aligns with their claimed values (Courtney & Gunter, 2019). It requires a critical stance with and against the data. The third issue is this: neither is rigour guaranteed nor reality captured through using verbatim quotes. Like all proxies, it is imperfect. Quotes may be juxtaposed or constructed, purposefully or inadvertently, in such a way as to convey a meaning differing from that intended by the research participant. One only has to recall the editing skill of online satirists such as Cassetteboy (e.g., 2020) to see an exaggerated version of this process. Of course, the researcher is more than an editor and provides vital mediating textual accompaniment that positions and locates the data (Mifsud, 2016). We suggest that the dramatic presentation of data responds to these three issues in ways that are equally rigorous, but on its own terms. In other words, we, like Mifsud (2016), ‘lay claim for the validity of [our] research’ (p. 877). First, it is more honest in the way in which it makes more visible the role of the researcher. As Eisner (1979) puts it, What the writer is able to do, as is the painter, composer, dancer, or critic, is to transform knowledge held in one mode into another … Somehow, the artist finds or creates the structural expressive equivalent of an idea, a feeling, or an image within the material with which he or she works. The material becomes the public embodiment—a medium, in the literal sense of the word—through which life of feeling is shared. The arts are not a second-class substitute for expression. They are one of the major means people throughout history have used both to conceptualize and express what has been inexpressible in discursive terms (Eisner, 1979, p. 200).

The transformed data are instantly recognisable as an artefact or construct in a way that is concealed in the thematised report. Further, on the extra-canonical status of dramatic presentation, we agree with Eisner (1997, p. 5) that What is clear is that the forms we use to inform, the forms that display what we make of what we have chosen to call ‘data’ are as old as the hills; they may be new in the context of educational research, but they have been around forever.

This poses a challenge to the field to problematise afresh the ways in which rigour has been conceptually collocated with certain practices in education research, and also to consider new ways in which rigour might be attained when applied to alternative forms of data presentation. These challenges are useful but demanding for researchers, participants and readers. They require work to make new connections and to scrutinise more carefully the links between old connections.

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Eisner (1997) takes the field further still, noting that thinking anew about data representation brings into productive question ‘what it means to do research’ (p. 5). This speaks to the second issue we raised that concerning objects of analysis and, relatedly, ways of knowing about these objects (see Gunter, 2016). The focus of our enquiry in this chapter is multi-academisation; how we might know it is influenced not just by the arts, but by critical realism. Concerning the epistemology of the arts, MacLeod (1987) identifies five ways in which drama enables sense-making: word, number, image, gesture and sound, with only the first two predominating typically in education research. We, therefore, offer this chapter as a corrective alongside Mifsud (2016, 2017) in the hope of contributing to a shift in methodological approaches to data (re)presentation in the field of educational leadership. In education more widely, Norris (2016) and Donmoyer and Yennie-Donmoyer (1995) have provided useful overviews of the field’s encounters with drama-as-data representation, which have centred on the USA and Canada. The other main sub-field in education which has used this approach is intercultural education (e.g., Frimberger, 2016; Harvey, 2018). On our critical-realist approach, we take seriously its proponents’ suggestions that the social world comprises more than actors’ subjective and transient perceptions and experiences of it; that reified structures achieve an objective ontological status that may predate, and which certainly exceeds and endures beyond these experiences (Archer, 1998; Bhaskar, 1975). What this means for the present study is that we intend interpreting multi-academisation in this way, as an ontologically discrete structure that causes effects on actors as well as being a site and product of effects caused by these actors, and that this too requires addressing. In other words, multiacademisation conjures identities and provokes actions (although we don’t believe it has agency). This liberates us to focus rather less on what our participants say about multi-academisation and to devote more attention to what their utterances signify, how they can be interplayed and what function they perform in the pursuit of multiacademisation. Our claim here is that this is most productively achieved through drama. This is not the same as aiming at realism. We are not attempting to reconstruct from partial, individual accounts a single authentic representation of social reality. As critical researchers, we reject the epistemological grounds upon which such a theoretical enterprise would be predicated. We hold that no form or method can achieve this objective, not even arts-based methods. For instance, we note Brecht’s critique that realistic drama is not at all like reality because it still follows theatrical conventions (1992, in Donmoyer & Yennie-Donmoyer, 1995, p. 405). Yet in fetishising realism, it eschews the possibilities open to it as drama. Instead, we aim to take advantage of the medium of drama as art; it is only an art that is able to renounce the constraints of everyday realities and capture the social world as symbolic, relational and poetic (Eisner, 1979). In other words, and following Kleinau and McHughes (1980), our approach is on drama as presentational, i.e., stylised, rather than representational, i.e., realistic. This is our response to the third issue we identified that quoting participants doesn’t capture reality. Our intent, rather, is to make this instantiation of multi-academisation intelligible, to make the

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symbolic explicit and material, to ‘perform the magical feat of transforming the contents of our consciousness into a public form that others can understand’ (Eisner, 1997, p. 4). This approach consists in drawing upon the spirit of Brechtian theatre pedagogy (Brecht and Willett 1964) to render the social, organisational, symbolic and legal enstructuration of multi-academisation theatrically. Specifically, as critical scholars, we take up Brecht’s challenge to problematise power structures through the medium of theatre. Brecht does this largely through the Verfremdungseffekt, or estrangement effect. Frimberger (2016) contrasts this V-effect to the Aristotelian theatre, which arranged scenes and episodes in a linear, harmonious fashion, [whereas] Brecht put them in juxtaposition and introduced interruptive devices. An actor might suddenly burst into reflective song. The audience might be directly addressed in the middle of dialogue with a social commentary on a character’s underlying motivation for action. This unexpected break of classic narrative structure, now of course a well-established artistic device, startled the audience out of a mode of viewing as consumption. Instead, spectators were led to examine the unfolding events on stage with a critical eye. The V-effect enabled a critique of everyday representations through an ‘aesthetic of heterogeneity’ (Jameson, 1998, p. 79) on stage. This portrayed reality, and with it the self, as fragmented, constructed and ultimately changeable (Frimberger, 2016, p. 134).

We aim to unsettle the spectator/reader, as well as the narrative and underlying power relations, through a series of dramatic devices. These include first, portraying the MAT CEO, David, explicitly as Jesus-like, and including biblical language to materialise his leadership of this emergent multi-academy trust. Second, we convey the myriad meetings, events, mishaps and serendipities that led ultimately to multiacademisation as a formal ball, where the protagonists dance their role in turn. In this choice, we follow Brecht’s call for a theatre that entertains (Brecht and Willett 1964).

3.4.2 Crafting the Script To construct the scripted encounters and render the data as drama, we revisited the data in their raw, transcript form. This was important for three reasons. First, although we had extensive and rich knowledge and understanding of our data as we had already analysed them to produce an article (Courtney & McGinity, 2020), our focus and approach were distinctive there, and as such, revisiting the data to generate new insights became an integral part of identifying and constructing the argumentation and analytical framework for this intended contribution. Second, in order to construct a narrative that enabled us to script multi-academisation through the concept of messianic leadership, we wanted to identify trends in the data which both exemplified and legitimated this thematic and analytical approach (we had previously discussed the notion of messianic leadership in relation to the approbation and reverence paid to David by the participants in the process of our data generation but we had not previously approached the data with this specific lens in mind). Third, we were aware that the role (or lack thereof) of the Local Authority in the

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decision-making process to establish a multi-academy trust was ill-defined in the data. There was a characterisation of the Local Authority there, ranging from absent to obstructive to histrionic, and in this regard, such descriptors were important in the post hoc rationalisation that characterised the accounts justifying both multiacademisation and the inevitability of David’s leadership within this. The lack of representation of the LA as a participant presented an opportunity for us to consider and construct the ways in which we might personify this significant character and include it in the narrative. As such, re-reading the data for specific inference as to how the LA was contrived by participants was an integral first step. Once we had identified the main themes of (a) messianic leadership and (b) the absence but the centrality of the LA within the story, we met online to discuss and agree on sub-keywords or themes that would enable us to mine the data for relevant extracts that would constitute these two main overarching themes. For the first theme, we agreed that the approach would require careful inference of the data for each participant transcript to identify the way in which David was rendered messianic in these accounts. For the second theme, we agreed on several sub-keywords that would enable us to identify where and how the LA was described and presented. These subkeywords included, for example, ‘LA’, and associated synonyms: ‘Local Authority’, ‘County Council’, ‘Lintshire County Council’. The process involved taking each transcript in turn, starting with David as the protagonist driving the plot and the mood of the narrative. We then undertook simultaneous searches of the individual transcripts using the ‘Control plus F’ (control and find) function on our computers, listing the matches in the sidebar and working our way through each synonym. For each instance, once the sub-keywords were listed, we took each in turn, initially reading the full text around the sub-keyword. Sometimes there were multiple instances of the use of a sub-key word in the text and we would undertake careful reading and re-reading of these passages to infer the extent to which the meaning, description or characterisation shifted throughout the account and to clip the text that we agreed illuminated the thematic approach. Subsequently, we took each of these passages and agreed on an interpretation of what was being said about either (a) David’s messianic leadership or (b) the LA’s role, copied the text to a new document and constructed a brief analytical precis for each extract. Each transcript was treated identically, and we worked our way through all of them for both main themes using the same approach as outlined above. We now had a separate document that contained extracted data in relation to our key themes along with individual analyses of each sub-dataset that would enable us to begin constructing a coherent narrative, and eventually a crafted script, which would represent a dramatic retelling of the story of multi-academisation through the analytical lens of messianic leadership.

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3.5 Scripting Multi-academisation In this section, we do three things. First, we present a selection of verbatim data extracts in order to enhance the trustworthiness of our script-as-analysis, which we present second, following these extracts. In this way, readers will be able to see our workings and to follow how we made the shift from the material we generated with our participants to the script we created out of it. We are not stating that the credibility of our analysis depends on readers’ agreeing with our choices or with the fidelity of script to the source material; rather, we are acknowledging that in this relatively new form of data presentation (for the field of educational leadership), it would be beneficial to ‘walk the reader through’ our methodological process. The data extracts will provide only a sense of the processes, emotions and relationships involved: we do not intend to foreshadow each element of the subsequent script with its prompt in the data. Third, we discuss holistically the themes and issues raised in the script in relation to the wider literature.

3.5.1 Indicative Data Extracts for Scene One We academised and have been an academy since then, but the school that I was leading was an ex-grant maintained, so it had a mindset previously. The reason it had gone grant-maintained was in order to get back into 6th form, so it went grant-maintained in 1998 because the local authority had taken its 6th form away as part of (inaudible), it was a local authority school, so it used the dying days of the Major government to get GM status so it could get back into 6th form. I only learned that once I got there (David). We pushed on with academisation. It strained the relationship with the Local Authority, because the Local Authority didn’t agree with the agenda of academisation (David). The Local Authority ... are doing everything they can to prevent the national policy happening on their doorstep (David). For me, a system leader is more about the local system and we’re trying to create a systems approach that’s very localised (David). Everything we’ve talked about was about a local solution, a local option to support local schools (Ben).

3.5.2 Scene One CHARACTERS. DAVID—the headteacher of Oak Manor who became MAT CEO from 2017. ALAN—Director of Lintshire County Council Local Authority. EXTERIOR GARDENS OF A STATELY HOME—MORNING.

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Two men are walking together along a path in the gardens. The path leads from lawns, through a rose garden to a wooded area. One of the men is shorter, with an expression that alternates between affability and thoughtfulness. He has a beard and is wearing a loincloth, cloak and sandals unselfconsciously. The other, taller man is sterner, has tidy grey hair and is dressed in a suit. The shorter man speaks first. DAVID. Thanks for coming to join us, Alan, on this spiritual retreat. I know it’s not your thing, but I wanted to meet you to give you a heads-up before any rumours reach you in the Local Authority. We are seriously considering creating a multi-academy trust, with me in Oak Manor leading a small number of other local schools. We think that we can create a structure that has localism more convincingly at its heart. We think we can achieve better outcomes for local kids alongside economies of scale. I know that the Local Authority does not support academisation, let alone multi-academisation, so I wanted to be the one to let you know. Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the achievements of the Local Authority. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. ALAN. (Pause). Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised. You’ve got form, after all. You’ve gone from Grant Maintained to academy already; I can see that you think you’re on a path. DAVID. No need to make this personal! Oak Manor went Grant Maintained before I was appointed as its headteacher, and only because the Local Authority had removed the school’s sixth-form provision. GM status was the only way to get it back. ALAN. (somewhat pompously). The approach was strategic and intended to achieve the best outcomes for the majority, whilst providing best value for money. Having sixth forms in school means that fewer subjects are offered, but at greater cost. This is a bigger question than what any individual school wants. You talk about economies of scale—this was the perfect example of the LA working for that! DAVID. (with feeling). Children don’t experience their education in the macro! Schools and their leaders need the opportunity to decide when economy of scale becomes a deciding factor in what they choose to offer or not. You deciding on our behalf in your interest was always the nub of the problem. ALAN.

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Deciding on your behalf is how local democracy works. (pause). So who else is going in with you? DAVID. Ah, now, there’s the thing… that’s … complicated. ALAN. This multi-academisation is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist and is wrong for our children. We will fight you tooth and nail, David. END OF SCENE I.

3.5.3 Indicative Data Extracts for Scene Two David’s been exceptional. (Roger). I like David. I think he’s a really clever, ambitious, switched-on guy. (Paul). I recognise the knowledge and the experience David has. (Ben). Someone might decide that David is a bit of a maverick in the system. (Ben). [David’s] vision and his moral compass come through everything he says. (Nicola). I think, though, having David leading it is really key. (Sarah). To be mentored, coached, steered from somebody like David is an opportunity most people don’t get. (Sarah). Love the concept of distributed leadership because it’s to me reinforcing that counterintuitive notion that leadership is not about a leader, leadership is about distributed, shared ownership etc. But [to self] as I say, actually in reality in your distributed leadership David, all you’ve done is sloughed off the work to others but kept the power and authority. I get that! (David).

3.5.4 Scene Two CHARACTERS. DAVID—the MAT CEO (from 2017) and headteacher of Oak Manor. ALAN—Director of Lintshire County Council Local Authority. LUCY—Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Halsby Junior.

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SARAH—Headship Team member of Skelton High. Originally from Oak Manor. ROGER—Board Member of Tonbury and Swain MAT. BEN—Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Rushton Green Special School. NICOLA—Assistant Headteacher of Skelton High. Arrived as NQT. PAUL—Board Member of Tonbury and Swain MAT. EXTERIOR GARDENS OF A STATELY HOME—AFTERNOON. DAVID is on a small, circular stage erected in the gardens. He is wearing his loincloth, a cloak and a top hat with a bright red flower tucked into the band. On the stage is a table with a large pitcher and several glasses on it. The other people are seated on chairs in a circle around and below him on the lawn. They are his audience. They look at him eagerly, except ALAN, who is scowling. DAVID looks around his audience. The audience, save ALAN, is mesmerised. ALAN sips his glass of water. DAVID (to ALAN). Please! Pass me your water! (ALAN, as if unable to resist, slowly offers up his glass of water, whilst looking all the time at DAVID, who returns his gaze and takes the glass. DAVID takes an exaggerated sniff of the liquid and winks at ALAN.) DAVID (to ALAN, but for the audience’s benefit and amusement). This is water, isn’t it, Alan? ALAN (indignantly). Of course it is! (DAVID holds the glass of water aloft, then turns to the table and takes the pitcher from it. He shows the audience its empty interior.) DAVID (to the audience). Who wants to help me? (LUCY, SARAH and BEN, all raise their hands quickly and wave them frantically. ROGER AND PAUL raise their hands next, purposefully, and lean forwards, staring intently at DAVID. NICOLA looks around her at the others, then nervously raises her hand. ALAN folds his arms.) DAVID (pointing at SARAH). Come up on this stage with me! SARAH. That’s all I’ve ever wanted!

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(SARAH climbs up onto the stage and stands next to DAVID, smiling and excited.) DAVID (boomingly, to SARAH). Pour some of ALAN’s water into this empty pitcher! (SARAH takes the glass of water and pitcher and obliges, smiling. DAVID takes back the half-full glass, leaving the pitcher in SARAH’s hand.) DAVID (to SARAH). Now give it a swirl and tip it out onto the grass below. (SARAH unhesitatingly complies, leaning slightly forward over the front edge of the stage to do so. Water streams from the pitcher to the grass. The audience looks on, ALAN grumpily, the rest expectantly.) DAVID (taking back the pitcher). Now watch! DAVID now tips the rest of the water that he took from ALAN into the pitcher and gives it a dramatic swirl. The audience murmurs appreciatively, save ALAN, who scowls. DAVID holds up the pitcher and starts to tip it. Red wine pours from the pitcher in a thin trickle to the stage floor. The audience cries out and rushes to the stage, clamouring and trying to touch DAVID’s cloak. DAVID stops pouring the wine onto the floor, and instead starts to pour it into the glasses from the table behind him. All the glasses are filled to the brim, despite only half of ALAN’s water having been seen to enter the pitcher. Laughing joyously, NICOLA, SARAH, BEN, ROGER, LUCY and PAUL raise their glasses to DAVID. ROGER. This, this is, you are … exceptional. (DAVID smiles mysteriously and inclines his head in acknowledgement. ALAN tuts and walks away, over the garden towards the house.) END OF SCENE 2.

3.5.5 Indicative Data Extracts for Scene Three We pushed on with academisation. It strained the relationship with the Local Authority, because the Local Authority didn’t agree with the agenda of academisation. And then … when the third school was one of the forced academisations … the Head at that time who I was working with, we had a conversation where he said, at that time policy allowed our stand with its outstanding status to be sponsor and he

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looked at various national academies and we had a conversation about it being sponsored by us and I said ‘yes fine’. I’d have to agree to it because I’d rather all the money stayed in the town, rather than any of your money get sliced off to go and support an HQ elsewhere, let’s keep the money in the town, so if you’ve got to academise, then yeah…so he said to me: ‘you will become my boss and not somebody else’ and I said ‘well if you want to see it like that, but we work collaboratively and it would be a strong peer accountability, but yes technically it will be like that, but we don’t need to operate in that way and I said I don’t see that the money that would get sliced off we’d just keep in his school and wouldn’t necessarily see it coming to ours, so I said if anything that’s just a reason for doing it. Anyway, their governors chose to go with a national chain, the official reason being (it was a sound one) our school had no experience of supporting a failing school, whereas the national chain did, so they would go with them. (David). Now, unfortunately, what happened then, it was really, really annoying, was that the Local Authority were trying to hang on to us for obviously as long as they could and put their foot down and said ‘no, that’s not gonna happen’ and we had another Interim Head. By the time Jean came to take over for us, the staff were in complete disarray, plus, we’d been again, like I say, we’d been prodded and poked by the Local Authority, the Local Authority had not been very helpful to us at all, during the time leading up to our Ofsted and were very quick to wash their hands of us then, milked us for lots of money in the meantime, but then kind of washed their hands of us. Do I sound bitter? (Nicola). I genuinely see it as my duty to serve my community and aware that there are changes in the educational landscape, aware that there are issues around funding, aware that there are issues nationally with the performance of local authorities. All of those factors combined made me really consider our position in the current landscape and what I could do to best safeguard Halsby Junior within that landscape and … then being approached more directly about the formation of a local offer. (Lucy). I think that our secondary colleagues are going to learn a lot from Halsby Junior and I think our secondary colleagues’ practice is going to be enhanced as a result and I think that often people think, I use David’s term as boss, I think often people think the secondaries will boss the juniors, but as we’ve said with the STEM it’s going to be the other way round on that. (Lucy). In some sense where I’ve lost that autonomy, equally I have gained because actually now it’s also learning about, here I am now being given executive responsibility across a multi-academy trust which includes secondaries. (Lucy). Could we really pull off the perception that we were an equal partner to Oak Manor, because what people saw was this really tiny organisation, so I’d go to meetings locally and as far as they were concerned, they were starting to refer to us as the Oak Manor SEN school. (Ben).

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3.5.6 Scene Three CHARACTERS. DAVID—the MAT CEO (from 2017) and headteacher of Oak Manor. WILLIAM—Headteacher of Skelton High, Tonbury. JOHN—Headteacher of Beech Park, Tonbury. SCOTT—CEO of Relentless Vision Academy Chain. LESLEY—Chair of Governors, Beech Park. TWO OFSTED INSPECTORS. ALAN—Director of Lintshire County Council Local Authority. MARK—Interim Headteacher at Skelton High, Tonbury. ELIZABETH—Chair of Governors at Skelton High, Tonbury. BEN—Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Rushton Green Special School. LUCY—Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Halsby Junior. NICOLA—Assistant Headteacher of Skelton High. Arrived as NQT. INTERIOR BALLROOM—EVENING. The room is full of guests who have come for the retreat. They are dressed formally in a manner that, overall, recalls Les Liaisons Dangereuses. This is more in the decor than in the outfits, which are more varied. All are on their feet and about to start the dance. The music begins; it is Handel’s Suite No. 4 in D Minor for harpsichord. The guests start to move to the music, which, stately rather than energetic, inspires movements consisting in sedate approchements and disengagements of groups of two or more. Each dance engagement lasts a minute or two. Our focus throughout is on David, who is wearing his loincloth, cloak and sandals and stays in or near the centre of the stage. The other guests, as usual, appear not to notice his clothing. Throughout the scene, guests representing the diverse stakeholders and potential participants in what was to become the MAT present themselves to David, singly or in groups, and perform their role in the process of multi-academisation through the medium of a courtly dance montage. The first to come together are DAVID, WILLIAM and JOHN. They bow to one another and introduce themselves. DAVID. David Taylor, Headteacher of Oak Manor, Tonbury. WILLIAM. William Brigston, Headteacher of Skelton High, Tonbury.

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JOHN. JOHN Parr, Headteacher of Beech Park, Tonbury. (They join their right hands together and walk clockwise with the music.) DAVID. We each lead one of the three secondaries in the town. We have an opportunity to do something special for our local kids. The Local Authority can’t or won’t help us do that. What do you say to forming a multi-academy trust? It will be a shining city built on a hilltop. WILLIAM and JOHN. (in unison, eagerly). You’ve persuaded us! Of course, you’ll lead! We will follow you wherever you go! (SCOTT and LESLEY dance in from another group and join them. SCOTT is in his early 40 s, slick and gym fit. He is wearing a dark, corporate suit and burgundy tie. LESLEY is mid-50 s. She smiles at SCOTT. They all bow to one another.) SCOTT. Scott Malone, CEO of Relentless Vision Academy Chain. LESLEY. Lesley Thomas, Chair of Governors, Beech Park. (They all start to dance together, slowly.) SCOTT. I hear Beech Park hasn’t done so well in its Ofsted. JOHN. (defensively). It’s just a blip. They didn’t recognise what we’ve achieved! SCOTT. A healthy tree doesn’t produce bad fruit. You’re coming with us! JOHN. David! You lead an Outstanding school: can’t you sponsor us? DAVID. Yes fine. I’d rather all the money stayed in the town, rather than any of your money get sliced off to go and support an HQ elsewhere, so if you’ve got to academise, then yeah.

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JOHN. You will become my boss and not somebody else. DAVID. Well if you want to see it like that, but we would work collaboratively and it would be a strong peer accountability, but yes technically it will be like that, but we don’t need to operate in that way. LESLEY. (to DAVID). What do you know about supporting a failing school? (to SCOTT). Scott, I choose YOU. (SCOTT and LESLEY seize JOHN’s hand and dance-march him off stage. Two OFSTED INSPECTORS join DAVID and WILLIAM. They are identical; both are around seven feet tall, gangly, dressed in black tuxedos, and instead of two eyes and a nose, they have a single, large, piercing and unblinking eye in the centre of their face. They all bow to one another.) OFSTED INSPECTORS. (in unison). Time for inspection! We’ve seen your data: don’t bother trying to change our minds. But feel free to go through the motions. DAVID. Oak Manor is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air can come and shelter in its branches. OFSTED INSPECTORS. (in unison). Outstanding! WILLIAM. Erm, our drama grades have been particularly strong … OFSTED INSPECTORS. (in unison). Requires Improvement! (ALAN dances up to the group and bows.)

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ALAN. Right, we’ll take over Skelton from here. Any last requests, William? (WILLIAM gulps and blanches. Two bouncers approach and drag him off stage. The OFSTED INSPECTORS and ALAN follow, still dancing. Simultaneously, MARK and ELIZABETH enter, dancing, and join DAVID. They all bow and continue the dance together.) MARK. Mark Fellows, Interim Headteacher at Skelton High, Tonbury. ELIZABETH. Elizabeth McQueen, Chair of Governors at Skelton High, Tonbury. This is a moment of great opportunity. I invite you both to present your vision for Skelton and we governors will choose between you. (The music fades. The other dancers in the ballroom continue, oblivious, but DAVID stops in the middle of the stage and turns to face the audience. The lights lower and a spotlight picks him out. DAVID trembles as he speaks. His eyes look upward, and he slowly raises his arms, palms facing the heavens. He is having a vision.) DAVID. (dreamily). Anyone who has ears should listen! I see … something new… exciting… local! We’ll be collaborating, Oak Manor and Skelton, in a way that is different and innovative! Technically, I’ll be at the apex organisationally, but the whole thing will really be co-constructed. Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. ELIZABETH. Clear, you say. Are you talking about a MAT? With you as CEO? How will it work? DAVID. It’s going to be an ongoing collaboration. With me technically in charge from my office in Oak Manor. SKELTON HIGH GOVERNORS Off Stage. Rubbish! MARK. Er, well, if you pick me, I’ll basically carry on what I’ve been doing. ELIZABETH. (listening to her governors, turns to DAVID).

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We love your vision, we love your idea, but we just don’t think we’re ready yet and we’re going to appoint our own Head. (To MARK) Yes, that’s you! I’m sure Skelton High will rise from the ashes with you in charge! (ELIZABETH and MARK exit. The music resumes. BEN and LUCY enter. DAVID and they bow to one another and recommence dancing.) BEN. (excitedly). Ben Richards, Headteacher of Rushton Green Special School, Swain. Listen David, I’ve got to get out of this SEN bubble in Lintshire. You know, the one where all the headteachers get together and talk about SEN issues, but actually, how is that good if you’re just sat in that phase trying to solve problems that go beyond SEN? LUCY. Lucy Catskill, Headteacher of Halsby Junior, Tonbury. Listen David, people might say it’s a cliché, but I genuinely see it as my duty to serve my community and I’m aware that there are changes in the educational landscape, aware that there are issues around funding, aware that there are issues nationally with the performance of local authorities. All of those factors combined make me really consider my position in the current landscape and what I could do to best safeguard Halsby Junior within that landscape. So if you’ve got a formal offer, I’d like to hear it. DAVID. (To Ben, thoughtfully). Well, you’ve been buying our services for a while: why don’t we do something more formal? (To Lucy). We’ve been supporting your IT at Halsby. You already know Ben through the Rushton student you took on as an apprentice. Let’s start talking about multi-academisation. Our MAT will be a shining city on a hill! (ALAN passes close by, dancing with ELIZABETH. As he does so, he calls out to BEN.) ALAN. Nice to see you, Ben! By the way, we’re cutting your pupil numbers from 50 to 42 next year! (BEN is livid. He incorporates an angry hopping motion into the sedate court dance that he is performing with LUCY and DAVID.) BEN and LUCY. (in unison).

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Right, David, you’re on! DAVID. I’ll be executive headteacher, obviously. LUCY. What, just because you’re the secondary? I think that our secondary colleagues are going to learn a lot from Halsby Junior and their practice is going to be enhanced as a result and I think that often people think the secondaries will boss the juniors, but as I’ve said, it’s going to be the other way round! BEN. People need to see that we are equal in this relationship, David. (ALAN and ELIZABETH do another pass en dansant and overhear the conversation.) ALAN. (To Ben). Ha! Oak Manor SEN school! BEN. (angrily). Piss off, Alan! DAVID. Mmm, everyone who asks receives. OK, you can both be executive headteachers, on the MAT’s executive board. I’ll be… chief executive. LUCY. Yes! That makes sense because I’ll have an executive function across the MAT. BEN. Yes! That makes sense because I am your equal, David. DAVID. Now, let’s start to think about opening up a free school… ALAN (off). Over my dead body! (ELIZABETH re-enters with NICOLA and joins DAVID, LUCY and BEN. They start a new dance movement together.) DAVID. So Mark didn’t work out?

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ELIZABETH. We’ve been through another two heads since Mark. NICOLA. This is it. We’re done for. Save us, David! DAVID. If you insist. Indeed, it is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. (The music comes to an end as ALAN re-enters. DAVID, BEN, LUCY, NICOLA and ELIZABETH bow once more to each other. Joining hands, they exit together. ALAN pursues them, repeatedly pinching NICOLA’s arms and making her yelp.) END OF SCENE 3.

3.5.7 Indicative Data Extracts for Scene Four But when you are also dealing with the emotions of the Local Authority. (David) We were there with the Local Authority saying ’look, we’re really struggling here, support us!’ But they weren’t feeling it in the same way. (Ben) What we went and spoke to the Local Authority about on a number of occasions with their hierarchy is that actually where we find ourselves at the moment, you [the LA] don’t have the resources to do what you want to do, we don’t have the resources that we want to do, so what we need to do if we can get the economies of scale right at our end and you get the economies of scale right at your end, where we meet in the middle surely is the optimum for the young people that we’re all trying to benefit and they couldn’t argue with that point, but the reality ended up being very different and they just fought us tooth and nail. (Ben) We were considered a low priority school for Lintshire County Council, they used to come and visit me once a year and that was it, so actually recognising that not only can I safeguard our school, but actually we can contribute to something bigger and we felt that actually our offer would be useful to share, appealing to others and so on. (Lucy) Not only are Halsby Junior the first school in Tonbury to become an academy, I think we are Lintshire’s first infant/junior same-site school, one of them, to have academised, but not with the infant school. (Lucy) We chose to do that [multi-academise] because we felt it was the best thing for our school. The landscape enabled us to be part of something really rather fabulous, to perhaps extend our offer elsewhere in our town. (Lucy) As a consultant, I’ve done over 150 projects with different companies all over the world, so I’ve seen what schools are and are not producing, so it [becoming a Board Member] was just an opportunity to perhaps add some value. (Roger)

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3.5.8 Scene Four CHARACTERS. DAVID—the MAT CEO (from 2017) and headteacher of Oak Manor. ALAN—Chief Executive of Lintshire County Council Local Authority. ROGER—Board member of Tonbury and Swain MAT. LUCY—Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Halsby Junior. BEN—Executive Principal in Tonbury and Swain MAT and of Rushton Green Special School. ON THE TERRACE LEADING OUT TO THE KITCHEN GARDENS. It is twilight, and as dusk falls, drinks are being served on the terrace. People are dressed up in evening wear and are milling around, making small talk whilst the waiting staff serve Pimms in tall glasses. Alan becomes the focal point for the audience, he enters the terrace through the large, open double doors and makes his way to the corner of the terrace. Alan is somewhat reeling from the earlier news and has had a couple of pre-evening cocktails. He takes a glass of Pimms from a passing waitress and as he turns, he is confronted by ROGER and LUCY who had spotted him on arrival and made a beeline. ALAN. (Under his breath but loud enough to be heard by the approaching characters). Oh for God’s sake, here come the bloody apostles. LUCY. Everything alright? You know, after that little bombshell earlier? Bit of a shock for you, was it? ROGER. Ha! Understatement of the year! ALAN. You might be somewhat over-egging that particular pudding, Lucy. It is not as if David and Oak Manor don’t have form on moving in directions which preclude the Local Authority specifically, and local accountability more generally. I take it you have all your ducks in a row in anticipation for a seat at the table with the ‘messiah’? LUCY. What can I say? David approached me. You know it makes sense, Alan. You know the way things are with the general state of LAs at the moment, goodness knows you

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haven’t visited us in over a year! Talk about low priority. It is my duty to serve my community and safeguard the school. And David recognises what we are! ALAN. Which is what? LUCY. (Incredulously). A high-performing school! Which has no intention to sink with LA or be pushed into a national chain that neither knows nor cares about our local community! Come on Alan, where have you been for the last two years?! The writing has been on the wall. Schools like Oak Manor and Halsby Junior will plough our own furrows rather than leave anything up to chance or fate where the LA is concerned! At some point you have to acknowledge that ambitious leaders need more than just firefighting, Alan. ALAN. It’s interesting to me that that’s how you would describe the work that Lintshire does in maintaining and supporting over 500 schools, Lucy. LUCY. We are opting out Alan, as is our prerogative. To pastures new! ALAN. (Becoming quite loud). I understand, but I am not obliged to remain silent in the face of such decisions— especially when they have been made behind closed doors with pre-conceived agendas! ROGER. Don’t be ridiculous, Alan, you know that they are under no obligation to consult with you about decisions affecting the future of the school. They have surveyed the market, put their finger in the air, sensed which way the wind is blowing, and made a bloody sensible decision if you ask me. ALAN. The bloody market! Listen to yourself. This isn’t one of your business ventures, Roger! These aren’t consumers! ROGER. As a consultant, I’ve done over 150 projects with different companies all over the world, so I’ve seen what schools are and are not producing, Alan. ALAN. I don’t know if you have noticed Roger, but schools are not units to be shifted.

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ROGER. When are you going to wake up, Alan? This is about innovating, leading the field, making a difference! LUCY. I agree, why would this not be a good thing, Alan? ALAN. Well for a start because you are about to strip the LA of an asset that has belonged to the local community for a lot longer than any of us have been around! And to do so behind closed doors! All you need is a man in a loincloth who knows how to talk the talk and you are all chomping at the bit to throw local democracy under the bus in pursuit of some imagined utopia! Get real. Lucy, you are about to sign over your queendom to the King of Kings! You are deluded if you think you will have the same control as you have now. LUCY. I’ll have more, Alan; I will be anointed as an Executive Member, no less! And added to that to be part of, not just be a part of but to LEAD on something, something that really is rather fabulous! ALAN. (under breath). One of the chosen ones. LUCY. (in full flow). We all have a role to play in this exciting venture, although of course it’s all part of David’s vision, I am sure! To bring in the strongest to develop something remarkable to help the weakest. Thou shalt love thy neighbour and all that! ALAN. HA! That’s rich coming from you; does Halsby Infants School ring any bells, Lucy? And you preach of loving thy neighbour! You are the only infant/junior school split site where one has academised without the other! LUCY. (Curtly). I don’t see why that is relevant, Alan. ALAN. (raising voice, causing some heads to turn towards the trio).

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There’s very little that isn’t relevant, Lucy. You are all very good at talking up the narrative! How you are saviours rescuing the poor little children of Tonbury and Swain and it’s only through stripping these communities of their shared and historical assets can you possibly provide anything resembling a decent education! Baloney! Fundamentally this is a story of abandoning the collective principle! A complete rejection of education for the public good! LUCY. For goodness’ sake, Alan, don’t be so hysterical. ROGER. I really think it would make this less painful for everyone Alan if you could just see this in more transactional terms! ENTER BEN. ALAN. Funnily enough, I don’t see this in transactional terms, Roger. I see it as a community resource that is being somewhat hijacked! BEN. If we are going to talk about hijacking agendas, Alan, it might be worth remembering the way in which the LA behaved towards Rushton Green. Trying to hold us over a barrel over numbers. ALAN. Christ. ENTER DAVID. All turn to David as he glides across the terrace, drink in hand. DAVID. Hello! (BEN, LUCY and ROGER all smile and cry greetings in return. ALAN remains surly.) LUCY. We were JUST talking about how excited we all are by our new future. ALAN. Were we? Must have missed that. DAVID. In truth I tell you, in no one in Lintshire have I found faith as great as this. Oh ALAN, it might be time to accept the inevitable. The deals are done! Everyone has a seat

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at this table and we will make a great local offer for the local kids of Tonbury and Swain! Maybe a model for others to follow! Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. (BEN and LUCY murmur agreeably). ALAN. I am not even sure what I am doing here anymore. BEN. Yes, I don’t think we have much more need for the LA! Maybe you will learn a thing or two from our MAT? About strategy. About being a maverick! ALAN. I don’t think setting up a school structure that reflects the desired government policy and direction is a great example of how to be a maverick, Ben. BEN. Well, it’s the first homegrown MAT in the county! ALAN. Listen to yourself! What does that even mean? I need to get out of here. It’s suffocating being around all these deities of destiny. I don’t know what you thought the fate of these poor children of Tonbury and Swain would be without your ‘homegrown’ non-democratically elected or accountable MAT would be! I need another bloody drink. (ALAN storms off. DAVID looks serenely on and the others smile happily.) END OF SCENE 4.

3.6 What Does Scripting Multi-academisation Illuminate? Rendering our data as scripted drama following a Brechtian aesthetic has enabled us to make explicit what was implicit; to materialise the symbolic; to reinstate the relational; to point out the areas of contestation and to reveal the role of faith in bringing about the messy project of multi-academisation. In this section, we describe the ways in which we have achieved this. We have been inspired by Brecht’s approach to dramatisation, including most obviously its assumption of responsibility for illuminating social and political issues, which it achieves through encouraging ‘complex seeing’ (Brecht and Willet 1964, p. 79) in the audience through rejecting realism and creating dissonance and interruptions—the Verfremdungseffekt (estrangement effect); see Frimberger (2016).

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We operationalised this Brechtian spirit through creating fantastical scenes in which magic happens; through presenting David’s charismatic, messianic leadership by depicting him explicitly as Jesus-like; through compressing time, space and the process of multi-academisation and rendering them through a ballroom dance scene; and through including particular characters—Ofsted inspectors—as de-humanised and comically sinister. Our primary reason for undertaking this approach is that it aligns with and operationalises our epistemological location and approach as critical scholars, whose focus is on revealing and explaining the power structures and relations in play through education arrangements. Explanatory work in the critical field has tended to draw on theory and theorising (e.g., Courtney et al., 2018; Heffernan, 2018; Niesche, 2014). We see a Brechtian-inspired aesthetic as potentially speaking to the same problems of meaning and power, yet to do so in a way that fulfils theatre’s remit to entertain. This is new in the field of educational leadership. The data revealed high emotions, occasional missteps, and tensions within an overarching narrative arc of successful multi-academisation. The act of dramatising enabled us to put these reports back into the story as the moments of drama that they undoubtedly were to the protagonists at the time. We created the character Alan to represent the Director of the Local Authority, who is invoked by nearly all the research participants at one time or another. Interviews create absent presences, whom in this instance we were able to make substantively present, thanks to our presentational approach. This decision enables much of the drama, particularly since, importantly, if Alan were susceptible to David’s charismatic, messianic leadership, it is not evident in the processual outcomes, and so his role is vital in manifesting the reported challenges and tensions. We included two fantastical scenes, two and three, to unsettle the audience and encourage a different response to the scripted drama, following Brecht’s V-effect. Scene two interrupts the unfolding narrative through a miraculous interlude that is dressed down as common-or-garden magic. This sets up David as a miracle worker, but unassumingly so. It also establishes the relationship he has with his followers, who are delighted by him. Such delight would otherwise be difficult to depict, since the events and interactions constituting multi-academisation were so understandably messy. Scene three is set in a ballroom, where multi-academisation is rendered as a dance. Dramatically, this provided an opportunity to depict the sometimes-fleeting appearances (in the interview data) of key moments and actors. Stylistically, we judged that it would not be possible to convey the myriad emotions in such a compressed scene that would have accompanied the events presented, ranging from Ofsted inspections to humiliations by peers, and so we took inspiration once again from Brecht (Brecht and Willet 1964), who gives permission for power to be problematised through upending solemnity. The tone is therefore satirical; this is reinforced through including comically monstrous Ofsted inspectors. Our decision to depict David explicitly as Jesus-like requires particular justification. Our intentions were to reinvigorate and provide enhanced empirical depth to the concept of messianic leadership. Reinvigoration is required because although

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messianic leadership is implicit in much of the literature on transformational leadership, with its focus on idealised influence and inspirational motivation, it is rarely explicit beyond one or two early analogies, e.g., ‘transforming leaders convert followers to disciples’ (Bass, 1995, p. 467). This absence is particularly clear in the field of education; Scott (1980), for instance, is typical in invoking, but not seeking to add conceptual heft to the concept of messianic leadership. We turn therefore to the field of organisation studies, where we agree with Western (2013) in his broad delineation of the features of, and context for, messiah leadership: Strong cultures were required in which employees could feel they were part of a progressive vision, part of a community, and because they shared the values and vision of the leader they would work long hours and bring their whole selves to work. Motivation and control came from within individuals and from peers who shared norms set by the culture of the company [sic]. To establish these strong and seductive cultures, charismatic leaders were required who could set out visions and values persuasively, gaining loyalty and commitment from employees (Western, 2013, p. 218).

Western locates his construction of messianic leadership in the Bible to draw attention not only to the fundamental role of vision, but of followers in messianic leadership: Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29: 18)

As Western notes, this latter element is vital: followers must actively and thinkingly engage in order to be happy and for the organisation to succeed. This is undoubtedly the case with David’s followers, who, as our data extracts reveal, are devout in their belief, which is in him rather than in the vision he expounds, which, centred rather vaguely on localism, does not bear much scrutiny in its claims to be distinguishable from, or better than the Local Authority’s offer. There are schools more local to Bay Manor than Rushton Green, for example, that are not in the MAT, and so a strict geographical application of the concept is meaningless. The unworkability of the vision is made explicit by one of the Board Members: I challenge the concept of local, because local … does not mean local to everybody … Is it community or is it location? And I think the trustees are favourable in understanding that it is community but are thwarted by faculty who think it’s location. So, a learning is having not established that very clearly from the very beginning, not having a goal and strategy that complements the goal, it’s setting us back, it’s delaying things. (Roger)

Two propositions arise from this that are central to our argument and approach. First, the fact that this lack of clarity does not prevent multi-academisation indicates that the followers’ faith is in the charismatic, magic-working David himself. The vision is at best secondary. Second, the mechanics of followership are best explained by the sort of active, intellectually engaged faith that underpins messianic leadership, because despite the harmonious organisational outcome, i.e., happy multi-academisation, followers have to do cognitive work to get to that state. Roger signs up cheerily, despite his misgivings. Lucy and Ben accept David as a new hierarchical superior,

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where before they were at the organisational apex. This speaks to Weberian charismatic authority, which is legitimated by followers’ duty ‘to recognize its quality and to act accordingly. Psychologically this “recognition” is a matter of complete personal devotion to the possessor of the quality’ (Weber, 1947/2012, p. 359). Our data support Western’s argument that the key feature of messianic leadership is control. Steve: Who came up with that structure? David: I did. It’s emerged. I know that sounded big-headed, controlling. It’s emerged in trying to make sense of how this board structure is forced upon us… And I think that’s the best way of trying to get that collective responsibility, that shared ownership, etc. Steve: So if it’s about shared ownership, why didn’t you delegate power to the local governing committees? David: Because this, it’s not big enough to need to do that. It’s just a matter of scale.

This can be seen in the homogeneity of view amongst the senior leadership team, some of whom co-lead one of the MAT’s constituent academies, Skelton High, in a Headship Team. Ruth: Having David not there full-time but some of the time, is that better than what’s happened before? Nicola: Well, because, it’s kind of irrelevant to a certain degree because we’ve got the Headship Team and it’s been really...when David’s met with the staff and put forward his vision, he’s said categorically, you talk to one of these guys and it’s the same as talking to me … from my perspective, when I’m at Skelton High, I know I can always go to the Headship Office, so it might not be technically a Head Teacher body person, but there will be a member of the Headship Team and it doesn’t matter who it is.

As disciples, it is their role not just to take forward the message, or Word, but to stand for him in his absence in a way that exceeds deputisation. Thinking and writing with messianic leadership in this way enables us to explore and articulate the mixture of follower faith, with all its tensions, alongside leader humility and confidence that was evident in the interview accounts. We undertook to do this through using biblical quotations as well as through the characterisation: it is a welcome indicator that our approach is appropriate that these extracts fitted easily into the dialogue, corresponding to things that David was saying in any case.

3.7 Concluding Remarks: On the Ethics of Dramatic Presentation In this chapter, we have brought to the field of educational leadership an innovative contribution to an emergent approach to presenting data, that is, through scripted drama. This has been undertaken by Mifsud (2016, 2017) and has a genealogy in the wider education field (e.g., Eisner, 1979; Frimberger, 2016; Harvey, 2018). We have

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drawn on a Brechtian-inspired aesthetic to tell a story of multi-academisation and the role of messianic leadership in operationalising it, and simultaneously to draw the audience’s attention to the power relations in play. We have been explicit throughout about the benefits of this approach, but we want here to acknowledge and, where possible, counter two of the main challenges involved. First, we have produced an account of multi-academisation that owes more to our than to our participants’ interpretation; indeed, we have had them, as characters, say things that they did not in the interviews. On what grounds do we, therefore, claim that this presentation is ethical? Our response to this is grounded in our understanding of the social world as largely a co-construction of its actors (but see below); in research, that includes the researchers. We reject the pseudo-objectivity that underplays or renders invisible the role of the researcher in much educational-leadership research, particularly that which is functionalist (e.g., Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005). Our research participants have no greater claim over the reality that we are trying to present than we do. Nonetheless, we never have participants say something that was oppositional to their views or values or contraindicated by something that they had said. Second, we have chosen a satirical tone to much of the play: how do we, therefore, avoid the question posed by Donmoyer and Yennie-Donmoyer (1995, p. 404): ‘how do we capture human experience without distorting and trivializing it?’ We see this as an extension of the first question, and so our response is that we are not attempting primarily to capture human experience, but the process of multi-academisation that, following our critical-realist approach, we see as structuring. However, we acknowledge that we have named our characters using the pseudonyms we have attached to them throughout the project; they are not composite, or specifically created to articulate a point generally made across the data. In that sense, they are recognisable (but only to the participants themselves). We have consequently sought to minimise this impression through our Brechtian approach, through depicting the fantastical and impossible within a context of the conceivable, at the character level. We cannot claim to have solved these ethical dilemmas, only responded to them, yet we see many possibilities for this approach for the field of educational leadership. We call for more and more varied use of it as a method, not just for data presentation but also for the generation. In this way, the field will be obliged to re-think its relationship with leadership, which is, after all, a reified abstraction. As such, leadership is no better suited to articulation as numbers or themes than as drama or art. Unshackled from canonical norms concerning data presentation, what innovations and new conceptualisations the field might produce!

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Frimberger, K. (2016). A Brechtian theatre pedagogy for intercultural education research. Language and Intercultural Communication, 16(2), 130–147. GovernEd. (2021). Training and leadership development for academy trustees. London: GovernEd. Available at: https://govern-ed.co.uk/academy-trustees. Accessed 9 June 2021. Grace, G. (1995). School leadership: Beyond education management: An essay in policy scholarship. Routledge. Gunter, H. M. (2004). Labels and labelling in the field of educational leadership. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 25(1), 21–41. Gunter, H. M. (2016). An intellectual history of school leadership practice and research. Bloomsbury. Gunter, H. M., Hall, D., & Bragg, J. (2013). Distributed leadership: A study in knowledge production. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 41(5), 555–580. Harris, A. (2013). Distributed leadership: Friend or foe? Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 41(5), 545–554. Harvey, L. (2018). Adapting intercultural research for performance: Enacting hospitality in interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 17(4), 371–387. Heffernan, A. (2018). The principal and school improvement: Theorising discourse, policy and practice. Springer. Hick J. (1988). Faith as knowledge. In: Faith and Knowledge. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Hughes, B. C. (2020). Investigating the CEO of a MAT: Examining practices and positions on “the street.” Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 48(3), 478–495. Hughes, B. C., Courtney, S. J., & Gunter, H. M. (2020). Researching professional biographies of educational professionals in new dark times. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68(3), 275–293. Kleinau, M., & McHughes, J. (1980). Theaters for literature: A practical aesthetics for group interpretation. Alfred Publishing Company. Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (2005). A review of transformational school leadership research 1996– 2005. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 4(3), 177–199. MacLeod, J. (1987). The arts and education. Keynote address at an invitational seminar cosponsored by the Fine Arts Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association and The University of Alberta, Faculty of Education, Edmonton, AB. Mifsud, D. (2016). Data representation with a dramatic difference: negotiating the methodological tensions and contradictions in qualitative enquiry. Confessions of a budding playwright … International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(7), 863–881. Mifsud, D. (2017). Foucault and school leadership research: Bridging theory and method. Bloomsbury. Niesche, R. (2014). Deconstructing educational leadership: Derrida and Lyotard. Routledge. Norris, J. (2016). Drama as research: Realizing the potential of drama in education as a research methodology. Youth theatre journal, 30(2), 122–135. McGinity, R., & Gunter, H. M. (2017). New practices and old hierarchies: Academy conversion in a successful English secondary school. In P. Thomson (Ed.), Educational leadership and Pierre Bourdieu (pp. 98–111). Routledge. Polkinghorne, D. E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23. Pont, B., Nusche, D., & Hopkins, D. (2008). Improving school leadership. Volume 2: Case studies on system leadership (Vol. 2). Paris: OECD. Rayner, S. M., Courtney, S. J., & Gunter, H. M. (2018). Theorising systemic change: Learning from the academisation project in England. Journal of Education Policy, 33(1), 143–162. Rayner, S. M., & Gunter, H. M. (2020). Resistance, professional agency and the reform of education in England. London Review of Education, 18(2), 265–280. Scott, H. J. (1980). The black school superintendent: Messiah or scapegoat? Howard University Press.

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Weber, M. (1947/2012). The theory of social and economic organization. Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing. Western, S. (2013). Leadership: A critical text (2nd ed.). SAGE. Wilkins, A. (2017). Rescaling the local: Multi-academy trusts, private monopoly and statecraft in England. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 49(2), 171–185. Wood, M., & Flinders, M. (2014). Rethinking depoliticisation: Beyond the governmental. Policy & Politics, 42(2), 151–170.

Steven J. Courtney is a critical sociologist of educational leadership. He is currently Research Coordinator at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Education and spent four years leading its MA in Educational Leadership. His research focuses on the interplay between agency, identity, structure and power. His recent research projects have explored issues including leadership in a multi-academy trust, privatisation in education in Europe and in the Caribbean, and the policy enactment of internationalisation by educational leaders in Higher Education. Steven spent the first part of his professional career teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) in Paris before moving into the secondary state sector as a French and Spanish teacher in inner-London comprehensives. Following almost a decade in leadership positions, he moved to Manchester to complete an MA in Educational Leadership and School Improvement and then was awarded ESRC funding to undertake his Ph.D., before taking up a lectureship there. He is currently an editor of the journal Critical Studies in Education and an elected Council member of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society. Steven’s publications include the edited textbook ‘Understanding Educational Leadership: Critical Perspectives and Approaches’, for which he was lead editor. His articles and book chapters have focused on many aspects of educational leadership, including charisma, messianic leadership, performativity, corporatisation and system leadership. Ruth McGinity is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the Institute of Education, UCL, UK. Ruth is Academic Head of Learning and Teaching for the Department of Learning and Leadership and contributes to a number of post-graduate taught programmes within and across the department. Ruth’s research is organised around three main themes and seeks to critically investigate new models and structures of schooling, theorise professional identities and practices, and explore knowledge production within and for the field of educational leadership. Ruth is acting as a Co-I on a Nuffield-funded project ‘The competitive effects of free schools in England on student outcomes in neighbouring schools’ due to complete in 2023. This project will develop a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of free schools on student outcomes in neighbouring schools. Importantly, it will analyse the mechanisms through which potential free-school effects are manifested, by examining whether free schools compete well in terms of quality, whether parental preferences for local schools change when a free school opens and whether existing schools respond by changing practices. This will create new knowledge on the interactions between choice and competition and their relationship with improvement. Ruth is an elected Council member of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society and an Associate Editor of its flagship journal, Educational Management, Administration & Leadership.

Chapter 4

(Mis)Leading for Social (in)justice and (in)equity…(Un)Following a Script? Denise Mifsud

Abstract Educators have had good reason to be concerned with social justice in a context where diversity has become more pronounced in both our schools and communities, with widening divisions between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. Locally, the issues of social justice and equity in education are being addressed via curricular and policy-oriented reform, within a society welcoming an everincreasing influx of migrants and a local economic reality with identified skills shortages. It is within such a de-stabilized socio-economic reality created by the arrival of migrants that this chapter seeks to explore how issues of social justice and equity are addressed through a juxtaposition of policy and practice via leadership performances within two primary schools, with a specific reference to migrant learners and students from poor social backgrounds. My particular leadership narrative is presented in a semi-fictionalized narrative dramatization made up of various characters in which I employ the ‘triple’ use of narrative (Mifsud 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). The three scenes of ‘The Script’ enable me to draw out the absurdities, inconsistencies, and inherent contradictions where (dys)functional leadership is not necessarily unfolding as set out in the policy documents that purport social justice and equity. The findings of this small-scale case study have implications for other national systems, particularly those that are concerned with addressing issues of social justice and equity via schooling. Keywords Creative analytic practices · Education policy · Equity · Foucault · Inclusive leadership · Leadership for social justice · Migrant learners · Narrative

4.1 Introduction Similar to several western countries around the world, Malta’s albeit small but relatively growing half a million multicultural population, and unparalleled levels of

D. Mifsud (B) University of Bath, Bath, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_4

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social, cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity have resulted in increasing discussions around the need for schools to both ‘embrace’ student diversity and ‘manage’ resulting lack of equity issues, in order to serve the common good under the guise of cultural integration and social justice. Few would therefore contest that school leadership has a central role in addressing issues of cultural diversity and equity, with education regarded as a direct social justice contributor both in the provision of equal life opportunities and in imparting students with the responsibility for the perpetration of such opportunities (Waite & Arar, 2020). Consequently, educators have had good reason to be apprehensive about social justice in a context where diversity has become more pronounced in both our schools and communities, with widening divisions between the advantaged and the disadvantaged (Ryan, 2006). Recently, the concept of social justice leadership has emerged within the literature and policy discourse to describe the work of school leaders seeking to enhance the educational experience of all learners (Torrance & Forde, 2017a), in a bid to reduce inequalities in education systems (King & Travers, 2017). In such a context, educational leaders are regarded as vital social justice agents, with the headteacher playing a significant role in shaping the conditions for learning at the micro level (Forde & Torrance, 2017), exerting influence both across the school as an organization, and at the individual classroom and teacher level (Torrance & Forde, 2017b). ‘How socially just leaders make sense of their leadership overall is an essential part of being a socially just leader’ (McNae, 2017, p. 268, added emphasis). This is unfolding within a scenario where comparative studies of the performance of educational systems, such as PISA, TIMMS, and PIRLS, dominate the policy imagination globally, which assessment regimes have led to increased pressure on school systems and subsequently school leaders to implement practices that support greater equity outcomes within the current educational climate of increased accountability frameworks. Niesche and Keddie (2011) identify three productive leadership practices that work ‘towards realizing the equity mandates of education policy and disrupting the narrow managerial approaches to equity that currently predominate in schools’ (p. 75). These involve fostering a common vision and purpose about equity; supportive social relations between staff; and dispersed leadership (with a distinction from ‘distributed’ leadership). This also implies the importance of context for and on social justice leadership (Torrance & Angelle, 2019). Locally, the issues of social justice and equity in education are being addressed via curricular and policy-oriented reform, within a society welcoming an ever-increasing influx of migrants and a local economic reality with identified skills shortages. It is within such a de-stabilized socio-economic reality created by the arrival of migrants (which is a somewhat novel unprecedented scenario for the Maltese islands) that this chapter seeks to explore how issues of social justice and equity are addressed through a juxtaposition of policy and practice via leadership behaviours and performances within various primary schools, with a specific reference to migrant learners and students from poor social backgrounds. The inspiration to take forward a very

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small-scale research project (Mifsud, 2021)1 emanated from my unenviable ‘leadership’ position as Head of College Network at the triage of theory, policy, and practice (as explained in more detail in Chap. 1) as I observed leadership performances, policy perceptions, and subsequent enactments by the headteachers as THE appointed social justice agents in schools. What I present in the coming sections emerges from my distinct experiences (in the past four and a half years) at the leadership helm of thirteen primary and secondary schools on an island of around 35,000 inhabitants, where up to a couple of years ago, the only ‘non-Maltese’ students were the offspring of returned migrants from Australia, Canada, and the United States, as well as ex-pats who opted to move to the island due to our long history as a British colony. It comes as no surprise that this influx of multicultural students within a school population composed of a vast majority of locals is a very recent phenomenon that took headteachers by storm. With foreign students being viewed (and subsequently them and their guardians treated) as the ‘Other’, I thus struggled to lead these headteachers (the majority of whom sported a blinkered and parochial island mentality) into embracing discourses of equity and social justice, while enacting them in their leadership practices with the various stakeholders. My academic being comes to the fore as a critical educational leadership scholar (and practitioner) in problematizing and critiquing school leadership practices I have encountered in email exchanges, telephone conversations, interviews (formal and informal), blogs, autoethnographic accounts, as they provided ‘fodder’ for my reflexive moments when they jarred with the critical framework I constructed out of policy documents, post-structural/postmodern theory, and relevant literature. These various data sources provide the fictionalizing devices that I use to craft a semi-fictionalized narrative dramatization made up of semi-fictional characters, ‘The Script’, that is a presentation of my particular leadership narrative through the use of creative analytic practices, further interpreted via a Foucauldian theoretical framework. I therefore use this play in order to draw out the absurdities, inconsistencies, and inherent contradictions where (dys)functional leadership is not necessarily unfolding as set out in the policy documents that declare social justice and equity. I utilize my leadership experiences and identities inextricably interwoven within theory, policy, and practice as I seek to transgress and to unsettle social justice leadership discourses currently positioning local school leaders, through which they simultaneously re-position themselves as social justice leadership actors and the stakeholders under their responsibility. According to Dean (1999), ‘the point of a critical ontology of ourselves and our present is to make us clear on these risks and dangers, these benefits and opportunities, so that we might take or decline to take action’ (p. 14). This upturning of discourses and critical reflexivity is possible thanks to my encounter with Foucault, for as Ball (2013) confesses: ‘Reading Foucault has made me question what I do as a scholar and social critic, and ethically who I am and 1

This small-scale study explores how issues of social justice and equity are addressed at both policy and practitioner level via interviews with two Heads of School with an ethnically diverse student population, thus providing a narrative of leadership for social justice, while allowing for a critique of how policies are being perceived and enacted in practice.

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what I might become. I have had to confront not the ways in which I am determined but rather the ways in which I might be revocable’ (p. 3).

4.2 Setting Social Justice and Equity Within the Local Education Policy Landscape Malta benefited from British rule for almost two centuries—it gained independence in 1964, became a Republic in 1974, and consequently joined the European Union in 2004—it therefore goes without saying that national education provision in our islands closely follows the British model (Sultana, 1997). The political change that took place in 1964, when Malta acquired independence from British rule, triggered a number of revolutionary reforms that the Maltese education sector has been experiencing ever since. The main educational milestones since independence are the provision of secondary education for all in 1970; increasing the school leaving age from 14 to 16 in 1974; the 1988 Education Act that established the provision of state compulsory education for all Maltese citizens; the recognition of the professional status of teachers, the setting up of School Councils, and the creation of the first National Minimum Curriculum in 1989, among other initiatives. Notwithstanding, these last two decades have been extremely significant for the Maltese educational scenario due to several major measures and restructurings that have been implemented. These underline attempts to augment the country’s intellectual capital and provide improved quality education with the aim of enabling all Maltese children to succeed. The common thread running through these reforms is the widening of access to education, thus being in line with the politics of social justice. The Maltese educational system has been undergoing a structured, gradual but steady change in terms of decentralization and increased school autonomy, with the main aim being that of renewal—modernizing it in line with global policy development. This modernization was initiated by the publication of Tomorrow’s schools: Developing effective learning cultures (Wain et al., 1995)—this document indicated a starting point for an examination of current policies and practices in light of the demands made by a fast-changing world. This document paved the way for a revised National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) published in 1999, establishing compulsory schooling as the start of a lifelong process of education. This initiation of the decentralization process in the Maltese educational system was meant to provide schools with more flexibility and power in order to be in a better position to cater for the needs of their students through an enhanced teaching and learning process. All these changes paved the way for the basic principles underpinning For all children to succeed (Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment, 2005)—the policy document that brought about the introduction of state school networks according to their geographical location.

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This structural reform led to further reform aspects, being closely followed by an amendment to the Education Act (House of Representatives 2006) and the agreement between the Government of Malta and the Malta Union of Teachers (July 2007), paving the way for the setting up of ten colleges. Furthermore, as a result of the college reform, in November 2008, the Ministry of Education published a policy document about the transition of students from primary to secondary schools under the college system, Transition from primary to secondary schools in Malta (Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment 2008). This proposed mixed-ability classes throughout the primary school years, eliminating the hitherto streamed primary classes in the final two years, followed by the phasing out of the 11 + examination—thus enabling a smoother flow from one level of education to another. An agreement on the synchronization of church compulsory schooling with state provision in 2009 led to the abolition of the 11 + examination two years later, thus providing a more level playing field and increasing student heterogeneity in all schools. Consequently, the new end-of-primary benchmark was launched. A review of the NMC, initiated in 2009 led to the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) that was translated into law in 2012—a framework that replaced discriminatory educational arrangements with comprehensive ones in a bid to promote progress for all learners. This is the first curriculum framework to be adopted since Malta joined the EU in 2004, with its proposal for universal education entitlement espousing six general principles, and built around eight learning areas, inspired by the EU eight Key Competences Framework. This NCF addresses the gaps in our learning processes that over the years have led to absenteeism, to significant rates of early school-leavers, and to low skills and competences for a proportion of students. It is intended to lead to an increased participation rate in post-secondary and tertiary education and attract more students to lifelong learning, encouraging them to embark on further and higher education streams. One of the aims of the NCF is the introduction of additional equity and decentralization in the national system, particularly through its proposed Learning Outcomes Framework (LOF). This LOF, with its gradual implementation commencing in the scholastic year 2018/2019 is intended to lead to more curricular autonomy of colleges and schools by addressing individual learning needs through the freedom from centrally imposed knowledge-centric syllabi. Another recent landmark in compulsory education has been the launch of a Framework for the Education Strategy for Malta 2014–2024, based on the four values of equity, social justice, inclusivity, and diversity, in order to provide generations with skills and talents for employability and citizenship in the twenty-first century, thus aiming to reduce the gaps in education outcomes, reduce the high incidence of early school-leavers, and increase participation in lifelong learning. The Framework for the Education Strategy for Malta (2014–2024) document confirms that the Education Ministry positions itself at the forefront to provide present and future generations with the necessary skills and talents for employability and citizenship in the twenty-first century. This framework has been further complimented by the launch of MyJourney (Ministry for Education & Employment, 2016), a major reform in the secondary school system to be available from 2019/2020 which will see the educational sector move from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ system to a more inclusive and equal programme

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through the choice of academic, vocational, or applied subjects that will have equal parity of esteem at MQF (Malta Qualification Framework) Level 3, irrespective of the route taken. Education for all: Special needs and inclusive education in Malta (European Agency for Special Needs & Inclusive Education, 2014) is a report commissioned by the Minister for Education and Employment that examines special needs education provision in Malta. The main findings reveal an education system that reinforces an integrative approach for some learners, rather than an inclusive one for all; school level practices that do not foster inclusion; in addition to a lack of equity and full participation for all. This audit identified several priority steps in order for inclusion to be taken up as a whole-school approach among which are creating clarity around the concept of inclusion; re-focusing support to colleges and schools; establishing a national education training body; supporting all schools in teaching for diversity as well as the use of evidence-based teaching and learning; in addition to promoting selfreview at all levels of the system. These suggestions are being implemented gradually across the education system. This led to the drafting and eventual launch of A Policy on Inclusive Education in Schools and A National Inclusive Education Framework (Ministry for Education and Employment 2019), that embrace the concept, values, and principles of inclusive education into the realm of responding positively to all learners’ diversity. These aim to bring together all the stakeholders in order to create a school environment conducive to learning, thereby giving all learners the education they are entitled to. In the meantime, other realities have been unfolding gradually alongside the major reforms happening in the education policyscape. One such recent reform is the introduction of co-education. Although this has been a common practice across the state, church, and independent sectors at primary level and in the latter sector at secondary level, it was introduced in state secondary schools in 2013 as an ongoing pilot project. Mid-year examinations in state schools were replaced by continuous formative assessment. Other novelties that were introduced in order to bring about the projected provision of an equitable quality education are the introduction of vocational education and training (VET) subjects at secondary level (which are set to increase considerably through MyJourney) and a specific focus on e-learning, among others. Due to unprecedented developments within the country’s economy thus leading to a new social and cultural reality, teachers have to operate within a globalized environment with an ever-increasing influx of migrants and a local economic reality with identified skills shortages. To partly address this situation and thus improve the integration of migrant children, a Third Country National CoOrdinator was appointed to advise schools in 2013, with the setting up of the Migrant Learners’ Unit at a later date. New challenges, previously non-existent, have been brought about by this situation in terms of language issues, religious beliefs, and the differing expectations of parents. Overall, Malta occupies a joint 15th place on the EU Social Justice Index. However, when it comes to equitable education, Malta features at the bottom of the EU standings in the area of equitable education (EU Social Index 2017). Consequently, the European Commission has once again called on Malta to strengthen

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access to education in its 2019 country-specific recommendations. This therefore points to a very serious achievement gap that is evident in erratic instruction quality, large numbers of under-achievers, school-level variance in achievement, comparatively low participation rates at post-secondary level, gender disparities in achievement, curricular experiences which are not designed to enhance equity in access to education, restricted access to day-care provision, and investment in early childhood provision below EU average. Borg (2019) argues that, The realities of the Maltese education system challenge the narrative of equal opportunities for all, reflected in the provision of free universal education from kindergarten to university. In fact, such a system structurally and organizationally has served middle-class students much more than their working-class counterparts. For far too long, this education system has appeared meritocratic while being savagely selective beyond meritocracy (p. 3).

Malta has kept step with EU countries in practically all EU education benchmarks. Additionally, in recent years, Malta has participated for the first time in the TIMSS, PIRLS, and PISA international studies. These confirmed that whilst our top achievers compare well with those of other countries, we have an unacceptably high level of low achievers. The EU2020 target is to have less than 15% of the student population classified as ‘low achievers’. Borg (2019) further argues that for the past two decades, the official narrative of the educational scene has been defined by a series of official documents based on a discourse promoting diversity, inclusion, and entitlement, thus leaning towards a more child-centred and needs-oriented educational system. Notwithstanding, the ideological terrain remained largely rooted in the politics of segregation. What was happening at a very fast pace in terms of educational reform was not a revolution from below but a passive revolution, prescribed by progressive individuals, who somehow infiltrated corridors of power, came close to the zones of decision-making, occupied the right spaces, and from their strategic position managed to influence policy (p. 5, original emphasis).

4.3 Methodological Props: The Fictional Representation of My Educational Leadership Narrative I will now present a brief explanation of my attempt to contribute to leadership theory, practice, and policy through my engagement with theoretical and methodological innovation within a messy qualitative research milieu where I grapple with my own personal ‘crisis of representation’ following my ‘moment of epiphany’ (Refer to Mifsud, 2016, 2017 for more details). Narrative analysis of the empirical data coming from various sources, mainly emails, telephone conversations, interviews, blogs, autoethnographic accounts, and policy documents, not all of which were generated for this chapter, but on the other hand I had amassed, unknowingly, and gave me ‘the’ idea to write about this novel, often uncontested educational leadership issue, provided me with the opportunity to present my leadership for social justice narrative via a semi-fictionalized narrative dramatization. The ‘positioning of self in relation to the other’ (Watson, 2012,

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p. 460) emerges in narratives as ‘we narratively construct the other and through this construction we establish claims for our own identities’ (ibid 2012, p. 471). My approach to narrative analysis embraces and admits positionality and subjectivity, where I am ‘both narrator and analyst’ (Riessman, 2001) in my attempt to navigate from the role of researcher to ‘storyteller’ (Smith & Sparkes, 2008, p. 20), where the analysis is the story, or the story is the analysis. I do not consider myself simply as a ‘story analyst’ (ibid 2008, p. 20) where ‘analytical procedures’ are employed to examine features of the data. I do not find narratives but participate in their creation in my active role in the email threads, conversations, interviews, etc., where narrative analysis provides the site for the production of ‘another narrative’ (Watson, 2012, p. 463) which unfolds as I craft the narrative from my various data sources. I employ the ‘triple’ use of narrative (Mifsud, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) as narrative is both the phenomenon being studied and the methodological approach adopted, in addition to being the mode of data representation. I fictionalize a dramatic representation of the headteachers’ leadership narratives and performances in the drama ‘The Script’, a play composed of three scenes. The case study presented is the analysis, with further interpretation drawing on concepts discussed in the literature review (refer to Mifsud, 2021) and Foucauldian theory. I acknowledge my presence as a narrator, observer, producer, interpreter, and playwright within the play itself. Nonetheless, as Richardson (1992) states, ‘no matter how we stage the text, we … the authors (researchers) … are doing the staging’ (p. 131)—I do assume responsibility for this ‘staging’. Using fictionalizing devices (in my case, the selection of verbatim quotes from emails, telephone conversations, interviews, blogs, autoethnographic accounts, and policy documents, and their subsequent crafting into a narrative dramatization), I move away from a conventional form of analysis and representation, thus releasing myself and my readers from what Barone (2007) refers to as ‘a methodological straitjacket’ (p. 460). I choose to ‘do representation differently’ (Berbary, 2011, p. 186) by creating a representation using creative analytic practices. I selected this particular mode of representation due to the inherent contradictions between the school leaders’ and the educators’ private narratives and their public performance, moreover, when set against what ‘should be happening’, presented by the policy documents, and what is actually happening in more ‘inclusive’ school settings. These practices utilize genres such as fiction, poetry, narrative, and performance, thus rendering data representations more ‘effective’ at portraying the research study (Richardson, 2000). Writing as a method of inquiry (WAMOI) (Richardson, 1994) thus emerged in which the researcher pays attention to both the product and process of writing, learning both about him/herself and the research topic. In this sense, writing becomes a ‘field of play’ (Richardson, 1997), thus troubling the concept method. St.Pierre (1997a) calls her writing ‘nomadic inquiry’, in which ‘writing is thinking, writing is analysis, writing is indeed a seductive and tangled method of discovery’ (Richardson & St.Pierre 2005, p. 967). Writing is both a method of data collection and data analysis. This writing involves a mixture of ‘headwork, textwork, and fieldwork’ (St.Pierre 1997a, p. 411), working in unconventional spaces, ‘mental spaces, textual spaces, and

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theoretical spaces’ (ibid., p. 412), with the researcher being regarded as the subject of his/her fieldwork. Exposure to this WAMOI enables me to trouble the common sense understanding of data in order to ‘create’ research ‘that aims to produce different knowledge and to produce knowledge differently’ (St.Pierre 1997b, p. 176, emphasis added). I therefore make sense of my ‘data’, by trying to ‘chart new paths’ that will enable me to ‘produce knowledge differently’, by inventing the play ‘The Script’ ‘from and out of my data’. I acknowledge that my ‘writing will never be ‘the Truth’ as it will always represent something that has … been … re-created … [and that] … with each reading something new is interpreted, leaving the work always as a work in process’ (Berbary, 2011, p. 188). Well-crafted narratives have the capacity ‘to illuminate “the universal” by focusing on “the particular”’ (Spindler, 2008, p. 29). Barone (2001) argues for ‘an epistemology of uncertainty’ (p. 152) and for educational inquiry that strives for meaning enhancement rather than the reduction of uncertainty, with the inherent ambiguity inviting ‘polyvocal, conspiratorial conversations’ (p. 178). This is an approach I take up in the representation of my data.

4.3.1 Unscripting ‘The Script’: A Narrative Preamble I ‘craft’ a narrative dramatization from my data, using my play as a medium to present my research findings as I want to ‘show rather than just tell’ (Berbary, 2011, p. 195) how writing can become ‘a field of play’ (Richardson, 1997) in social science. I therefore use this play, ‘The Script’, in order to draw out the absurdities, inconsistencies, and inherent contradictions where (dys)functional leadership is not necessarily unfolding as set out in the policy documents that purport social justice and equity. To construct ‘The Script’, I use both insights obtained from the leaders’ ‘narratives’ and ‘performances’, and my own imagination, to think up the three scenes according to the social (in)justice issues I was exposed to, with the play as analysis taking shape while I am writing. I introduce the inclusive education policy documents as characters, by inserting quotes from the documents, in order to bring out the tensions between what ‘should’ be happening and what actually unfolds in schools. This technique of collating data from multiple sources provides me with more inventiveness to yarn the narrative and to show competing perspectives. The play is a product of my imagination that I crafted from the ‘collected’ data which I then ‘collated’. I acknowledge that my play is not a transparent mediation between what actually happened and how I have deliberately chosen to represent it—this approach does not aim at the transparent presentation of data, which is itself a ‘narrated’ fiction, but at its representation. I insert narrator’s comments throughout the scenes, with each scene being followed by a discussion between Denise and Foucault, with the contribution of Social Justice, a character I make up from a critical literature review (Mifsud, 2021). This allows me to incorporate researcher interpretation and theory without breaking the flow of the various scenes.

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I engage in ‘plugging in’ (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012, p. 1) as a process rather than a concept, where the larger theoretical frameworks are dissolved and instead of just focusing on postmodernism, I focus more specifically on Foucault, not just on Foucault as a theorist but on his concepts of power-knowledge, discipline, governmentality, discourse, and subjectification. I engage in ‘plugging in’ as a process, ‘a constant, continuous process of making and unmaking’ (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012, p. 1) which involves decentring both the data and the theory, showing how they constitute one another; showing how analytical questions emerge in the middle of plugging in; and working repeatedly with the same chunks of data for the ‘assemblage in formation’ (p. 2). My interpretation is underpinned by Foucault’s trident (Gillies, 2013) of scepticism, critique, and problematization, whereby scepticism doubts and challenges educational leadership, critique involves questioning, probing, and analysing, while problematization constitutes the development of a given into a question. I utilize Foucault’s theories as ‘thinking tools’ (ibid, p. 65), thus making ‘a Foucauldian analysis eminently suitable and potentially illuminative’ (ibid, p. 18) for my educational leadership narrative espousing particular moments of social (in)justice and (in)equity, aiding me and my readers ‘to question, probe, and identify weaknesses, contradictions, assumptions, and problems’ (ibid, p. 19).

4.3.2 Crafting and Constructing ‘The Script’: Characters, Stage Setting, and Play Conventions I now proceed to give an outline of the structure of the play that I choose to name ‘The Script’—a name that embodies particular policy perceptions that the main protagonists (the Headteachers) translate and perform in a way that clashes with and overturns the policy intentions in the ‘script’ of the policy on inclusive education in schools that are meant to provide the ‘route to quality inclusion’. A fictional account set up as a Well-Being and Capacity Building Day for the Heads of ‘Embracing College’ organized by the Head of College Network, Dr. Constantius, with the purposely chosen theme ‘Leading with and for diversity’, presents discussion snippets and exchanges that take place over the course of the day. Each scene presents a predominant theme dealing with leadership for social justice and equity that I discovered within my data. The cast of the characters who constitute ‘The Script’ and form part of ‘Embracing College’ is made up of Dr. Constantius, the Head of College Network who provides leadership to all the Headteachers; Augustus, Titus, and Maximus who are primary school Heads; and Arcadius who is the only secondary school Head in this play. All the college staff members are male (for anonymity and confidentiality purposes), except for Theodora, a member of the college secretariat who deals with customer care and foreign student registrations. THE POLICY represents ‘A Policy on Inclusive Education in Schools: Route to Quality Inclusion’, the child of the Ministry for Education and Employment, born in 2019, together with its twin (fraternal, rather than identical), ‘A National Inclusive Education Framework’, hereby referred to as THE

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FRAMEWORK. The page numbers following each intervention by these sociomaterial characters indicate the pages in the policy documents from where the actual quotes have been taken. FOUCAULT, French postmodern/poststructuralist philosopher, who has been dead and buried since 1984 is very much a living presence in this play, involved in a discussion with the Interpreter at the end of each scene over the unfolding actions through HIS theories. SOCIAL JUSTICE, a wizened, bespectacled old man with long, white hair, who more often than not leans on his walking stick, is the product of a critical literature review (Mifsud, 2021), who critiques and problematizes leadership for social justice in schools. The Immigrant Parent, though physically absent from the play, embodies the voices of those non-native guardians whose offspring attend the schools of ‘Embracing College’. DENISE plays several roles in this play. She is the researcher, author, playwright, producer, narrator, interpreter, as well as being one of the main characters in her professional leadership role as Head of College Network, with a pervading presence that is constant throughout. She only appears under her nomenclature in the interpretation following each scene. The action takes place within the boardroom of Dr. Constantius’ office, adjacent to which there is a rambling garden with benches, which the participants take advantage of given the sunny, early spring weather. Some workshops take place around the boardroom table, while the more relaxed, open-ended discussion sessions unfold under the bright blue sky. The boardroom is sparsely furnished save for the round table and chairs, a huge wall-hung display screen, and a bookcase where THE POLICY and THE FRAMEWORK are displayed prominently to constantly remind school leaders of their responsibility for inclusive leadership. As the drama unfolds on stage, both Foucault and Denise occupy a chair on the right-hand side of the flight of stairs leading to the auditorium, as they have to confer after each scene. Social Justice opts to lean on his walking stick, rather than sit, due to chronic backache.

4.4 The Script 4.4.1 Prologue ‘Embracing College’ is made up of a number of primary and secondary schools that are situated on Idyllic Island. Out of a population of around 5,000 students, around 20% are migrant learners hailing from over 40 nationalities from both EU and Third Countries. This cohort is mainly made up of migrants whose parents come to Malta to work but it also includes refugees, asylum seekers, persons with subsidiary protection status, and those on temporary humanitarian protection. This is a very recent phenomenon, previous to which the only experience of non-native speakers in the college classrooms was that of English-speaking kids of returned migrants from Canada, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Initially, these migrant learners were regarded as ‘the Other’ in some of the schools. Consequently,

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Dr. Constantius embarked on a number of initiatives, namely organizing a Multicultural Week that ends with a Multicultural Celebration portraying the slogan ‘Equal Respect for Cultural Diversity’ to which all parents are invited to view students’ performances celebrating diverse nations, as well as setting up a support group for non-Maltese parents/guardians. With the help of the Migrant Learners’ Unit, courses in Maltese and English are on offer for those migrant learners who would like to polish their language skills. Moreover, throughout the scholastic year, the Migrant Learners’ Unit supports ‘Embracing College’ with queries regarding the registration of all Third Country Nationals seeking access to the college schools, the provision of a Community Liaison Officer to facilitate communication with migrant parents where necessary, as well as a Migrant Learners teacher who focuses on the teaching of Maltese and English up to basic communicative level for newcomer migrant learners who cannot as yet communicate in the languages of instruction in Maltese state schools. Moreover, the Migrant Learners’ Unit assists the ‘Embracing College’ schools in the enactment of inclusion policies in the area of migrant learners via teacher training, as well as the provision of after-school clubs and courses. In fact, one of the Migrant Learners’ Unit Education Officers provided material for the ‘Leading with and for diversity’ workshops during today’s Well-Being and Capacity Building Day.

4.4.2 Scene 1: Accepting ‘foreign’ Students LOCALLY? Narrator: This scene revolves around a discussion that Dr. Constantius, Augustus, and Theodora have about a school transfer request for Amira, who was originally enrolled at ‘Ethnic Primary School’ and the subsequent reaction of the native students’ parents. Augustus: Dr. Constantius, some of the mothers, obviously locals, from the Year 2 class wish to hold a meeting with me this week. I imagine that the topic will be the new migrant children. I felt that I had to inform you and if you wish to attend, you are more than welcome. The Policy: Inclusive Learning Friendly Environment (ILFE) refers to a learning environment which provides the optimal conditions for effective learning and teaching to take place. Such an environment welcomes, nurtures and educates all learners regardless of their gender, physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other characteristic (p. 8). Narrator: What a diplomatic way of trying to divest responsibility as a school leader! Rather than face the ‘local’ parents and explain the situation, he wants the Head of College Network to deal with the natives’ xenophobia … Dr. Constantius: Augustus, do hold the requested meeting, but keep it at school level. Having me there would give parents the impression that the situation has gone out of hand so much that it cannot be adequately handled by the Headteacher. I strongly

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advise extending the invitation to ALL the parents, locals and immigrants, in order to send the message that the school is striving to provide an equitable, quality education for ALL the ‘Ethnic Primary School’ students. You can ask the Community Liaison Officer to be present. Narrator: One wonders whether Augustus is in danger of turning this into an ‘USTHEM’ situation … The Policy: Inter-cultural education refers to any form of education that acknowledges and fosters cultural pluralism, i.e., culture in the broadest possible sense, encompassing differences in ethnicity, gender, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, social class, religion, and education. It is founded on the principle of educational equity for all learners (p. 9). Narrator: Augustus needs to explain this to the ‘local’ mothers very carefully! Dr. Constantius: I’m seriously wondering whether the issue around Amira triggered this meeting request! Theodora: I can remember her mother’s email very clearly: ‘Please can I come and meet with you in urgency. I have taken Amira out of ‘Ethnic Primary School’ due to emotional and mental wellbeing. I will be taking her to the doctor today for a letter to suggest she moves schools’. She was very adamant and insistent! Narrator: Amira is not adapting to the school she is attending now despite having been there for over three weeks. She is having nightmares, emotional outbursts, tantrums, and overall disruptive behaviour never exhibited before … [taken from the medical certificate]. Dr. Constantius: When I phoned the mother, she admitted that Amira’s symptomatic behaviour might have been exaggerated by the GP but that she wasn’t being given enough attention by the teacher who had seated her next to a Chinese boy who neither spoke English nor Maltese, there were different nationalities in the class, that local students hadn’t befriended her … I made the mother aware of the fact that Amira might not settle in her ‘new’ school [another one in the college] and it was not healthy for her daughter to have another move in such a short period of time. Augustus: I had several email exchanges with Amira’s mother, long before they settled her on ‘Idyllic Island’. She was invited for a school visit, during which both mother and child met the teacher and classmates. On that occasion, the mother seemed very glad to have chosen ‘Ethnic Primary School’ while Amira gave me the impression of being very shy … normal behaviour for me—first encounter with a new school and a new reality in a foreign country … On one occasion, the mother informed me that Amira complained about some kids annoying her while simultaneously stating that she does enjoy the school and has made friends … The mother was very happy about the care and attention we were giving Amira … She never mentioned any concerns about the class teacher …

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Theodora: She even wrote me an email in her first week of school to thank me for helping out with the registration process, and to let me know that Amira was really enjoying her new school! Augustus: Amira was provided with all the care she needed for a smooth transition. Several times during the mid-day break, she used to come to my office together with the other kids and I was happy that she was not shy anymore and was integrating well at school, especially with the English-speaking community. I’m very upset with her mother’s attitude towards the school, especially by what was written in the medical certificate … It’s highly defamatory … Dr. Constantius: Don’t worry about it … We will seek legal advice regarding the allegations, if necessary. The Framework: Promoting the wellbeing of all learners and staff at school is of primary importance. The school is responsible for equipping learners with competences to overcome challenges related to poverty, mobility, unemployment, family stress, discrimination, bullying, violence, and social exclusion to develop resilient and independent citizens (p. 35). Augustus: I try to do my best to cater for our slowly growing multicultural community. The Year 2 class is composed of twenty students, ten of whom are foreign children of different nationalities. The teacher’s programme is a differentiated one and children follow different programmes according to their ability. The foreign students who have been living on Idyllic Island for less than two years attend the lessons for migrants in Maltese and English twice a week. Moreover, the Year 2 class has lessons with the nurture group teacher once a week. This serves to help foreign children settle in their new environment and make new friends. Narrator: The nurture group teacher liaises with the class teacher and the senior management team to ensure effective transition, reintegration, and continuity of support for students with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties in order to develop resilience via in-class support and/or individual learning/behaviour programmes as necessary. The Policy: Inclusive education as a philosophy, process, and implementation should be available and accessible to all learners of all ages, including those facing challenges, such as those with special needs or who have a disability, those originating from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, migrant backgrounds or geographically depressed areas or war-torn zones, regardless of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation (p. 11). Augustus: The school has invested in some resources and books for the migrant learners’ class. The Policy: I offer flexibility to schools to transform existing pedagogical, personal, and professional beliefs, attitudes, and discourse, as well as re-design processes and

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practices in a manner respond effectively to all learners’ needs and social realities. There needs to be a commitment to ensure an inclusive education system that reflects the constitutional right of all learners to have access to inclusive education, in inclusive classrooms where they may access the general curriculum (p. 11). Narrator: Investment in some resources and books! It is the constitutional right of all students, both locals and foreigners, to have access to inclusive education in inclusive classrooms within ‘Embracing College’ … Augustus: The Migrant Learners’ Unit designed a series of meetings with parents coming from different nationalities … we had parents of the Arab-speaking community, Serbian parents … for which the ‘Embracing College’ social workers were also present. The aim of these meetings is to help foreign parents with their difficulties and foster better communication with the school. Dr. Constantius: Remind the parents to join the ‘Embracing College’ support group for non-Maltese guardians. Having informal parents’ meetings for the individual classes may also serve as an icebreaker between locals and foreigners … The Policy: I view individual differences as opportunities for enriching learning … This will bring together all educators and practitioners, learners, families, and community members who create colleges and schools that are conducive to learning, thereby giving all learners the education they need (p. 11). Augustus: The Professional Development session for the third term will be organized with the help of the Migrant Learners’ Unit, during which teachers will have a seminar about the integration of foreign students and differentiated programmes. The Framework: The school is committed to the inclusion of all learners. Inclusion values are articulated and rendered visible and can be seen underpinning all the school’s planning and practice processes, reflected in the mission statement, etc. (p. 24). Titus: Non-nationals were never seen as a threat by the students themselves … Maltese students have always considered non-nationals their friends. On the other hand, some educators were very sceptical at first. I vividly remember the staff meeting during which we discussed this issue— ‘This is the reality. We cannot run away. We have to face it. There are two ways of going about it, you either learn to integrate yourself in the scenario or otherwise, quit, get a transfer, to another school’. From that day on, integrating non-nationals became part and parcel of school life. Narrator: Is Titus referring to the integration of ‘local’ teachers with ‘foreign’ students or the integration of ‘non-national’ students with local ones? Inclusive leadership for diversity or sameness??? The Policy: Diversity refers to differences or dimensions that can be used to differentiate groups and individual persons from one another, including body appearance, ethnicity, gender, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity,

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gender expression, sex characteristics, social class, level of education, religion, work experiences, lifestyles and cultures and being sensitive to emerging diversities and needs (p. 8). Social Justice: The concept of social justice is crucial to theorizing about education and schooling, consequently being considered by politicians, policymakers, and practitioners in their thinking about the nature of education and the purpose of schools. Regrettably, education practitioners, researchers, and policymakers often utilize this umbrella term [social justice] while leaving out salient details about its social, cultural, economic, and political bearing. Notwithstanding the unanimous agreement on the desirability of social justice as an educational goal, this is complemented by a parallel contestation over its actual meaning and application in relation to schooling, that is, in relation to the formulation of policy and how it is to be included in practice. Denise: Ah, indeed … This scene provides an insight into the various bearings of social justice, its significance for various stakeholders, as well as its application in relation to schooling as it unfolds within two ‘Embracing College’ schools. I will be drawing on your ‘gadgets’ [turning towards Foucault], more specifically your theories on discipline and governmentality, to be utilized as ‘thinking tools’2 in order to explore leadership practices as they unfold in relation to the discourses of social justice, equity, and inclusion … with your permission, of course. Foucault: [breaking out into a smile] Je suis tres honoré … I believe that my trident of scepticism, critique, and problematization will operate well within educational discourse, or should I say discourses, given the scale of the educational leadership literature and the relatively small amount of questioning voices raised against it, as aptly pointed out by Gillies in his book about the application of my theories to educational leadership in 2013. Denise: [nodding in agreement] It is very interesting to note how Augustus positions himself within the policy discourses in relation to the local parents and foreign ones. As a policy actor, he does attempt to foster a school environment where the policy prescriptions of ‘diversity’, ‘inclusive learning-friendly environment’ and ‘intercultural education’ unfold among the students and educators, but not so extensively among ALL the parents. I am noticing the workings of your techniques of discipline … through the school … the Head … and parents, perhaps? [appearing pensive]. Foucault: Yes, indeed … In ‘Discipline and Punish’ I explore discipline as a form of self-regulation encouraged by various institutions, which in your case is ‘Embracing College’ working through Augustus and ‘Ethnic Primary School’ to foster social justice, equity, and inclusion. Augustus is the ‘docile body’ produced via the disciplinary practices exerted by The Policy and Dr. Constantius, that result from ‘a

2

Foucault (2001, p. 65).

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multiplicity of often minor processes’, with discipline being ‘a political anatomy of detail’.3 Denise: So you are saying that the exercise of power, that is, the power of the prevalent social justice discourses, is reconstituted through discipline rather than coercion, as when discipline is effective, ‘power operates through persons rather than upon them’.4 Foucault: Discipline as self-regulation acts as an instrument for the individual to change both himself and the ‘lived’ reality, for ‘we must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it excludes, it represses … on the other hand, it produces reality … domains of objects and rituals of truth’.5 In your case, discipline may be regarded as a set of strategies, procedures, and behaviours acting in specific ways. Denise: It seems that discipline does lead to individuality and to the creation of different leadership identities that Augustus performs with local and foreign parents in the newly produced multicultural reality of ‘Ethnic Primary School’. The conflicting discourses of Amira’s mother and Augustus with regards to inclusion jar very strongly with the leadership practices being adopted. Social Justice: Difference is normal. It is neither to be celebrated nor denigrated. The differences in our schools provide a rich tapestry of human existence that must be the starting point for a deeply democratic, academically excellent, and socially just education. No one is defined by a single factor or characteristic … Difference is an inescapable and foundational quality of our society and our education system.6 Denise: However, both the local and foreign parents resist this difference in their own particular ways. As we can see, the ‘local’ parents regard half the migrant Year 2 student population as an issue, while Amira’s mother, on the other hand, accuses local kids of not befriending her daughter! Isn’t this simply a resistance of the policy discourses of social justice, equity, and inclusion? In doing so, are they trying to overpower the inclusive leadership practices of Augustus? Foucault: I strongly believe that power and resistance are inextricably linked, as there are ‘forms of resistance against different forms of power’. Power is dependent upon relations— ‘the term power’ designates relationships between ‘partners’ that ‘are rooted in the whole network of the social’. Thus, the exercise of power does not simply signify a relationship, as ‘it acts upon their actions: an action upon an action, on possible or actual future or present actions’.7

3

Foucault (1991a, p. 138–139). Usher and Edwards (1994, p. 92). 5 Foucault (1991a, p. 194). 6 Shields (2004, pp. 127–128). 7 Foucault (2002c, p. 329, 337, 345, 346). 4

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Denise: Are you suggesting that Augustus should foster stronger relations with parents in order for leadership for social justice to be practised more fully and thus reach the whole school community? Despite all his good intentions, I still cannot fathom the underlying distinction between locals and foreigners when it comes to his reference to the Year 2 class composition and his initial acceptance of meeting exclusively with ‘local’ parents! Dr. Constantius flinched visibly upon hearing this! Foucault: Denise, keep in mind that I depict discourse as something that goes out to do battle,8 hinting at ‘a battle among discourses and through discourses’,9 which also translates in Augustus’ intra-discursive dependency on inclusion and equity discourses. One can infer an inner battle unfolding through social justice policy discourses as Augustus practises inclusive leadership with the students in the school, but not with all the parents. Social Justice: Do allow me to remind you that for educators, leadership for social justice comprises the confrontation of major issues, such as those of equity, diversity, and inclusion, in stimulating the changes needed for the embedding of social justice,10 It is also acknowledged that the concepts of leadership and social justice are discursive constructs present in specific economic, political, and social realities, as such being highly contested notions.11 Denise: This of course affects how leadership practices unfold within the school community with the ‘migrant’ students by Augustus and the teachers. Augustus proudly speaks of the growing multicultural community and the differentiated teaching, while simultaneously informing Dr. Constantius of the investment in ‘some’ resources and books for the migrants! [scratching her head in awe]. Foucault: This takes me back to my ongoing preoccupation with the ‘art of government’, that is, ‘How to govern oneself, how to be governed, how to govern others, by whom the people will accept being governed, how to become the best possible governor’.12 Social Justice: Leadership and social justice are not natural bedfellows; nor are leadership and inclusion. The extent to which leadership meshes with social justice or inclusion depends on the way in which leadership is conceived, that is, in the way that relationships are envisioned among members of institutions, in the roles that are prescribed for individuals and groups, and in the ends to which leadership activities are directed.13 Denise: This ‘art of government’ where Augustus focuses on helping foreign parents with problems, excluding the possibility of locals experiencing problems too, seems 8

Foucault (2000). Foucault (1975a, p. x). 10 Middlewood (2007, p. vii). 11 Niesche and Keddie (2016). 12 Foucault (2002a, p. 201–202). 13 Ryan (2006, p. 7). 9

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to be mirrored in the concept of the integration of non-nationals as perceived by Titus. How does this actually unfold in terms of inclusive leadership that simultaneously fosters exclusion in terms of integration? Foucault: That can be interpreted via my concept of ‘gouvernementalité’,14 as governmentality encompasses political rationality, in this case, Titus’ conception of and discourse surrounding inclusion and social justice, and technologies of government, that would thus translate into his exercise of integration for educators and students alike. Social Justice: Departing from the position that considers inclusion as the main value of socially just educational leadership, five incongruities and constraints coexisting within the exercise of such leadership have been identified. One questions the actual meaning of inclusive practice, as well as the interchangeable use of the terms ‘inclusion’ and ‘integration’, with the concept of inclusion remaining marginalized, ill-defined, and undebated within the educational leadership for social justice discourse.15 Denise: Well, as the leader of ‘Embracing College’, Dr. Constantius can be regarded as the main facilitator of leadership for social justice in terms of the reception and implementation of the policy actors, who are the Heads of School, when it comes to steering and shaping their perception of social justice, equity, and inclusion as presented in the policy document. Foucault: This is what I understand by the term ‘government’— ‘the conduct of conduct’,16 in both a wide and narrow sense, encompassing forms of activity to affect the conduct of others, as well as the relation between self and self. Denise: Eventually, the government of leadership is focused on the shaping of others’ conduct. Dr. Constantius works relentlessly with all the school leaders of ‘Embracing College’ to exercise social justice leadership and thus live up to its name and vision.

4.4.3 Scene 2: ‘Foreign’ Parents in LOCAL Schools—Trials and Tribulations? Narrator: This scene revolves around a discussion that Dr. Constantius, Maximus and Theodora have about Blanka, a Polish student who started attending Year 6 at ‘Diversity Primary School’, after transferring from another school on ‘Utopia Island’, our sister island, a year after emigrating from Poland.

14

Foucault (2002a). Capper and Young (2014, p. 159). 16 Foucault (2002c, p. 341). 15

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Maximus: I’m really worried about Blanka and the Year 6 teacher as the parent is simply expecting too much from the teacher, from the school, while she refuses to co-operate with us, despite all the efforts from our end … The Framework: Leaders need to respond to increasing diversity in learner characteristics and abilities, cultural backgrounds, immigration status, different socioeconomic status, disabilities, and variation in learning capacity. At the core of inclusive and strategic leadership are two important functions—providing a sense of purpose and direction as well as exercising influence in order to develop school cultures that include all learners (p. 22). The Immigrant Parent: I really don’t know where to start … I read all the messages that you and the teacher send but I cannot always reply immediately because I am working. Anyway, I’m doing my best to help Blanka. Everything is very hard for her in particular in the new school where she has to face new friends, new rules and new school programmes. In Poland, children start their school adventure at age seven where they learn writing, reading, simple mathematics, general geography, basic English, religion, and traditions of their home country. And the teachers try to teach our kids how to work to achieve success … Blanka has been in your school for one month, so the teacher has seen what she can do … I know that it is inconvenient for the teacher to focus only on one student, but it’s not her fault, even mine. She is foreign and she has to have support … I don’t want to hear again excuses … you know exactly that without teacher support Blanka will not move forward! Narrator: I just want to make the audience aware of the fact that the playwright attempted to be as close to the original source as possible, hence some exchanges in this scene will read like a literal Google translation from Polish to English [breaking into a smile]. Maximus: The teacher is doing her best to support your daughter. And she supports and treats her like any other child—we do not distinguish between locals or foreigners. The support you are expecting is already being provided by the teacher. She is well aware of Blanka’s levels and is setting her simple work, while trying to give her that extra push so she can advance in her education. Narrator: Is the parent perhaps making too many comparisons between Polish schools and ‘Embracing College’? Does Blanka really need support because she is foreign??? The Policy: Learners are recognized that they possess learning potential that should be upheld in the best conducive learning environment, therefore rejecting abilitylabelling in teaching. The school needs to provide an educational system that adapts to the learners’ needs, adopting a learner centred approach, rather than the learner adapting to the education system (p. 15).

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Dr. Constantius: And this is exactly what the class teacher is doing—adapting her existing resources and the curriculum to fit Blanka’s needs, while also encouraging her to go beyond her present abilities … I’m wondering whether her mother understands this. The Immigrant Parent: To do homework with Blanka, I have to go back many lessons to explain her how she can do this, and I have to do it first in Polish, make practice and then translate to English. What do you think, how long can she focus at her age? Maximus: If the teacher gives work that is too easy, there will be little benefit for Blanka. The fact that the teacher has contacted you several times both by email and phone, in my presence, shows her concern for Blanka’s progress and the effort she is putting in her education. The Immigrant Parent: If your school is not prepared to help foreign students, please change and do this right now because Blanka cannot lose more! I don’t understand how it is possible to ignore parents’ tips about their child. In my opinion, the school did nothing. All kids in your school need to have the chance to learn. Even when they are not from ‘Idyllic Island’ or ‘Utopia Island’. I can’t wait any longer until you finally do something. I expect specific actions from the school … Like I promised, I do my best but I will not do everything for you. Blanka is having English and Maths private lessons but it’s not enough. She doesn’t have support where she needs to have it more—in class. This is the point and I will not accept it! Maximus: Rest assured that like the other foreign pupils in the same class, we are doing our best to register progress that will help her when she moves on to the secondary school. The Policy: Equity in an education system has two dimensions—fairness and inclusion. Equitable education systems are fair and inclusive and support learners to reach their learning potential without either formally or informally erecting barriers or lowering expectations. An inclusive education system is implemented as an endeavour to achieve no-discrimination in education (p. 12). Narrator: Maximus is being fair and inclusive in providing everyone with equitable treatment and opportunities. He can even be considered as the most faithful policy actor of the inclusion policy … Dr. Constantius: Maximus, have you met Blanka’s mother face-to-face? I very much doubt that she understands the gravity of the accusations in her email as I got the impression that she writes in Polish and then copies and pastes the English translation! Would you like me to organize a meeting and invite the teacher in order to clarify the situation and iron out any pending misapprehensions? Maximus: There is no need at this stage. I have already had invaluable support from your office in the form of Theodora [turning to address her]. What did you tell her? Her hostile attitude towards the school changed overnight.

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Theodora: She is so difficult to convince, my verbal altercation with her on the phone was not easy at all. She told me that the problems are aggravating because the differences in the school curriculum between our countries are too great and due to the fact that Blanka cannot speak English yet. She even accused me of disregarding her advice, as a result of which her daughter was very stressed and uncomfortable. She even threatened me with an ultimatum to find a solution! Dr. Constantius: Didn’t you explain how inclusive education plays out within ‘Embracing College’? Theodora: I explained to her very patiently and painstakingly that there is the class teacher catering for all the students’ needs and there is no possibility of Blanka having an additional, individual teacher assigned to her. I reminded her that the class teacher was already adapting work for Blanka, although the homework was returned undone, to which she promptly replied that she was teaching her at home … The Framework: Schools should welcome different language cultural communities through personal contact with the learner and learner’s family, whilst ensuring that the curriculum takes into consideration the various cultures represented in the demographics of the school community (p. 15). Narrator: These inclusive practices are being carried out to the letter, both within ‘Diversity School’ and at ‘Embracing College’ level. The Policy: In the local education system colleges and respective schools are transforming into inclusive settings with a required shift from a ‘one size fits all’ educational model towards a socially just education that aims to increase the system’s ability to respond to all learners’ diverse needs (p. 25). The Immigrant Parent: I just want to emphasize that Blanka feels lost. I’m not with her in the classroom during the lessons but I see her sad eyes everyday … Maybe we should try to do more simple worksheets. Please give me copybooks from which she can learn at home. And I think that it is very important to explain to the other students that Blanka can’t understand and it is not her fault because she is not a stupid girl. She is just in another reality and is trying to manage with this like she can. I don’t blame anyone. Narrator: The aggressive tone has definitely been watered down … Thanks to the intervention from the Office of the Head of College Network ‘Embracing College’??? Maximus: We do understand that Blanka is finding life different here and that is why we try to make Blanka feel included during lessons and during play. I suggest that you speak to her about participating at school so she will truly feel part of her class. As I already told you, her classmates include her in their games during breaktime. The Immigrant Parent: Maybe I will also ask if it is possible for Blanka to work additionally with a teacher before or after her timetable? I am thinking about extra time just for her, but at school outside of lessons—maybe you can organize it?

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Maximus: As per your request, the teacher will give her simpler work as well which can increase Blanka’s confidence when she completes it. But unfortunately, the school cannot provide extra lessons before or after school hours. Dr. Constantius: So, she did tone down her request from an additional teacher exclusively for Blanka to extra lessons outside the school day! [directing her gaze at Theodora] It seems that you didn’t explain our class teacher allocation and timetable well enough!!! Narrator: Is the education system in Poland more inclusive? It seems so, by the mother’s standards! The Policy: The law binds the Directorate for Educational Services with the duty to provide quality education to all learners irrespective of their age, gender, sex, ability, economic status, nationality, ethnicity, religion or faith, disability and/or political affiliation (p. 22). Arcadius: Foreign students may sometimes create a difficulty for our lower-ability students as some foreigners insist that you talk to them in their own language. Teachers have to code-switch between Maltese and English all the time. Is this fair for our local students? Dr. Constantius: I do understand that not everybody may be confident with codeswitching, teachers and students alike. But rather than regarding this as a drawback for ‘local’ low-ability students, celebrate it as a way for them to increase their exposure to the English language that wouldn’t have happened in the absence of the ‘foreigners’. Narrator: Is it a matter of (un)fairness in having to choose between the ‘locals’ and the ‘foreigners’? The Policy: As a State Party, Malta is required to ensure that all have access to education without any distinction. Education shall aim at fully developing the human personality, sense of dignity as well as strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Furthermore, Malta should promote understanding and respect for different sectors of society (p. 22). Social Justice: The prevalence of social justice language in educational settings and scholarship portends a new movement with as many meanings as actors on the scene. This visibility is cause for celebration as well as unease.17 Despite the centrality of social justice issues in education, not enough prominence has been attributed to the precise meaning of social justice discourse.18 Denise: Well said, indeed … ‘Embracing College’ and the leadership practices unfolding within the distinct college schools provide an invaluable illustration of the conceptual plurality of the ambiguous and contested notion of social justice in educational settings. In this particular scene, we have the luxury of scrutinizing the 17 18

Cambron-McCabe and McCarthy (2005, p. 202). Gewirtz (2002).

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contested meanings of social justice and the related discourses of equity and inclusion as perceived by Maximus and Blanka’s mother in relation to schooling and how this is to be included in practice in the Year 6 classroom by the teacher. Foucault: Oh … discourse … the notion of discourse or better still in French ‘l’ordre du discours’ … [while staring contemplatively in the distance] I should not like to have to enter this risky order of discourse, I should not like to be involved in its peremptoriness and decisiveness; I should like it to be all around me like a calm, deep transparence, infinitely open, where other would fit in with my expectations, and from which truths would emerge one by one … discourse belongs to the order of laws … we have long been looking after its appearances … a place has been made ready for it, a place which honours it but disarms it … if discourse may sometimes have some power, nevertheless it is from us and us alone that it gets it.19 Denise: Ah, the power of discourse and the positive influence it exerts over Maximus and his teaching staff, in particular the Year 6 teacher … He is translating the policy discourses of social justice and inclusion in ‘Diversity Primary School’ and the Year 6 classroom to the letter, embracing fully and responding to Blanka’s diverse abilities, learning capacity and cultural background in true testament to the ‘Embracing College’ vision. Foucault: Discourses are inextricably linked to institutions and to the disciplines that regularize and normalize the conduct of those brought within the ambit of those institutions—the individual is ‘fabricated’ into the social order.20 The subject is produced ‘as an effect’ through and within discourse, within specific discursive formations … discourses construct subject positions through their rules of formation and ‘modalities of enunciation’. As one of my faithful followers spells out, ‘Every discourse constitutes … imaginary communities, identity investments and discursive practices. Discourses authorize what can and cannot be said, they produce … communities of consent and dissent, and thus discursive boundaries are always being redrawn around what constitutes the desirable and the undesirable’.21 Denise: Both Augustus and the Year 6 teacher, as subjects of the policy discourses of social justice, equity, and inclusion, act within specific discursive formations. The teacher’s inclusive practices by which she adapts her teaching methods and resources to fit Blanka’s distinct needs show her up as a subject of The Policy and The Framework. Foucault: In my view, to be a subject is to be subjected. Individuals are in the unknowing grip of an insidious power operating through invisible strategies of ‘normalization’, even when they are under a misconception of a state of total freedom.22 19

Foucault (1981, p. 52). Foucault (1991a, p. 217). 21 Britzman (2000, p. 36). 22 Foucault (2002b). 20

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Denise: I’m afraid that the same cannot be said for Blanka’s mother whose view of how inclusive leadership should be is a far cry from the inclusive leadership practices exercised by Maximus. Foucault: Can we explain this in terms of my ‘power-knowledge knot’, that is, the knowledge of the parent versus that of the Head of School? Denise: I am afraid that you have totally lost me now … I cannot comprehend this. Can you kindly elaborate, please? Foucault: Look, ma chere Denise, different forms of knowledge are in the service of power, functioning in a disciplinary way by establishing normality and deviation, thus contributing to regulating the self-consciousness and the actions of the individuals. Blanka’s mother does not possess any knowledge of how the education system operates, thus no power in rather than power of knowledge. The exercise of power perpetually creates knowledge and, conversely, knowledge constantly induces effects of power.23 Denise: Thanks for explaining it in this manner. Through her lack of knowledge, the parent is powerless with regards to providing help to Blanka at home. At the beginning, she fails to comprehend that the education system within which ‘Embracing College’ operates is a far cry from that in Poland, but does change her opinion slightly as the scene unfolds. Social Justice: In a perfect world, social justice is not a relevant consideration—it can only be invoked as a ground for policy and practice if the difference leads to an inequality which offends against a principle deemed to be constitutive of a fair society. At the heart of a just society lies equality as a regulatory principle. It is debatable which form this equality ought to take: equality of opportunity, equality of treatment, equality of outcome. Citizens are not naturally endowed with a spirit of social justice, hence its importance as an aim of education. Schools must subsequently be so arranged as to achieve this end. Consequently, the school as an institution may be regarded as an instrument to be used in the interests of social justice, with instrumentality being both internal and external.24 Denise: Are equality of opportunity, of treatment, and of outcome being provided to Blanka at ‘Diversity Primary School’? Not according to her mum with her vitriolic accusation of the school’s lack of action! Foucault: That is what I call a very strong battle between the mother’s discourse of inclusion, or her perceived notion of what she thinks is best for Blanka and the school is not providing, versus the equity discourse in The Policy with its focus on fairness and inclusion. Denise: We can safely confirm that both Maximus and the Year 6 teacher are fair and inclusive with Blanka within, let me borrow your expression, the ‘discursive 23 24

Foucault (1975b, p. 752). Clark (2006).

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field’.25 of their practices in the translation and enactment of the policy discourses of equity and social justice. Foucault: Discourse is not simply that which translates struggles or systems of domination, but it is the thing for which and by which there is struggle.26 Moreover, my ‘regimes of truth’27 enable an exploration of how the subject is produced ‘as an effect’ through and within discourse and within specific discursive formations. Denise: This enables me to explore how the school leaders in ‘Embracing College’, in this case Maximus, is positioned by the inclusive education policy discourse, and how he, in turn, positions himself according to his leadership for social justice performance. Social Justice: Social justice in education is both level and context dependent. What criteria can we use to judge whether an educational policy or practice is socially just? How do we make comparative assessments of social justice in education? In other words, how can we tell whether one national or local education system or one educational institution or one educational policy or practice is more socially just than another?28 The significance of justice can only be properly comprehended within particular settings of interpretation and enactment. Denise: I can also detect a remarkable change in the parent’s hostile attitude towards the school as we near the end of the scene. It finally dawned on her that her fixation with how inclusion unfolds in Polish schools, always according to her, is not helping her daughter at all … Is this thanks to the college leadership and direction provided by Dr. Constantius? Foucault: Ah, my concept of la gouvernementalité,29 which basically consists of méthodes of shaping others’ behaviour, in this case, the various stakeholders of ‘Embracing College’ under the leadership of Dr. Constantius. I have always stressed that institutions are fragile and have a great potential for change. I understand the term ‘government’ as ‘the conduct of conduct’,30 in both a wide and narrow sense, encompassing forms of activity to affect the conduct of others, as well as the relation between self and self. Denise: Dr. Constantius, through her political rationalities and technologies of government, manages to shape the leadership practices of various stakeholders, namely Maximus, the Year 6 teacher, and Theodora, who is in constant communication with Blanka’s mother via phone and email. As you always say, power exists in relations!

25

Foucault (1991b, p. 161). Foucault (1981, p. 52–53). 27 Foucault (2002b). 28 Gewirtz (2006, p. 70). 29 Foucault (2002a). 30 Foucault (2002c, p. 341). 26

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Foucault: En effet, le pouvoir, power, is dependent upon relations. The term power designates relationships between partners due to the fact that while the human subject is placed in relations of production and of signification, he is equally placed in power relations that are very complex.31 Denise: Another issue which disappointed me in this scene is the way Arcadius highlights the unfairness endured by ‘local’ students due to having migrant learners in their class … He is definitely contradicting the discourses of social justice, equity, and inclusion as prescribed in The Policy, while unaligning his practices away from Dr. Constantius’ vision for ‘Embracing College’. A mistranslation of policy intentions??? Foucault: One can perhaps conclude that the political rationalities of Arcadius, that is, his mentalities, conceptions and discourse about inclusion are blatantly exclusionary. We can also detect a battle within the discourse of social justice—that of inclusion versus exclusion. Social Justice: Within the context of globalization, nations increasingly turn to policy borrowing as a solution to identified problems, with the current policy focus being actively concerned with closing the attainment gap. However, the relationship between policy generation and enactment is not linear, with various points of translation, and mistranslation, of policy intentions.32

4.4.4 Scene 3: Diverse Students in LOCAL Schools—A Matter of Inclusion, Integration, Tolerant Differentiation, or Positive Discrimination? Narrator: This scene revolves around a discussion that evolves between Dr. Constantius, Titus, Arcadius and Augustus about the immigrant students within ‘Embracing College’ and their ‘impact’ on the local schools, after Augustus expresses her deep concerns about the sharp increase in foreign student numbers at ‘Ethnic Primary School’ and resulting worries on whether enough is being done for the students … Augustus: [addressing Dr. Constantius] Yesterday, Theodora informed me that another ten students will soon start attending ‘Ethnic Primary School’. At present, we have twenty-four foreign students out of a total school population of eighty-five, and when these ten newcomers arrive, we will have thirty-four. The ‘Ethnic Primary School’ community is glad to have newcomers arriving at school, as they enrich the school, while adding to the number of students in class. Dr. Constantius: This is very good news indeed! I clearly remember the student numbers when I was appointed as Head of ‘Embracing College’—you just had a 31 32

Foucault (2002c, pp. 327, 337). Reeves and Drew (2012).

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total of sixty-one students from Kinder 1 to Year 6 … In a timespan of less than five years, the school population is nearing the hundred, classrooms are filling up, and you can say you have an actual ‘multicultural’ school that is beneficial for all the stakeholders involved … The students and staff at ‘Ethnic Primary School’ should consider themselves very lucky to be exposed directly to so many enriching cultures … Augustus: The Deputy Head, who is very supportive, and my good self, do our best to support them together with the complementary teacher. But I would like to explore with you the possibility of extra help. One suggestion could be to have a learning support educator to support the teacher, especially in the upper classes, to differentiate learning. Narrator: The complementary teacher provides literacy support in both the English and Maltese language to students in the primary school who do not reach the minimum score required on the literacy checklists, either via in-class or pull-out support. A learning support educator, on the other hand, is assigned to a student with a statement of needs to provide support in class according to the student’s individualized education programme. This support may be on a full-time or one-to-one, shared, or shared-same-class basis. The Policy: School communities are to regard inclusion for a wider range of learners than those with disabilities. Learners who might be at risk of exclusion from educational opportunities need to be ensured equally meaningful learning access (p. 17). Dr. Constantius: Augustus, you cannot have a learning support educator to support the teacher, and you are fully aware of this! Learning support educators support students who have been statemented with special educational needs. [beckoning Titus] You can speak about this with Titus—he has plenty of ideas to share about the success of immigrant students at ‘Welcoming School’. Narrator: Why does Augustus consider non-local students as requiring additional needs??? The so-perceived ‘language barrier’ is not even taken into consideration by the kids themselves, who integrate very well given the right climate and opportunities! Titus: For me, it doesn’t make much difference whether a student hails form ‘Idlyllic Island’ or from ‘World’s End Archipelago’, challenges may be different, but they still find that they are part of the school. I can very well remember a student from Sicily, Dario, who had no knowledge of either Maltese or English. His teacher used to communicate with him in Italian, he went with the complementary teacher and did adapted work according to his age. At the end of his first year here, he managed to communicate in English and understand Maltese … which was a very positive experience for us … We tried to give Dario all the opportunities to be like the others … and we succeeded! Another student who comes to mind is Vinicius, a Brazilian boy who started attending ‘Welcoming School’ in Year 6. Everything was completely new and strange for him … In a year, he became a fluent speaker and reader in English, besides faring very well in his exams. He made friends very easily

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and his father informed me that he had never observed Vinicius attending school so whole-heartedly! Dr. Constantius: A live example of inclusive education in ‘Embracing College’ … leadership for social justice … Rather than fitting these students into our education system, we have to strive to find ways of adapting the system to meet our students’ diverse needs … The Policy: Education is not simply about making schools available for those who are already able to access them. It is about being proactive in identifying the barriers and obstacles learners encounter in attempting to access opportunities for quality education, as well as in removing those barriers and obstacles that lead to exclusion (p. 25). Narrator: This conceptualization of inclusion unfolds to varying degrees within the diverse ‘Embracing College’ schools. Augustus: Our school has welcomed a number of foreign students who do not reside in our local village. The school community is aware that foreign students are on the increase in all the college schools. Teachers adapt their teaching to the needs of these students, with differentiated teaching unfolding in all the classes. In fact, differentiated learning is one of the development targets in our School Development Plan—this was included due to the new reality our school is facing. A positive aspect of this influx of foreign students is that they increase the class populations, rendering student interaction while learning more lively. Narrator: Foreign students are registering at all the ‘Embracing College’ schools, not just at ‘Ethnic Primary School’ … Inclusive education practices can therefore be emulated! The Policy: Besides adapting features of inclusion, schools need to be available to dismantle mechanisms and practices which are exclusionary in nature. Inclusive education has broadened in meaning, no longer concerning the leaner, but how the system itself was constructed and what barriers could hinder the learner to access learning opportunities in the class. Once these multitude of barriers are identified mainstream education systems need to establish environments and a school culture that is barrier-free (p. 25). Dr. Constantius: All the schools of ‘Embracing College’ accept multiculturalism and language diversity willingly and enthusiastically … Augustus: I’m still worried about the Year 3 class that is composed of nine students, only two of whom are local, with the rest being foreigners or having a difficult social background. Nine students means nine different abilities. Sometimes I feel that either I’m not supporting the teacher enough or that my support is not effective … I’m telling you all this folowing a meeting with the parent of one of the local students who happens to be very gifted, Katerina. She is seriously considering a school transfer as she claimed that her daughter is not being given the attention she deserves due to the wide spectrum of abilities present. I am sure that the class teacher

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is giving her students their entitlement, but it is also true that the attention she gives is highly shared due to the different abilities. Can we provide this teacher with some extra support for the benefit of all the students ? Dr. Constantius: I am sure that you’re supporting the teacher, but in this case do liaise with Ms. Alexandra, the Inclusion Co-ordinator. We sometimes tend to take the term inclusion for granted and only think about incorporating students with learning difficulties, while forgetting the highflyers. Augustus: It never even crossed my mind to involve Ms. Alexandra. I really appreciate your suggestion. I will speak to her and let you know how it goes. Dr. Constantius: I have observed some very good differentiated ability teaching going on at ‘Ethnic Primary School’. Just as teachers prepare graded materials for different abilities, there should also be more challenging work for the gifted student. I am sure that Ms. Alexandra will give you and the class teacher advice on how to go about this. You also need to keep in mind that when it comes to students with difficulties, the complementary teacher can give in-class support, especially considering the fact that there are only nine students in the class. The Framework: The school should move from a discourse focusing on learners’ weaknesses, reinforcing ‘deficit-integrative’ and compensatory approaches towards a discourse based on high expectations which celebrates learners’ differences, strengths, talents, and diverse abilities (p. 15). Narrator: A socially just education system requires a shift from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ educational model to respond to cognitive and learning diversity, which is just one among the learners’ multiple diverse needs … Arcadius: This can be somewhat tricky … When it comes to the student classification, fairness and justice prevail, although the task can prove to be quite difficult and I do sometimes encounter resistance from certain staff members. As a Head of School, when we are distributing classes, I ensure that in every class we have boys, we have girls, we have locals, we have foreigners … there is a mix. When foreign students register during term time, we do not just place them in any class with remaining seating space but attempt to determine that particular student’s actual level of abilities in order to reduce the amount of discrimination that may inadvertently crop up. It would be much easier for me to put all the foreign students in one class, but I find that to be counteractive—they are not challenged academically, sot hey challenge the teacher … Students are thus classified according to their ability, not their ethnic background or social standing. Dr. Constantius: You are doing very well as a school … Rather than viewing diversity as a serious barrier to learning, the school should foster the shared belief that all students can learn and achieve—diversity becomes an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

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The Framework: School leaders build an inclusive culture, ensuring that all educators take responsibility for all learners. They change the attitude of educators in line with a rights-based approach and by moving away from deficit models (p. 22). Augustus: Non-local students may at times be problematic … Iman, a boy from Syria, who has joined the Year 6 class very recently is having some difficulties adapting to our Maltese culture. The child comes from a paternalistic culture which clashes with the fact that he has a female teacher. Moreover, his peers who hail from the local village are manifesting hard feelings and do not include him at all. I have made him a referral for the services of the nurture class teacher. Dr. Constantius: Give the poor boy some time to adapt! Iman may benefit from individual nurture sessions, but I am of the opinion that this is coupled with whole class sessions so that he is accepted in class. Iman can tell his classmates about customs and culture in Syria—I’m sure that it will be very interesting for them … Narrator: Both the students and the teachers/educational leaders need to embrace religion and belief diversity! Augustus: I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you of the pressing need to open a nurture class at ‘Ethnic Primary School’, mostly due to the increasing number of students coming over from our sister ‘Utopia Island’, with a difficult social background. In fact, they live in social housing, have to deal with socio-emotional issues, and some come to school without having had a proper breakfast. The only happy place for them is the school, they only find ‘normality’ here. Narrator: The nurture class provides for young pupils who are going through socio-emotional behaviour difficulties. Through structured activities, games, circle time sessions, talks, discussions, and sharing of ideas about particular topics the teacher tries to enhance the pupils’ trust, communication skills, self-esteem, and their confidence amongst other skills. Dr. Constantius: As I have already told you, Human Resources cannot accede to your request of having a full-time nurture class teacher deployed to ‘Ethnic Primary School’, as the school population is too small to merit such a service. The ‘Embracing College Outreach Programme’ was initiated to support the small schools within the college. If you think that there are students who may benefit from nurture sessions, liaise with Ms. Alexandra to carry out the necessary observations—if they do qualify for programmes run by the nurture class teacher, they will get the service. Narrator: How can they be automatically classified as needing more ‘nurture’ based on the Head’s perception of coming from a certain social and/or ethnic background? Augustus: Such sessions are already taking place by the nurture class teacher who comes every week with particular classes. What I had in mind was a nurture class structure based at school so that vulnerable students are supported to the best of our abilities during the day.

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Dr. Constantius: Stop insisting on that request. Make use of the Nurture Outreach Programme and involve the social workers, if necessary. Have you met the parents? Invite them to school and get to know them before proceeding with the student referrals. Include them in the school community … Narrator: Embracing socio-economic diversity is proving to be somewhat difficult … The Framework: The school should move from stereotyping learners with disabilities or diverse backgrounds, assuming their quality of life is poor to listening to all learners and not make assumptions of what he/she can or cannot do (p. 14). Social Justice: If the school system is dealing unjustly with some of its pupils, they are not the only ones to suffer. The quality of education for all the others is degraded … The issue of social justice is not an add-on. It is fundamental to what good education is about.33 Denise: This explains the concerns being voiced by the school leaders participating in this scene. On one hand we can observe Heads worrying about the sudden sharp increase in the migrant student population and the impact these have on the local students’ teaching and learning entitlement, while simultaneously wondering whether enough attention is being meted out to these ‘foreigners’, who are considered as less able and more vulnerable due to their diversity! [rolling her eyes] The trials and tribulations of leadership for social justice … Foucault: Denise, as you analyze and interpret these leadership episodes of the Heads of ‘Embracing College’, you must keep in mind that ‘a critique is not a matter of saying that things are not right as they are. It is a matter of pointing out on what kinds of assumptions, what kinds of familiar, unchallenged, unconsidered modes of thought the practices that we accept rest … To do criticism is to make harder those acts which are now too easy’.34 Denise: Augustus still remains a puzzle I cannot seem to solve as his political rationalities in this scene, as in the previous ones, are very contradictory. He celebrates the foreign newcomers while simultaneously asking Dr. Constantius for additional help in the form of a learning support educator, regarding their mother tongue as a barrier to their schooling success! This provides a sharp contrast to the technologies of government exercised by Titus in terms of embracing language and ethnic diversity. Foucault: This is subjectification in its widest sense, that will help us explore how both Titus and Augustus are made subjects by the prevalent policy discourses. This

33 34

Connell (1993, p. 15). Foucault (1988, p. 155).

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deals with the ‘way a human being turns him- or herself into a subject’.35 This selfformation takes place through a variety of ‘operations on [people’s] own bodies, on their own souls, on their own thoughts, on their own conduct’.36 Social Justice: Educators have had good reason to be concerned with social justice in a context where diversity has become more pronounced in both our schools and communities, with widening divisions between the advantaged and the disadvantaged.37 In spite of the numerous well-intentioned restructuring, reform, and curricular efforts, many children who are in some way diverse from the previously dominant and traditionally most successful white, middle class children are not achieving school success, with ‘success’ being translated in terms of access to a wide range of teaching, learning and achievements related to the development of an ‘educated citizen’.38 Denise: Indeed, it is rather difficult to measure success in terms of leadership for social justice, though there are some excellent examples of the unfolding social justice discourses in this scene. Augustus does his best to respond to all the students’ needs, both migrant and local, as happened in the case of the latter where a local highflyer, Katerina, felt she was not given enough attention due to the ‘less intelligent’ foreigners. On the other hand, Arcadius embodies fairness in the students’ classification exercise. Foucault: All this thanks to the effects of power of social justice discourses … Power is a mechanism that works in and through institutions to produce particular kinds of subjects, knowledge, and truth39 . Moreover, it is a sinuous and insinuating mechanism that works its way in a ‘capillary’ fashion into the ‘very grain’ of individuals, inhabiting their bodies, their beliefs and their self-hood, and binding them together as institutional subjects.40 Denise: Ehm … Augustus and Arcadius as institutional subjects of ‘Embracing College’ who concurrently include and exclude foreign and local students in leading diversity for different abilities. Social Justice: Literature explores the use of inclusion/exclusion as a lens for addressing social justice issues.41 Students can be excluded from school premises, learning processes and activities because of ability, age, race, class, gender, sexuality, and poverty, an approach that shifts the blame away from individuals … Justice is not a state that can be achieved once and for all. There are no solutions. There is only the ongoing practice of being open and alive, each intra-action, so that we might use 35

Foucault (2002c, p. 327). Ibid p. 341. 37 Ryan (2006). 38 Shields (2004). 39 Foucault (1991a, 1980). 40 Foucault (1980, p. 39). 41 Ryan (2006). 36

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our ability to respond, our responsibility to help awaken, to breathe life into ever new possibilities for living justly.42 Foucault: To further elaborate on my earlier interjection, this is an illustration of the productive effects of power, for ‘individuals are the vehicles of power, not its points of application … The individual is an effect of power and the element of its articulation.43 Denise: The productive effects of the power of the policy social justice discourses cannot be traced in the way Iman has been treated by his classmates, teacher, and Augustus, they seem to have been contradicted … rather than acted upon and translated into practice! Can this be regarded as a form of resistance to the social justice discourses ? Foucault: This may be identified as a ‘problematic of government’ for Dr. Constantius that emerges through ‘how to be ruled, how strictly, by whom, to what end, by what methods, and so on’.44 Social Justice: The notion of leadership for social justice as constructed in dominant Western ideologies is problematized as any attempt to impose such concepts on the educational systems of diverse societies is a foregone conclusion.45 Denise: So true … This is clearly evidenced as we move towards the closure of this third and final scene. Why does Augustus single out those students with a difficult and/or different social background as needing more ‘nurture’ due to presumed ‘vulnerability’? Foucault: Discourses structure both our sense of reality and our notion of our own identity, which are not fixed, but constantly being made and remade. I tend to emphasize the productive capacity of discourse, as it ‘transmits and produces power, it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart it’.46 Social Justice: The problem cannot be tackled via a primary and exclusive focus on the school as the agent of change, but on addressing endemic inequalities within society.47 Denise: [addressing Foucault] These post-scene discussions have enabled me to explore how all the educational leaders at ‘Embracing College’ are produced through and within discourses and specific discursive formations and what sort of knowledge is considered legitimate according to your ‘games of truth’, that is, the discourses

42

Barad (2007, p. x). Foucault (1980, p. 98). 44 Foucault (2002a, p. 202). 45 Oplatka and Arar (2016). 46 Foucault (1998, p. 101). 47 Mowat (2018). 43

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generating in ‘Embracing College’ and subjugating leaders, as well as the discourses being produced by them as a form of resistance and needed to subjugate others. Social Justice: School-led social justice practice drives leaders into ‘perilous politics’48 due to its commitment to the critique of social prejudice, thus leading to political risks in the potential evocation of a breakdown in social relationships. School leaders are thus advised to develop a new and more open approach to difference to ensure that educators do not celebrate some legitimate differences and pathologize others.49 Denise: To close off the interpretation of the final scene, I will revert to one of my favourite definitions of educational leadership as ‘an effect of discourses of schooling, rather than a set of practices or dispositions adopted by individuals who occupy certain positions within schools’.50 I thus approach leadership for social justice as one of the regimes of truth of educational leadership generating in the ‘Embracing College’ schools.

4.5 Conclusions There are times in life where the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks and perceive differently than one sees is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all … what is philosophy today … if it is not the critical work that thought brings to bear on itself? In what does it consist, if not in the endeavour to know how and to what extent it might be possible to think differently, instead of legitimating what is already known? … The ‘essay’ … is the living substance of philosophy, at least if we assume that philosophy is still what it was in times past, i.e., an ‘ascesis’, askesis, an exercise of oneself in the activity of thought (Foucault, 1992, p. 8–9).

I ‘show’ and ‘tell’ that one cannot set the boundaries of academic discourse, despite the problematic link between lived experience, its textual representation, the subjects, and the author, with the three scenes emerging as a response to my struggle with the ‘crisis of representation’ (Mifsud, 2016, 2017). ‘Lived experience’, or my understanding of it as the subjects’ narrative and performance, is represented in their ‘verbatim quotes’, thereby placing the subjects centre stage. This is a strategy I employ to retain the ‘voice’ of the ‘other’ (Venuti, 1998). Moreover, I refuse homogenization and the suppression of the ‘I’, of my voice. Instead, I acknowledge my presence in my research story and write myself—my selves, rather—into my own text by exposing my voice (as Denise) in the scenes and using the first person, rather than the passive. I acknowledge myself as an ‘active producer of research’ (Temple, 2002, p. 845), rather than simply being a ‘gatherer of facts’. In the steps of Richardson (1997), I experiment with textual form, writing educational research 48

Whang (2019, p. 118). Shields (2004, p. 128). 50 Lingard et al., (2003, p. 143). 49

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as drama. I experiment with voice, turning the leaders’ voices into drama and positioning my ‘voices’ as narrator, researcher, interpreter, author, and producer into the text—which ultimately turns me into a performer of my own work. I also experiment with frame by inviting Foucault, and subsequently the spectators, into my text. I reject the traditional notion of validity that is presented as the grand narrative, as the normative discourse (Koro-Ljungberg 2010), and do not feel the need to make a ‘methodological apologia’ (Clough, 1999) for my work. I lay claim for the validity of my research. I give a lot of importance to writing, to the writing process rather, using writing as ‘a process of discovery’ (Richardson, 1997, p. 2). I am fully aware of the ‘costs’ of my deliberately chosen data representation method of narrative dramatization, of what it has enabled me to do, but also of what has been forfeited, in the process. This technique of combining data from different sources allowed me ‘more freedom to tell the story that needed to be told and show competing perspectives’ (Berbary, 2011, p. 194), as I want to show rather than simply tell readers about the ways in which issues of social justice and equity are played out through the dysfunctionalities and contradictions that emerge in the juxtaposition of policy and practice via leadership performances within various ‘Embracing College’ schools. I want the readers to experience the same disjunctions I experienced firsthand, in situ—this mode of representation provided what I consider to be the ‘best’ means of doing so. I understand that I have presented a ‘partial’ picture—‘partial’ in the sense of being ‘partly’ in presenting only part of the picture that is leadership for social justice unfolding in ‘Embracing College’, and ‘partial’ in the sense of there being a potential for bias. I fully acknowledge that partiality while simultaneously recognizing that it is a feature of all research, as it is an absolute fiction to suggest that research can be impartial. What I have presented, paradoxically, is perhaps a more truthful version as I have acknowledged that it is a partial version, without any pretence of it being a definitive or objective study—I do admit to being bound up in the research itself as a researcher. The fictionalization of research data may raise serious concerns around the notion of validity—Polkinghorne (2007) outlines validity threats in narrative research, both in the assembled narrative texts and in their interpretation. Validity threats may arise due to the disjunction between a person’s actual experienced meaning and the storied description, and due to researchers’ interpretations of the narrative, where provided. However, I use fiction to animate the multiple voices that constitute the college—I do not presume to represent their voices as if my words could present a reality that pre-exists the act of writing—rather it is through the act of writing that their ‘voices’ are given space to emerge. ‘The play cannot be a realist tale that might capture one authoritative truth…but an exploration with emergent voices and with movement toward the unknown’ (Davies, 2009, p. 198). Foucault characterizes intellectual writing as a transgressive practice with the potential to enable the individual to think in other ways. Simons (1995) and Barker (1998) argue that for Foucault, writing is the specific practice, more so even than reflection, that enables us to explicate the assumptions which underpin our practices and thoughts and to re-think them. Foucault (in Kritzman, 1988) suggests that it is the kind of change and self-transformation which is brought about by writing which

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changes and alters the things he thinks and articulates his intellectual positions, over time. My attempts at doing representation differently resonate strongly with Scheurich’s (1997) story of his writing: I have wavered and mis-stepped; I have gone backward after I have gone forward: I have drifted sideways along a new imaginary, forgetting from where I once thought I had started…I have sometimes thought I knew something of which I have written. However, caveat emptor, all that follows is never that which it is constructed to appear, an apt description, in my opinion, of all writing (p. 1).

In my writing of ‘The Script’, I let myself go towards what is described as: the best known unknown thing, where knowing and not knowing touch, where we hope we will know what is unknown. Where we hope we will not be afraid of understanding the incomprehensible, facing the invisible, hearing the inaudible, thinking the unthinkable (Cixous, 1993, p. 38).

The findings of this small-scale research project as presented in ‘The Script’ have implications for educational leaders in other national systems, particularly those who are concerned with addressing issues of social justice and equity via schooling. This research story came about as one of the after-effects of my first engagement with narrative and Foucault (Mifsud, 2016, 2017), through which influence I, as education practitioner, leader, and researcher, have been trying to figure out how to create more becoming-spaces within which I can transform my multiple selves: So many things can be changed, being as fragile as they are, tied more to contingencies than to necessities … My point is not that everything is bad, but that everything is dangerous, which is not exactly the same as bad. If everything is dangerous, then we always have something to do (Dreyfus & Rabinow, 1983, p. 231-232).

This can therefore serve as a turning point for the school leaders of ‘Embracing College’ who animate ‘The Script’, as well as other school leaders around the globe in the unfolding of social justice and equity in schools.

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Denise Mifsud is Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management, and Governance in the Department of Education at the University of Bath. She has many years of practitioner experience in education settings in both teaching and leadership roles, the most recent being that of Head of College Network, a top-management position within the Ministry for Education, Malta, besides being an independent education researcher and consultant. She previously held a full-time lecturing post at the University of the West of Scotland as well as being a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta. She is also an Associate Fellow of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research within the same university. She was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Stirling in 2015. Research areas of interest include educational policy analysis, generation, reception, and enactment; critical leadership theories, with a particular interest in educational leadership, especially distributed forms; school networks and educational reform; initial teacher education; power relations; Foucauldian theory; Actor-Network theory, as well as qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on narrative, as well as creative and unconventional modes of data representation. She has presented her research at various international conferences, besides winning numerous academic awards, namely, from the American Education Research Association, the European Education Research Association, and the Scottish Education Research Association. She is a member of several professional organizations, in addition to being an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has published in several international top-rated journals, in addition to monographs and edited volumes.

Chapter 5

Is Inclusive Educational Leadership for Social Justice and the Common Good Possible? Enrique Javier Díez Gutiérrez and Katherine Gajardo Espinoza

Abstract The educational reforms promoted in recent years in Spain have accentuated the current trend towards a neoliberal-oriented managerial leadership model. However, the proper performance of educational organizations depends on the skills and attitudes of its members, so it must be based on the conviction and involvement of its components. That is why we propose, from a critical approach, the necessary transition towards the conception of an inclusive educational leadership for social justice and the common good. The chapter analyses the leadership model promoted by Spanish educational administrations. It describes the theoretical framework of the work using the concepts of psychopolitics, governmentality, and entrepreneurship to analyse the new mechanisms of management and control, through seduction, that the current neoliberal system uses to involve us in wanting to be part of the system and how it is being transferred to the field of educational leadership. The autoethnographic method, based on critical reflective narrative, explores the cultural change in an educational organization over seven years that shows how another model of inclusive educational management and leadership for social justice and the common good is possible. Keywords Inclusive leadership · Social justice · Critical leadership · Autoethnography · Spain · Case study

5.1 The Spanish Context Since the end of the Franco dictatorship (1975), the Spanish educational system has undergone eight educational reforms, embodied in organic laws. The most recent ones move towards a managerial and bureaucratic leadership model (Díez-Gutiérrez

E. J. D. Gutiérrez (B) University of León, León, Spain e-mail: [email protected] K. G. Espinoza University of Valladolid, Segovia, Spain © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_5

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2019a), linked to terms such as “efficiency”, “performance”, and “standards” that make up an updated neomanagerial narrative (Niesche & Gowlett, 2019). After the death of the dictator and with the impulse of the new democracy, educational laws established a more participatory, communitarian, and democratic approach to the management of schools. Leadership was promoted from the base and management was exercised collegially. It was a management team and not a manager or administrator. This management team was democratically elected by the educational community and became its representative before the Administration. But the latest educational reforms reversed the roles and a unipersonal management is chosen by the Administration was established, an efficient manager of human and material resources, which has implied the elimination of any form of democratic leadership (Díez-Gutiérrez 2019b). For three decades, reforms have been promoted that generate a bureaucratic management, dependant on the political Administration of the day, with a “sympathetic disposition” towards its measures, disseminating and controlling its instructions and aligned with its ideology. Although the recent educational reform of 2021 returns to a less hierarchical model, the system still does not consider a real model of collegiality and democracy in the election of directors. The school council, the body of democratic participation of the representatives of the educational community, is still not the one that elects the management. Currently, the representation remains in the hands of a commission composed mainly of agents linked to the Administration (Díez-Gutiérrez, 2018). In short, democratic and participatory functioning is eliminated, destroying mutual support, collaboration, and dialogue among the educational community, elements that, according to all the evidence in the scientific and pedagogical literature (MorenoHidalgo & Manso, 2017), not only promote an environment that favours both the teachers’ own professional development and the learning of their students but also creates a good school climate with cooperation between the teaching staff and the educational community (Burbano et al. 2020). This resurgence of managerialism has developed from a neoliberal ideology, which intends that the educational system should function in an “increasingly commercial” way and the centres are increasingly managed as companies (Gobby, 2017). This paradigm of “neoliberal governance” (Ball, 2016) replaces the democratic and participatory processes of the educational system with mechanisms of “government at a distance”, control and management technologies to “govern without government” (Foucault, 1975; Gillies, 2013). This system of leadership at a distance operates through three major “softpower” strategies: public–private collaboration, through the irruption of private consortia with their business management ideology (Courtney et al., 2017); “remote governance” through the imposition of results demanded from educational priorities, through mechanisms such as standardised assessments, accountability or rankings (Eacott, 2010); and, finally, “autonomy”, underfunded with resources and means, which holds educational communities responsible and blames them for the results obtained (Collet & Tort, 2016).

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The efficiency of this system of “government at a distance” (Foucault, 1988) rests on the process of collective internalisation that assumes the logic of the system, which adheres “freely” to what it is induced to believe (Beattie, 2020). Control and surveillance, even over one’s own behaviours, no longer have to be imposed, we selfimpose it, we turn it into normality and daily discipline (Han, 2014). This model not only generates a demotivating and bureaucratic climate in schools but also destroys trust and cooperation; precisely the opposite of what all the research on leadership and educational organisation recommends (Bolívar et al. 2014; Navarro Granados 2017; González González, 2019).

5.2 Theoretical Framework We situate ourselves in the critical stream or perspective of leadership (Courtney et al., 2021; Eacott, 2015, 2017; Łakomski et al., 2017; Mifsud 2017; Niesche, 2018; Normore & Brooks, 2017; Pak & Ravitch, 2021). However, with a deconstructive approach that uses the psychopolitical theory of the philosopher Han (2014), the model of governmentality of the philosopher, historian, and sociologist Michel Foucault (1975), and the category of neoliberal entrepreneurship of the sociologists Laval and Dardot (2013) to analyse the new mechanisms of management and control in educational organisations. The philosopher Han (2014) argues that the efficiency of this system rests fundamentally on the process of collective internalisation that broadly assumes the logic of the system, which adheres “freely” to what it is induced to believe. What capitalism realised in the neoliberal era, Han (2014) argues, is that it did not need to be harsh, but seductive. Control and surveillance no longer had to be imposed, we self-imposed and diffused it. We turn it into normality and daily discipline. Instead of controlling us by force and imposition, it induces us to realise our dream of freedom in the paradise of the desire for our own domination. At least in Orwell’s dystopia, 1984, no one felt free. But today we all feel free, that is the problem. In a similar vein, Michel Foucault (1975) pointed out that today’s Western societies have abandoned the disciplinary model and, in contrast, have adopted the active participation of those involved as the main tool of social control (Hardt & Negri, 2002). The neoliberal system educates us to “freely choose”, even desire, to belong to its machinery. The new exploitation is loved. The “opium of the people” is the system itself. Neoliberal ideology is not only a destroyer of rights, it is also the producer of a certain way of living and social relations, of a certain way of understanding the world and of a social imaginary, of a type, in short, of a certain subjectivity. This neoliberal ideology has thus become a “rationality” that is oriented to the conduction of behaviours (Foucault, 2004) through processes of subjectivation that aim to impose competition, not only within economic relations but to make it a general form of personal and social behaviour that guides all human relations (Laval &

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Dardot, 2013) in all spaces, including the educational one. This reshaping of subjectivity “forces” each person to live in a universe of generalised competition, organising social relations according to the market model and transforming even the person themselves, who is henceforth called to conceive and conduct themself as a company, an entrepreneur of themself. In this way, Foucauldian biopolitics, the external panoptic control (Foucault, 2004), is continued by neoliberal psychopolitics, in which control passes to the interior and is managed from emotion. The (post)modern panopticon is voluntary. We are before the revolution of Foucault’s (2004) techniques of governmentality. Now it is no longer just a matter of exercising power through coercion over bodies, thoughts, and behaviours, but must be accompanied by individual desire, where each person is involved and actively participates in what Han (2012) calls the “voluntary exploitation of self” to the point of exhaustion. Exploitation by others is thus internalised. It is even much more efficient than exploitation by others because it goes hand in hand with the idea of free choice, making people “self-exploit” while thinking of themselves as “free”. Entrepreneurship simultaneously becomes a technology of control of the self (Foucault, 2004) through the subjective introjection of guilt, making the victims themselves guilty of the situation they suffer. Failure becomes a personal problem of incapacity. Worse still. We are thus witnessing a complete reversal of social criticism: free education leads to laziness, measures of attention to diversity, and inclusion discourages personal effort, dissuades people from trying to progress and makes those who fail less responsible, discouraging them from using their personal resources and fulfilling their obligations, preventing them from assuming the consequences of their actions. Educational communities would never have “converted” voluntarily or spontaneously to this neoliberal management model through the propaganda of the model alone. It has been necessary to think and install, “by means of a strategy without strategies”, the inaugural step consisted of inventing the individualistic “human being of calculation” who seeks the maximum individual interest, within a framework of interested and competitive relations between individuals. This neoliberal subjectivity is marked by a discourse that alleges that the pursuit of self-interest is the best way that an individual can serve society, where selfishness is seen almost as a “social duty” and competition and market relations are naturalised (Torres, 2017). The purpose of the human being becomes the will to fulfil oneself in front of others. The effect sought in this new subject is to get each person to consider that self-fulfilment is to intensify their effort to be as effective as possible as if that eagerness was ordered from within by the imperious commandment of their own desire. These are the new techniques of manufacturing “the company of oneself”. The company thus becomes not only a general model to be imitated, but defines a new ethic, a certain ethos, which must be incarnated using a work of vigilance exercised on oneself and which evaluation procedures are responsible for reinforcing and verifying. Each person has thus been compelled to conceive of themselves and to behave, in all dimensions of their existence, as the bearer of an individual talent-capital that they must know how to constantly revalue (Laval & Dardot, 2013). The first commandment

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of the entrepreneur’s ethics is “help yourself”. And its tables of law are governed by competition as the universal mode of conduct of every person, who must seek to surpass others in the discovery of new profit opportunities and get ahead of them. The great innovation of neoliberal technology consists precisely of directly linking how a person “is governed” with how they “govern” themselves. It is not just a matter of the conversion of spirits; the transformation of behaviours is also needed. This is, in essence, the function of the devices of learning, submission, and discipline, both economic, cultural and social, which guide people to “govern themselves” under the pressure of competition, according to the principles of the calculation of the maximum individual interest (Diéz-Gutiérrez 2018). This is the management model that the “neoliberal spirit” promotes in the current leadership of educational organisations. Where it is the educational communities themselves who are actively involved and wish to be part of the system that subjugates them. Competing for excellence, distinction, exclusivity, and the achievement of established results that validate them socially and professionally. As if schools were just another mechanism of domestication in this neoliberal subjectivity. The problem is that it is easier to escape from a physical prison than to get out of rationality since this implies freeing oneself from a system of norms established through a whole work of internalisation techniques and control of the self. In this way, the seemingly neutral penetration of neoliberal logic is settling in the collective unconscious of the present generation and future generations who thus learn to be very clear about the rules of capitalism to be winners in this game.

5.3 Research Methodology: Autoethnography We present the autoethnography that was generated from the in-depth research work of a school case over seven years. The study focuses on the experiences of the main researcher in an intermediate-sized kindergarten, primary, and high school in the city of Madrid (Spain). An integration school that received students with specific educational needs: learning, behavioural, and/or relational difficulties. Some of the students attending this school had been rejected or expelled from other educational centres. It had a student body ranging from 6 to 16 years old and a team of 17 teachers. In-depth interviews, participant observation, questionnaires, focus groups, and biographical narratives were used in the research process. However, only one of the research instruments used in the study will be used here: the field diary where the main researcher recorded his experiences and reflections. From the narratives of the principal researcher, who is the author of this article, we can use data and experiences collected that allow us to contribute to the understanding of the political, social, and cultural aspects from a review of first-person analysis. Hence, autoethnography offers a perspective that changes the canonical ways of doing research and representing other people, by treating research as a political, socially just and conscious act (Ellis et al., 2015).

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Autoethnography is a narrative form of knowledge generation that involves selfobservation and reflexive inquiry in the context of fieldwork from an ethnographic approach (Denzin, 2017). It allows the connection of concrete and practical experiences and experiences with theory and cultural analysis, helping to analyse and explain more general sociohistorical realities and with the potential to offer orientations to transform the reality it describes (Aravena & Quiroga, 2018; Blanco, 2012, 2017; Guerrero Muñoz, 2016). We have decided to use an autoethnographic method in the exposition of the results of this research, seeking a creative reconciliation between doing research and being a researcher. We have developed a text in which the ethnographer does not leave his role when he performs an analytical introspection of the facts he observes and the reflections he generates are the main research resource (Mitra, 2010), however, we wanted to include in the story the multivocality, that is, the direct presence of the voices of others, who inherently are the protagonists of the research developed and represent that collective we seek to validate. On the other hand, we intend with our autoethnographic account to bring a new perspective to qualitative research on educational leadership in Spain. When doing a quick literature review on the subject we have found a lack of studies that analyze inclusive leadership from a critical approach in school that assume an ethnographic perspective, and none, from an autoethnographic perspective (García-Martínez & Martín-Romera, 2019). We will use first names, without specifying surnames, to refer to the members of the educational community who appear in the narrative and who are actually the protagonists of the story, which is narrated in the first person. This will allow us to maintain the required anonymity to respect the required data protection. Of course, all participants were informed of the confidentiality and possible risks involved, despite which they agreed to be part of the research. Logically, a case study that takes the form of an autoethnography narrated in the first person does not seek to generalise the results, but it does seek to transfer them to other contexts and situations that may be similar or that, at least, have characteristics close to the case on which the research is focused. Logically, in qualitative research such as this case, the audience is the one who determines whether it can transfer the findings to a different context of the study; therefore, the degree of transferability is a direct function of the similarity between the contexts.

5.4 Autoethnography of an Inclusive Leadership Experience The research process began when I started working as a teacher at the school. At that time, I was also working as a social educator in a suburb of Madrid. I had been hired as a street educator, to intervene socio-educationally with students at risk of social

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exclusion, in the most deteriorated area of that neighbourhood. I combined this job with that of a teacher at the centre because it gave me the possibility that some of the young people with whom I intervened would return to school. From the beginning of my teaching work at the centre, I realised that there was a dissociation between the centre’s management and leadership, centred on a group of teachers, but especially one of them: Ángeles, the centre’s Language and Literature teacher. The school’s management, which operated in an increasingly commercial way (Gobby, 2017), pushed for results that would make the school stand out from others, introducing neoliberal-style business management and accountability strategies (Eacott, 2010), but making the faculty responsible and, to some extent, blaming them for the results achieved (Collet & Tort, 2016). These mechanisms of neoliberal control and governance at a distance, through self-disciplinary techniques (Foucault, 1975), clashed with the leadership model promoted by this group of teachers, who also connected with a good part of the families of the school (Burbano et al., 2020), promoting a more democratic and participatory model. I wondered what this group of teachers and this teacher were doing that, among the students and the rest of the faculty, even among the families, they had so much influence and their leadership was so clearly recognised, without resorting to assuming the logic of the self-imposed control and surveillance system (Han, 2014). I had the opportunity to experience this when Rodolfo joined the school. Rodolfo was one of the boys I was working with as a street educator, and I had recently managed to get him to start attending school again. He was 15 years old and had long since been expelled from his previous centre for his behaviour and the conflicts in which he had been involved. Since then, he had been roaming the streets with his neighbourhood gang and after a long process of working with him, we had managed to get him to rejoin the formal educational process with some expectation. The first day he arrived at the centre, I saw that his first class had been Language with Ángeles. I was afraid that a conflict might break out because Rodolfo was very temperamental and sometimes would explode at anything. But in the middle of the morning, at break time, when I turned to him to ask him how the first hours of the class had gone, he told me: “when Ángeles is right, you have to agree with her”. I was shocked. He was the one I least expected that reaction from. Because, when I had accompanied him to the door of the classroom the first day he joined the school and he saw that the teacher he had been assigned was Ángeles, a short, older woman turned to whisper to me, with a sardonic air: “I’ll eat this one with potatoes…, she won’t last two rounds”. The first thing that came to my mind was that the system no longer needs to impose itself by force, but through seduction (Han, 2014). But I quickly realized that this was not the case. It was the teacher’s connection, social skills and empathy (Andolina & Conklin, 2021). Her pedagogical strategy in the classroom: she did not reprimand him, but reasoned with him and used argumentation and reflection on the very conflicts that happened in the classroom to develop even the class content (Eacott & Niesche, 2021). As well as the inclusive work and leadership style of that group of faculty, which combined passion for teaching with support and understanding with those who had more difficulties (Thompson & Matkin, 2020). It was what I understood made

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him do a 180-degree turn regarding not only her but his involvement in education and to feel that the school was a place of encounter and not of rejection or confrontation. Because she perceived that it was a style of interaction that not only she did, but that a good part of the faculty also shares. I was doing my doctoral thesis on the organisational culture of the centre, as a case study, and in the interviews, participant observation and focus groups that I conducted, over seven years of research, I found that it was a leadership shared by a group of faculty, which was not imposed or centred on a strictly “charismatic” character (Youngs & Evans, 2021). Rather, it implied a form of collaboration, a shared relationship that, as another of the teachers who exercised this shared and democratic leadership at the centre said, “it encourages you to undertake new ideas and projects because it makes you feel supported and backed by the group, by the community, and gets others to get involved as well”. I began to sense what inclusive leadership (Hollander, 2012; Ryan, 2006) was. A leadership that does not judge you or accuse you, but rather values you and encourages you to go beyond the problems to face them together and share them, feeling supported. Despite being new to the centre, from the very first moment, I was included and they offered me the opportunity to participate in what they called “a joint search for possible solutions”, which was held weekly. It was an informal meeting, where when I started talking, I was encouraged and stimulated to contribute, even if the ideas I came up with were sometimes far-fetched. Looking, among all of us, at how to implement them or reflecting on the possible implications they might have. This democratic structure of participation (Youngs & Evans, 2021) helped me, in turn, to participate more and more actively. Almost all the strategies that were proposed ended up exploring how to teach more inclusively (Love & Horn, 2021). Although they insisted that we had to go little by little, to try to involve as many teachers as possible. They assured me that changes and improvements are only lasting if they become part of the centre’s functioning and are not just isolated initiatives, even if they are very meritorious. For “they decline when the person who promotes them disappears,” said Federico, another of the teachers who also participated. On the other hand, “if it is taken on collectively, it becomes part of the organisation’s culture,” he concluded. Something that is confirmed by the literature (Dorczak, 2011). Thus, a common practice they had was that what was discussed and agreed informally at these meetings was brought to the headmistress and the school’s management team to take to a meeting with the entire teaching staff to propose it. At faculty meetings, the proposals were not always accepted. Throughout the seven years of research, some teachers never got involved in anything and did not support any proposal. Most of them ended up getting involved when they saw that it worked or when they valued that it was effective and meant advancing in a more inclusive educational practice. But there was always an initial group of teachers, which varied depending on the proposal, who became interested and actively participated from the beginning, versus the neoliberal managerialism model in management (Ball, 2016).

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So I found that four groups were configured in the leadership dynamics of the center: the driving group, which used to drive innovations and inclusive proposals; the support group, which joined them when they saw their sense and development; the resistance group, which was reluctant and did not get involved; and the manager group that admitted the initiatives as long as they implied better results and image in the face of customers (Gobby, 2017; Han, 2012; Laval & Dardot, 2013). Within the democratic functioning of the centre, these proposals were not only presented to the faculty but were also presented and discussed with the students and families. The aim was that it should be something shared and assumed collectively. That is to say, to be integrated into the educational project, in the dynamics and daily practice of the centre, generating a new cultural change (Dorczak, 2011). This participatory and inclusive leadership worked like the stone you throw into the pond. At first, it only generates three ripples. But progressively the ripples expand until they reach the farthest corner of the pond. And this is how most of the educational innovations we proposed began, with the complicity of an initial group of teachers and students, even families, who joined the initiative. But that used to expand, given that, seeing that it “worked”, most of the educational community also ended up incorporating it into their own practice. Hence, the cultural change that this meant in the dynamics of this centre, which meant a radical turnaround in its approach to education from an inclusive perspective, progressively involving almost the entire educational community “from below” in improving the dynamics and functioning of the center, from a focus on the common good and social justice.

5.5 Discussion and Implications of the Study There is a clear dissociation between the policies of educational administrations in Spain that have been promoting “top-down” managerial leadership models and the community practices of schools “from below”, such as the one reflected in the ethnographic study. If the former schools end up promoting educational practices of competitiveness and segregation, with the excuse of efficiency and performance (Sanz-Ponce et al., 2021), the latter are committed to fostering collective and shared leadership and management, with an inclusive educational leadership approach for social justice and the common good, as proposed by the Spanish Research Network on Educational Leadership and Improvement, one of the most robust in the international educational field, which brings together prestigious academics from the Spanish field (Murillo Torrecilla & Hernández-Castilla, 2014; Saura & Bolívar, 2019; CruzGonzález et al., 2019). This approach opposes the global trend of distributed leadership, as a product of contemporary modes of hybrid educational governance (Díez-Gutiérrez, 2021) that has been promoted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as a means of assuming by the professional education communities themselves the increased tasks and responsibilities associated with accountability in schools (Holloway, 2021).

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On the contrary, it is a participatory leadership based on autonomy, commitment, and shared co-responsibility is perceived as a key element for generating improvement from below (Bolívar et al., 2014; Hallinger & Heck, 2014). This new cooperative culture is only possible by promoting collective ways of solving existing problems within a framework of action that is considered as their own by the whole community, as we have seen in the findings of this autoethnography based on a case study. Inclusive education implies a process of institutional transformation of the school institution, of inclusive social and cultural transformation that encompasses the entire educational community that is dialogic and participatory. The starting point consists in the recognition that leadership can come from anywhere within the educational community (Bazarra & Casanova, 2021), and that, rather than being linked to a certain status or position, it has to do with the involvement and participation that groups and individuals bring to a specific context and the interactions and mutual influences that follow one another. A leadership that is exercised by those who, regardless of their position in the organisational chart, are able to motivate, support and influence others around proposals and projects that are assumed (Paraskeva, 2021). But not to repeat the hierarchical models of distributed leadership that help to cultivate loyalty systems within schools and create silencing effects among teachers, turning managerial demands emanating from above into a responsibility assumed by those from below who assume the logic of the system, with those strategies of “soft power” or government at a distance (Beattie, 2020; Foucault, 1988; Han, 2014; Holloway, 2021). On the contrary, it is about a shared leadership sustained from below by the commitment of the community committed to a common project of inclusion and social justice.

5.6 Conclusions As we have seen in the autoethnographic account, individual leadership only makes sense in a transitory way, as a dynamiser in certain situations or needs, to propose or promote proposals that must become shared. For, as we have seen, in every educational organisation there are people who, regardless of the institutional position they occupy, can motivate, drive, and energise other components of the organisation around certain projects or proposals (González González, 2019). In these complex organisations, there are coordination leaders, orientation and support leaders, academic leaders, technological leaders, community relationship leaders, relationship and team-building leaders, etc. That is why we have to understand educational leadership as something shared by the entire educational community, which allows and facilitates commitment and shared responsibility. This implies creating the necessary spaces and times for the people who make up the community to share and contribute to what is happening in the organisation: identifying problems, exploring solutions, building a shared vision, and undertaking improvement actions by working together. Therefore, leadership for inclusion must be exercised through collaboration, reciprocity, and example (Romero, 2021). As we

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have seen, an important place must be occupied by the dynamics of open research and inquiry, communication, dialogue, and group work, in an environment of respect where sometimes conflicting perspectives and approaches will necessarily converge, which must be chosen from the moral basis of the common good (González González, 2008). However, this conception of shared leadership does not mean devaluing the role of management, but it does mean redefining it in difficult times (Heffernan, 2021). It means no longer thinking of it as a single person who exercises leadership from the apex of the organisational pyramid. But who, nevertheless, has an important role as a stimulator of the responsibility of the whole centre to base, to discuss, elaborate and develop improvement projects. It is about management teams being able to promote participatory processes of inclusive leadership (Valdés Morales, 2018) in which leaderships emerge in each of the sectors of the educational community (Lynne Derrington & Anderson 2020). This requires participation that requires information, coordination, channels of expression, and consideration of their opinions and assessments at the time of decision-making. Management teams, in this sense, should become promoters and architects of inclusive leadership by building a team identity (Niesche & Heffernan, 2020), developing shared decision-making, discovering, enabling and enhancing the skills and capabilities of the people in the organisation and supporting them to feel recognised for their contribution to the collective result. Inclusive leadership must also be a democratic leadership (Díaz & García 2018), which promotes inclusive practices (Elizondo Carmona, 2018) oriented towards equity and social justice (Thorpe, 2019). Today’s school must have the unavoidable goal of “promoting a democratic and inclusive education that guarantees the right of all children and young people to receive a quality education based on the principles of equality, equity, and social justice” (Fernández Batanero & Hernández Fernández 2013, p. 84). If the current literature (Bolívar Botía, 2019) has highlighted the role of leadership in organising good educational practices in centres and in contributing to the improvement of learning outcomes, we must incorporate in this vision the approach of inclusion, of democratic participation of the different members of the educational community and social justice and the common good (Cáceres, 2018; Camarero et al., 2020; GarcíaGarnica & Moral, 2015; Guzmán Cáceres & Ortiz Flores, 2019; Moral et al., 2019; Wilkinson et al., 2018). The general purpose that has inspired this text is to show the possibility of changing the organizational culture (Valdés Morales, 2018) in an educational center that has a traditional managerial model, within the neoliberal logic, where governance at a distance (Foucault, 2004) and accountability (Eacott, 2010; Holloway, 2021) have been imposed from the educational administration because the management has assumed the logic of the system (Beattie, 2020). It is, in this sense, a narrative of hope. We have selected autoethnography as a modality for presenting results because it is an alternative way in which researchers can establish our immediate engagement with the context we study (Uotinen, 2010), distancing ourselves from the depersonalized and distanced treatment of some of the research on educational leadership that has been published in Spain.

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With our account, we invite researchers to engage morally, politically and intellectually with the events being studied, just as we have done in these lines. The autoethnographic approach implies challenging imposed frontiers (Khosravi, 2010) and perhaps that is what we need in current research to generate real transformations.

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Guzmán Cáceres, M., & Ortiz Flores, L. O. (2019). El Moderno Prometeo: El Director Escolar como Líder Mediador para la Justicia Social y el Desarrollo Sostenible. Revista Internacional de Educación Para La Justicia Social (RIEJS), 8(1), 63–78. https://doi.org/10.15366/riejs2019. 8.1.004. Hallinger, P. & Heck R. H. (2014). Liderazgo colaborativo y mejora escolar: Comprendiendo el impacto sobre la capacidad de la escuela y el aprendizaje de los estudiantes. REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 12(4), 71–88. Han, B. (2012). La sociedad del cansancio. Herder. Han, B. (2014). Psicopolítica. Herder. Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2002). El Imperio. Paidós. Heffernan, M. (2021). Modelos de liderazgo para tiempos difíciles. Executive Excellence, 173, 22–23. Hollander, E. (2012). Inclusive leadership: The essential leader-follower relationship. London & New York: Routledge. Holloway, J. (2021). Metrics, Standards and Alignment in Teacher Policys. London & New York: Springer. Khosravi, S. (2010). Illegal’traveller: An auto-ethnography of borders. London & New York: Springer. Łakomski, G., Evers, C. W., & Eacott, S. (2017). The future of leadership: New directions for leading and learning. In G. Lakomski, S. Eacott, & C. W. Evers (Eds.), Questioning leadership: New directions for educational organisations (pp. 179–191). Routledge. Laval, Ch., & Dardot, P. (2013). La nueva razón del mundo. Ensayo sobre la sociedad neoliberal. Barcelona: Gedisa. Love, H. R., & Horn, E. (2021). Definition, context, quality: Current issues in research examining high-quality inclusive education. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 40(4), 204–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121419846342. Lynne Derrington, M., & Anderson, L. S. (2020). Expanding the role of teacher leaders: Professional learning for policy advocacy. Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas=Education Policy Analysis Archives, 28(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.28.4850. Mifsud, D. (2017). Foucault and school leadership research: Bridging theory and method. Bloomsbury. Mitra, R. (2010). Doing ethnography, being an ethnographer: The autoethnographic research process and I. Journal of Research Practice, 6(1), 1–21. Moral, C., Higueras-Rodríguez, L., Martín-Romera, A., Martínez-Valdivia, E. & Morales-Ocaña, A. (2019). Effective practices in leadership for social justice. Evolution of successful secondary school principalship in disadvantaged contexts. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 23(2), 107–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2018.1562100. Moreno-Hidalgo, M., & Manso, J. (2017). La Nueva Gestión de lo Público (NGP) como tendencia educativa global y su impacto en la conformación de la identidad docente. RIESED Revista Internacional De Estudios Sobre Sistemas Educativos, 2(7), 33–51. Murillo Torrecilla, F. J., & Hernández-Castilla, R. (2014). Liderando escuelas justas para la justicia social. Revista Internacional De Educación Para La Justicia Social (RIEJS), 3(2), 13–32. Navarro Granados, M. (2017). Hacia un liderazgo educativo para la justicia social en las escuelas. Revista Del Cisen Tramas/maepova, 5(1), 161–173. Niesche, R. (2018). Critical perspectives in educational leadership: A new ‘theory turn XE “Theory turn” ’? Journal of Educational Administration and History, 50(3), 145–158. https://doi.org/10. 1080/00220620.2017.1395600. Niesche, R., & Gowlett, C. (2019). Social, Critical and Political Theories for Educational Leadership. Springer. Niesche, R., & Heffernan, A. (2020). Theorising Identity and Subjectivity in Educational Leadership Research. Routledge. Normore, A. H., & Brooks, J. S. (2017). The dark side of leadership: Identifying and overcoming unethical practice in organizations. Emerald.

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Enrique-Javier Díez-Gutiérrez Ph.D. in Educational Sciences. Degree in Philosophy. Diploma in Social Work and Social Education. Has worked as a social educator, as a primary school teacher, as a secondary school teacher, as a guidance counselor in high schools, and as a person in charge of attention to diversity in the educational administration. He is currently a Professor at the Faculty of Education of the University of León (Spain). Specialist in educational organization, he develops his teaching and research work in the field of intercultural education, gender, and educational policy. Promoter and member of the university faculty collective Uni-Digna, for a University at the service of the common good and socially committed. Member of the Seville Forum, For Another Educational Policy. Member of Redes por una Nueva Política Educativa, which brings together collectives, movements, unions, family federations, political parties, etc., that defend a public, secular and free education. Katherine Gajardo Espinoza Ph.D. (c) in Transdisciplinary Research in Education. Master in Social Science Research. Master in Educational Research and Innovation. Degree in Education. Has worked in projects for Educational Inclusion in Higher Education and has directed processes of Continuous Teacher Training in Chile. She is currently a predoctoral researcher and teacher at the Faculty of Education of Segovia, University of Valladolid. She has specialized in Inclusive

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Education and Teacher Training. She is part of the teaching innovation project Inclusive Education and training in practice. Research-action and transformation of the school (PID Educación Inclusiva) of the University of Valladolid and is a member of the International Network of Researchers and Participants on Educational Integration.(RIIE).

Chapter 6

Potential Theoretical Approaches to Support the Critical Exploration of ‘The Problem(s)’ of Preparing, Recruiting and Retaining Headteachers in Scotland Deirdre Torrance, Christine Forde, Margery A. McMahon, Alison Mitchell, and Julie Harvie Abstract This chapter adopts a critical perspective designed to develop alternative, more diverse understandings of factors behind longstanding international concerns over an apparent headteacher recruitment crisis (Bush in Leadership and Management Development in Education, Sage, 2008). Despite policy rhetoric in Scotland, the case study country, understandings are limited with little interrogation or framing of key ideas (Forde and Torrance, School Leadership and Management 41:22–40, 2021). The development of the constructivist theoretical design foundations from which this research project is constructed, has at its core narratives of educational leadership within a participatory action research approach (PAR). This coming together of distinct methods provides a multifaceted approach, designed to stimulate new thinking by involving participants in the research design and analysis of findings: at a macro level, with policy constructions around the problem(s) of ‘headship’ using the Bacchi approach; at the meso level, with communities of practice using the Delphi technique to map out underpinning concepts of headship development; and at a micro level, from life history through narrative autobiographies, harnessing experiences and motivations. Here our methods of data gathering and of data analysis seek to build a participatory approach leading to the co-production of knowledge in which we use a combination of thematic and creative analytical approaches. Our intention is to raise significant questions about prevailing policy and practice, in order to generate a provocative dialogue in educational leadership, by presenting ‘different’ knowledge co-produced by researchers and participants and presenting this knowledge ‘differently’. And in so doing, to enrich an ongoing conversation (Barone, Qualitative Inquiry 13:354–379, 2007).

D. Torrance · C. Forde (B) · M. A. McMahon · A. Mitchell · J. Harvie University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_6

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6.1 Introduction In narratives of educational leadership, Scotland provides a rich case study where— despite the policy rhetoric—understandings of ‘the problem(s)’ of preparing, recruiting and retaining headteachers are limited, with little interrogation or framing of key policy ideas (Forde & Torrance, 2021). This leads the authors to ask why, despite the cohesive policy environment and established framework of developmental support, is the role of the headteacher not seen as attractive by more teachers in Scotland? And, alongside this, whether formal headship preparation programmes represent a significant barrier to headteacher recruitment? Or, whether it is the role of the headteacher itself that presents a significant barrier? Such questions inform this critical exploration of the future of headship. There has been a longstanding international policy and research interest in this area (Hanbury, 2009; Rhodes & Brundrett, 2008). Indeed, a large-scale study of the recruitment and retention of headteachers in Scotland (MacBeath et al., 2009) provided some insight into barriers and enablers to headship. However, the use of surveys and semi-structured interviews in that study with data analysed using statistical testing and thematic analysis, limited the exploration of lived experiences. In order to stimulate new thinking, three constructivist theoretical methods within a participatory action research (PAR) approach are harnessed in this new study of ‘the problem(s)’ of headship in Scotland, which may have implications for other international contexts: the Bacchi approach; the Delphi technique; and from life history, narrative autobiography. The utility of these methods within a PAR approach resides in the manner in which they encourage critical exploration and collaborative learning, since “treating problems as self-evident can pose a risk for evaluation practice” (Archibald, 2020, p. 2), where different perspectives come together to produce knowledge. This chapter explores the combination of these approaches to data gathering and analysis in building a PAR project. The PAR design of this study challenges methodological conservatism and its rigid norms which have historically skewed the methods endorsed and taught, the value attributed to projects and their findings, with corresponding implications for research funding and ultimately, for how we see the world (Lincoln & Cannella, 2002 with wider discussion in Bailey, 2019, p. 96): “All norms have power to fix thinking, to occlude and foreclose conceptual possibilities, and to reproduce hegemonic power relations”. Participatory action research (PAR) is a variant of action research, where the research is co-constructed within a social constructivist stance, underlined by the principle of reciprocity (Maiter et al., 2008), where participants and researchers reflect on outcomes collaboratively (Leitch & Day, 2000) within a rigorous and systematic approach, to ensure that the outcomes are both trustworthy and useful. Additionally, PAR is a powerful way of building a development agenda, building agency leading to social change and improvement in relation to the area being investigated (MacDonald, 2012; Selener, 1997). A defining feature of PAR is that research

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is with rather than research on participants, premised on the idea that there are multiple perspectives in any context, allowing the sharing of different perspectives between researchers and participants as a developmental tool “resulting in rich explanations and interpretations” (Jacobs, 2016, p. 50). The approach foregrounds the importance of the lived experience of participants through which knowledge and practice to address issues within context can be developed, combining theory and practice (Jacobs, 2016). Each stage of PAR comprises a cyclical process of research, analysis, reflection and action. The three methods identified support a collaborative approach enabling the researchers and participants to explore in-depth the lived experiences and practice realities of headteachers and those aspiring to the role. Bacchi’s (2012a) Foucaldian (WPR) approach provides a means of critically analysing what the policy problem(s) is/are and in turn, what ‘the problem’ identified is intended to address. Through critical reflexivity, the political dimensions of policy and practice are scrutinised to enhance understandings of regimes of power, both political and professional, exploring the process of problematisation (deep level scrutiny), enabling us to critically scrutinise relevant literature and policy documents, and to identify “possible deleterious effects they set in operation” (Bacchi, 2012a p. 7). The Delphi method offers a flexible research technique, particularly when knowledge about phenomena is incomplete or contested as it is about prompting and supporting interaction between participants; building, clarifying and reflecting on ideas collectively and subsequently, agreeing on an agenda for development. The strength of a narrative autobiographical approach combining elements of ‘life history’ and ‘narrative analysis’, lies in its use as a reflective tool, with researchers collaborating with participants to review and appraise events, experiences and influences on their journey, useful where identity is in transition such as with the journey to headship. This union of less conventional research methods signals the adoption of critical perspectives in order to develop alternative, more diverse understandings of educational leadership. A central concern of the project is to engage with participants in the co-production of knowledge and so we look to engage participants in both the generation and the analysis of data. At the macro policy level, constructions of ‘the problem(s)’ of headship will be interrogated through Bacchi analyses. At the meso level, drawing from the policy analysis, insights from communities of practice will be co-constructed using the Delphi technique. At the micro level, practitioner narrative autobiographies will add depth to new understandings. Here in particular the use of a creative analytical approach will enable us to explore in depth the day-today lived experiences of headteachers. Our intention is to raise significant questions about prevailing policy and practice, in order to enrich an ongoing national and international conversation (Barone, 2007).

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6.2 Situating the Case Study for Exploring the Problem(s): Scotland’s Education System Of Scotland’s population of 5.46 million (NRS, 2020), 697,989 are school pupils with 398,794 catered for in primary schools, 292,063 catered for in secondary schools and 7,132 catered for in special educational provision (Scottish Government, 2019a) 96% of pupils are educated within state (rather than private) schools (Woods et al., 2020). Scotland represents a relatively small education system within a cohesive policy community (Woods et al., 2021) which is arguably overly cosy (Humes, 1986), rather than constructively critical to generate provocative dialogue (Bhattacharya 2021). Within that macro level and in relation to headteacher/principal preparation, an established and evolving (responsive, rather than inert) national policy supports a relatively comprehensive professional development framework and funding. The dynamic nature of the Scottish education policy environment reflects that education in Scotland is complex, shaped by continuous reform and defined by tensions and dilemmas associated with issues of governance, performativity and accountability, with cultural, structural and socio-economic diversities and inequities. This complexity is reflected in the twin aims of Excellence and Equity (Mowat, 2018) underpinning contemporary policy ambitions for the school education system. The accountability agenda is supported by an annual National Improvement Framework (NIF) (Scottish Government, 2019b), and a national programme (HMIe) of school inspection and local authority (LA) inspection where “headteachers and Local Authorities are partners, each contributing and supporting each other and respecting the different role each plays” (Education Scotland, 2019). Scotland’s 32 diverse and largely hegemonic hierarchical Las—that gain most of their funding from central government with only 15% raised from local taxation—are charged with securing the annual improvement of school performance. Six Regional Improvement Collaboratives were established in 2018 to enhance system collaboration—with “a political requirement to be seen to make progress” (Scottish Government, 2019c, p. 32)— intended to support the empowerment and agency agenda for headteachers, teachers and the communities they serve to: “Bring together local authorities and Education Scotland [a national agency] to develop different ways of working, build capacity across a region and add value through collective efforts” (Scottish Government, 2019c, p.1). As part of the current reform programme in Scottish education which seeks to ensure enhanced outcomes for all learners through system-level and system-wide improvement, the role of the headteacher is perceived as a central. This spotlight on the headteacher role in the delivery of national policy aspirations has intensified in recognition of a pervasive poverty-related attainment gap, for which significant government funding has been allocated directly to schools. Among proposals in the recent policy set (Scottish Government, 2017a, b, c) was for a Headteacher Charter, representing one of a number of policy solutions, presented as a way of increasing headteachers’ autonomy (Scottish Government, 2017a) with greater power particularly in the areas of curriculum, improvement, staffing and funding (Scottish

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Government, 2018, p. 2), also constructed as a means of bringing about ‘overresponsibilisation’ (Forde & Torrance, 2018). The Headteacher Charter provides a mechanism for holding headteachers increasingly to account, changing their responsibilities by altering the relationship between the headteacher and the local authority (Scottish Government, 2016, p. 3), bringing about changes to the governance of education (Torrance et al., 2021). Within contemporary perspectives on the development of the Scottish education system, the role of the headteacher remains key, with corresponding funding for the pre- and post-appointment development of heads remaining a policy priority. System leadership (Hopkins & Higham, 2007) forms part of this policy discourse, the expectation being that headteachers contribute to policy deliberations and system-level improvement, for the benefit of all learners. However, despite the policy rhetoric, understandings of system improvement are still at a relatively early stage, with limited interrogation or framing of these ideas within key policy documents, including those most referenced by the teaching profession (Forde & McMahon, 2019; Mowat & McMahon, 2019). This reduces the potential of such policies impacting on systemlevel improvement (Forde & Torrance, 2021). However, school leadership continues to be perceived as embodying a key mechanism for progressing national policy intentions (Davidson et al., 2008), particularly in relation to the educational outcomes for marginalized pupils (Scottish Government, 2016).

6.3 What Do We Know Already About the Problem(s)? Understandings of the role of the headteacher in enhancing school effectiveness have significantly developed over the past thirty years. Internationally, leadership development and more specifically headteacher development, has become the preoccupation of those charged with strategically targeting school improvement efforts constituting, “a major national policy priority of governments” (Davidson et al., 2008, p. 68). A perceived global headteacher recruitment and retention crisis (Bush 2008; Rhodes & Brundrett, 2008) in particular relation to inner cities and rural communities (MacBeath, 2009), alongside considerations of succession planning (Hanbury, 2009) have focused discussion further, as to what constitutes effective preparation for headship to encourage and support aspiring headteachers to move into the role. Continuing professional development (CPD) is recognised as an ongoing requirement for HTs as their needs change through different career stages following the first appointment (Earley & Weindling, 2007). Arguably, university headship preparation programmes have been perceived by some—internationally and nationally—as presenting a significant barrier to recruitment and retention, a deterrent to potential headship candidates who may perceive them as disconnected from school realities (Torrance, 2013). The trends in Scotland reflect international concern about the recruitment and retention of high-quality school leaders. Moreover, whilst acknowledging the considerable and longstanding focus paid to the professional development of aspiring HTs

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in Scotland, concern was raised over a lack of focus on the needs of relatively new heads and of those with more experience (Woods et al., 2007). Two significant national research projects have been conducted in this area in Scotland. The first, The Recruitment and Retention of Headteachers in Scotland research project was commissioned by the Scottish Government in December 2007 (MacBeath et al., 2009). The purpose of the study was to make recommendations on issues related to the recruitment and retention of headteachers in a context where there was firstly, an emerging pattern of difficulties in recruiting sufficient numbers of experienced and suitably qualified teachers to headteacher posts and secondly, a demographic pattern which meant that within a period of five to eight years, a substantial proportion of serving headteachers were anticipated to retire. The sample included serving headteachers plus, as a strand of the research, data was also gathered from a sample of suitably qualified and experienced deputy headteachers. The study identified systemwide issues regarding succession planning and recruitment pipelines, with a paradox identified between headship being the hardest of jobs and the best of jobs. One of the critical issues that emerged from the study was that whatever the pathway to headship, the experience of being ‘the ultimate authority’ was a shock for which few headteachers felt they had been adequately prepared, in particular relation to the complex multiple accountabilities with which headteachers grapple. This perception of the demands of the role seemed to influence teachers’ decisions whether to pursue a career in headship. Among the deterrents identified by the ‘career deputes’—who at that point, had chosen not to apply for a headteacher post—were the multiple accountability and administrative demands made of headteachers and, a perception that the role was distant from teaching and learning and from young people (Forde and Lowden 2015). The second significant Scottish project, the Headteachers’ Professional Development research project was commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (now Education Scotland) in March 2007 (Woods et al., 2007). The background to this research was a perceived need to identify and respond to changing needs at different career points, recognising the increased complexity of the HT role, complicated by changing role conceptions (Begley, 2006; Woods et al., 2007) to include contributing beyond the HT’s own school, to system leadership (Hopkins, 2007). The purpose of the study was to enhance the understandings of headteachers’ (HTs) perceptions of how appropriate existing provision for their professional development was across Scotland, in terms of how well it supported their role. The sample included serving headteachers plus LA personnel. Through analysis of the findings, key principles of good practice in headteacher professional development were highlighted, along with priority areas for enhancing provision and four suggested areas for future research. The Recruitment and Retention of Headteachers in Scotland research project (MacBeath et al., 2009) was a substantial study with data gathered using online and postal questionnaires, interviews and focus group meetings. However, the methods of data gathering and analysis it employed were very conventional, perhaps not encouraging ‘blue skies thinking’. The Headteachers’ Professional Development research project (Woods et al., 2007) was also designed to be comprehensive. However, despite inviting all HTs in Scotland to participate, only 11% completed the online survey,

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although other data was generated including telephone interviews with 36 headteachers across a wide geographical spread. While both studies provided some insight into the lived experiences of headship, in the subsequent decade there have been significant changes to the role. That said, issues related to recruitment, retention and professional development remain a concern (ADES, 2016) leading to the Scottish Government—as part of The Empowerment Agenda (Scottish Government 2019d, p. 4) in the current reform programme—launching a recruitment campaign ‘Heading in a New Direction’ in 2018.

6.4 What Do We Not yet Understand About the Problem(s)? There has been a longstanding international policy and research interest, nevertheless, understandings of educational management––and subsequently of leadership– –are still developing and are heavily contested. This reflects tensions in conceptual underpinning, originating from understandings gained in the field of management and business, despite public sector organisations differing from private services in relation to customers, markets, pricing and products (Kinder, 2011). This perhaps explains why “a significant amount of the field’s understanding of [educational] leadership is grounded in highly dubious and problematic assumptions” (Gronn, 2003, p. 269). The rise of leadership in education reflects similar interest in wider public service organisations, with leadership gaining prominence since the 1980s. Leadership is now perceived as facilitating change either to improve quality and/or organisational performance (Pratt et al., 2007), or to progress government-driven reform (Wallace, 2011). Management in public service organisations has been consigned to maintenance activity (Rowing, 2011; Thorpe et al., 2011). Consequently, education like other public-funded services, such as the NHS,has embraced government-endorsed leadership development programmes. Arguably—although a contested assertion—a distinction can be made between organisational leadership with its roots in business management and leadership of public sector organisations, with educational leadership characterising a field in its own right (Gunter, 2005; Gunter & Ribbins, 2003). The management of schools is unique compared to other public sector organisations, due to “high degrees of organizational autonomy and external penetration” (Wiseman, 2004, p. 166). Moreover, school leaders are distinguishable from leaders in other organisations by their drive to enhance students’ learning and development: “They explicitly seek and want to make a difference to the schools they lead” (Davies, 2005, p. 75). Indeed, this was a key factor identified by Hay McBer Ltd. (2000) in giving evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee in 1998, concluding:

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…highly effective head teachers were the highest performing leaders when compared to other groups of senior managers in public and private sector organizations … The role of the head is one of the most demanding …because of the sheer range of management and leadership accountabilities.

Little wonder then, that there is an international concern for the preparation, recruitment and retention of headteachers. In Scotland, the concern is intensified against the backdrop of recently introduced legislation identifying the national programme Into Headship as mandatory for new headteachers from August 2020. There are concerns about the potential effects of this, with some looking for alternative ways to prepare aspirants for the complex role of headship in today’s school contexts.

6.5 How Can We Develop New Understandings About the Problem(s)? Despite the policy rhetoric, understandings of ‘the problem(s)’ of preparing, recruiting and retaining headteachers in Scotland are limited, with little interrogation or framing of key policy ideas (Forde & Torrance, 2021). Our intention is to draw from what is already known and to build a research project designed to stimulate new thinking, to raise significant questions and to construct narratives around prevailing educational leadership policy and practice, in order to generate debate and new ways of thinking (Barone, 2007). There is considerable material available to work with, using new lenses to critically analyse the relationship between policy expectation and assumptions, theory and lived experience. In exploring the lived experiences of headteachers, particularly their day-to-day experiences in that role, we look to draw on the potential of a creative analytical approach. Conceptual analysis underpins this research design, “where concepts, their characteristics and relations to other concepts are clarified” (Nuopponen, 2010, p. 4). Narratives ––illustrative of the interrelatedness between themes and ideas—will be aligned and organised within a refined, evolving and increasingly sophisticated conceptual framework. This framework provides a dynamic tool, intended as a device to provide coherence and conceptual distinctions to the complex phenomenon (Mitchell, 2019), with “deeper, and more integrative understanding of the topic and concepts central to the study” (Ravitch & Carl, 2015, p. 38). These methods encourage critical exploration and collaborative learning, since “treating problems as self-evident can pose a risk for evaluation practice” (Archibald, 2020, p. 2). Table 6.1 sets out how researchers and participants collaborate in both the generation and analysis of data. Through harnessing three innovative and less conventional theoretical approaches, there is potential to both identify root issues and to explore lived experiences differently, to surface new understandings particularly in the life history narratives.

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Table 6.1 Building knowledge collaboratively Method

Collaboration

Building knowledge

Critical policy analysis: Bacchi’s WPR method

Using Bacchi’s questions to critically probe with ‘expert groups’ policy problems, solutions and alternatives

Identifying key issues for further exploration through the Delphi method

Delphi methods

Co-constructing meanings/ building consensus through participants responding to guiding questions and then analysing their collaborative responses in a series of feedback loop rounds

Identifying key questions for use with further Delphi groups; providing parameters for headteacher life history interviews

Life history narrative interviews

Participant and researcher collaborate to co-construct a life history narrative through the interview and a series of feedback loop rounds Researcher generates semi-fictional accounts of specific encounters and participant responds

Co-authored individual life history narratives exemplifying overarching themes of experiences. Data for use in cross-sample thematic analysis the day-to-day experiences of headship

In the following sections, we discuss these research methods. We briefly outline the purpose and process of firstly, the Bacci-based critical policy and literature review, and secondly, the Delphi Method. However, our main focus for this chapter is on the life history narratives and the challenges in developing collaborative approaches especially to data analysis, which have led us to trial a creative analytical approach.

6.6 The Bacchi Approach: Structured Critical Literature and Policy Analysis The Bacchi technique can be harnessed in two ways to provide a specific means of critically analysing what ‘the problem(s)’ is/are in preparing, recruiting and retaining headteachers in Scotland and in turn, what ‘the problem’ is intended to address: first, through critical analysis of relevant policy documents; second, through critical analysis of other texts such as policy critiques, scholarly discussions and empirical studies. Bacchi (2012a), drawing on Foucault’s (1977) argument about the significance of exploring why and how things become named as problems—‘problem representation’—provides an approach to the critical reading of key texts, providing a means of ‘disrupting taken-for-granted truth’, based on “a basic premise—that what we say we want to do about something indicates what we think needs to change and hence, how we constitute the ‘problem’” (Bacchi, 2012a p. 4). That is, how the problem is identified, classified and regulated. As Carson contends (2018, p. 1):

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The ‘WPR’ approach serves as a necessary interruption to the presumption that ‘problems’ are fixed and uncontroversial starting points for policy development, and it reminds us that the banal and vague notion of ‘the problem’ and its partner ‘the solution’ are heavily laden with meaning.’

Conventional policy analysis can omit to acknowledge underpinning assumptions, resulting in policy only being capable of solving a particular group’s issues. Policy discourse analysis using Bacchi’s (2012a) WPR framework, enables the examination of persistent policy problems in new ways, analysing how realities and solutions to perceived issues are shaped, identifying (discriminatory) policy silences, encouraging unthinking and rethinking of policy solutions, as well as how policy implementation is evaluated (Allan & Tolbert, 2019). The critical analysis of texts comprises four stages, combining Bacchi’s (2012b) WPR framework with a thematic analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2018), to problematise the way problems specific to preparing, recruiting and retaining headteachers are presented. This set of texts is first be analysed to generate broad themes to sort items into clusters. Second, references to the perceived problem(s) (such as issues and tensions) and to the perceived solution(s) in the extant system are extracted. Third, these extracts are analysed thematically, using Clarke and Braun’s (2018) six stages to categorise, with the codes of meaning interpreted within the texts. Overarching themes are identified. Finally, these findings are subjected to Bacchi’s (2012b) ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) framework of six questions to explore the policy problem, through analysis of the data to prepare a critical commentary on this body of scholarship. The next stage is to utilise Bacchi’s (2012a) six questions through a Delphi process to co-construct with participants, understandings of policy intentions and to explore alternatives.

6.7 The Delphi Technique: Participatory Knowledge Creation The Delphi method is a flexible, effective and efficient research method (Skulmoski et al., 2007), originally developed in the United States as a way of forecasting future scenarios (Iqbal & Pipon-Young, 2009; Skulmoski et al., 2007) but is also useful where knowledge about phenomena is incomplete or contested, as it can be used to: determine the range of opinions; test relevant questions; explore consensus. Delphi is participatory in nature (Maxey & Kezar, 2016), used to gather and analyse the perspectives of experts through an iterative process of questionnaires (or meetings) and feedback, designed to enhance understandings and/or identify a dearth or incomplete knowledge (Skulmoski et al., 2007). In this research, ‘expert’ covers a range of roles: policy developers and actors, teacher educators, aspirant and serving headteachers. A typical Delphi Method is in the form of questionnaires where the Round 1 Questionnaire (R1Q) is formulated, kept open-ended to encourage brainstorming/problem

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solving and taking around 30 min to complete. Data analysed from the R1Q is used to construct the Round 2 Questionnaire (R2Q). Participants are given the opportunity to: check the researchers’ interpretations of their responses; verify or change/expand their Round 1 responses to ensure that they reflect their views in relation to the other panellists’ responses which are shared with them (and so the researcher should check whether any changes have been made, requiring the data to be re-analysed). Participants then complete the R2Q, with the process for each iterative round repeated until either the research question is answered, a consensus is reached, theoretical saturation is achieved or when sufficient information has been gleaned (Skulmoski et al., 2007). As a method, Delphi is adaptive and responsive to the context and needs of the study. Using an adaptation of Green’s (2014) structure, the first step has been to bring together a group of experts to generate ideas about the current challenges around headship and headship preparation, asking for feedback on emerging understandings (Torrance et al., 2020) and to use these for further questions (Table 6.2). Through this approach of working with communities of practice to identify key questions and collectively review and evaluate responses, we are strengthening the participatory approach in both the initiation of the project and the analysis of data as a means to co-produce knowledge. This collaboratively mapping of the evolving role of headteachers through the Delphi Method is then utilised in the co-construction of life history narratives. Table 6.2 Delphi method co-constructing questions Round 1 questions

Emerging issues

In what ways do current policy and expectations of headteachers influence teachers in their decision-making about a career in headship?

The role and expectations of What tensions are evident in headship: notwithstanding the the design and practice of the consensus among the main headteacher role? stakeholders, there remain tensions in this role

Why is the role of headteacher not attractive to more teachers in Scotland?

Increasing policy What role should expectations….is there the headteachers have in national political will to facilitate a policy development? paradigm shift in policy development, allowing for the establishment and sustaining of links across the education system?

In what ways might formal Rather than formal headship headship preparation facilitate preparation, it is current or hinder progress to headship? perceptions of the complex nature of headship and the range of demands made daily and long term on the role, which hinder progress to headship

Round 2 questions

In what ways can the positive facets of the role of headteacher be represented to nurture a career aspiration for more teachers?

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6.8 Narrative and Life History Approaches: Insights from Experiences and Perceptions Historically, researchers have generally been viewed as objective, outside the set of experiences being investigated rather than being an insider practitioner. Interest in the narrative in social research has developed substantially since the 1980s. Cortazzi (2003, p. 200) identifies at least four reasons behind the importance of narrative analysis with its focus on: experience and meanings; concern with providing representation; ability to tap into the “humanity of teaching and learning and of its leadership”; and ability to explore research activity itself. Life history and narrative approaches can take different forms within an autographical approach to research (Forde et al., 2009). Narrative inquiry is particularly useful in this research study with its PAR approach, as it involves the telling of the story in full, giving participants voice, highlighting issues of power and collaboration in the research process as researcher and participant co-construct the story (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). The story—as with all lived experiences—evolves. Narrative responses can be developed into a coherent story or alternatively, searched through for key underlying and perhaps comparative themes. These responses can be drawn on to illuminate specific episodes from this lived experience. In this study a narrative approach is, for example, to explore participants’ journeys to headship, generating a set of qualitative case studies illustrative of and providing depth to key themes in the findings. In the process of analysis, we have looked to combine methods that enable us to explore the overarching themes emerging from across the sample of narratives of the journey towards as well as exploring the day-to-day lived experiences of becoming and being a headteacher. Narrative is often utilised within constructivist life history research which as a methodology, consists of a collective of life stories comprising the main data source, challenging the idea of a universal truth (Wright, 2019). A life history is more than a life story (a rendering or interpretation of a lived experience) as it goes beyond an individual story recounted, drawing on other stories, theories, contexts and interpretations to add richness and depth (Goodson & Sikes, 2001; Wright, 2019). In so doing, life history research can capture the complexity of people’s lives, exploring subjective realities, potentially providing transformative experience, allowing participants to reflect on and gain enhanced understandings of decisions and actions taken as they talk (Smith, 2012). In order to avoid misinterpretation or misunderstanding, the researcher utilises an interpretive frame, adopting an emic (insider) rather the more common etic (outsider) positionality (Jones, 1983; Wright, 2019). In so doing, ‘emic issues’ or research questions revealed by actors emerge (Stake, 1995), enabling minority communities to challenge the hegemonic discourses embedded in Eurocentric research methodologies (Wright, 2019). Life stories and life histories are well used feminist methodologies, employed to explore the lived experiences of women (Smith, 2012). One of the criticisms of life story methodologies is that of validity. From a constructivist perspective, traditional validity is not perceived of as important, as researchers are not searching for an objective or universal truth (Dhunpath, 2000).

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Life history is based on an acceptance of the validity of other people’s experiences and truths, with participant ‘voice’ kept central and through listening, the researcher/narrator remaining aware of (reflexive, rather than denying) their own perceptions and bias, throughout the co-construction and sense-making processes to ensure participants’ voices are not obscured or misrepresented (Smith, 2012). As such, the researcher’s experiences should be open to critical and public scrutiny: “Validity is established by demonstrating that sociological explanation is congruent with the meanings through which members construct their realities and accomplish their everyday practical activities” (Jones, 1983, p. 152; Wright, 2019, p. 186). In so doing, trustworthiness is enhanced with a more considered depth of analysis reached, whilst recognising that stories “are actively and inventively crafted” (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009, p. 30). In this PAR study, the principles of life history method could provide a means of firstly, collaboratively generating stories and secondly, inviting participants to reflect on emerging themes from the cross-sample analysis, balancing these overarching findings with individual perspectives (Heilbrun, 1989) and balancing broad processes of the journey with the day-to-day experiences.

6.9 Writing the Narrative The attraction of this family of narrative methods is to gain a better understanding of the social reality and so, it is the story itself as well as the context leading up to the story and surrounding the story that is of interest (Atkinson, 1998). Our focus is on the lived experiences of participants as leaders in school, including ‘their journey’ to their current leadership role and their aspirations regarding future developments. In so doing, insights are sought in relation to defining participants’ “place in the social order of things and the process used to achieve that fit”, as well as explaining their “understanding of social events, movements, and political causes”, and how they perceive the relationship between their experiences and their ongoing development (Atkinson, 1998, pp. 13–14). In adopting a constructionist approach (Elliott, 2005) each headteacher/middle leader would be considered ‘an artful narrator’, the aim of each narrative interview being to stimulate their ‘interpretive capacities’ in activating the production of narratives. The interview would therefore comprise a site for data production as well as an opportunity to collaboratively explore meaning. This goes part way to explain why narrative inquiry attracts criticism by those, “making the claim of co-optation of voice” (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 75). Life history attracts criticism because of its positioning of the life history within a historical context, preventing it from becoming “uncoupled from the conditions of their social construction” (Goodson & Sikes, 2001, p. 17). Narrative approaches make particular demands on researchers but this helps to reinforce its participatory underpinnings. The ability to “listen attentively and beyond what is actually being said” and to “ask pertinent questions in a non-threatening manner” is centrally important, along with being “the sort of person that people want to talk to” (Goodson & Sikes, 2001, pp. 20–26). Active interviewers “converse with respondents in such a way

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that alternate possibilities and considerations come into play” (Holstein & Gubrium, 2004, p. 151). Through so doing, the researcher seeks to hear and understand another person’s story, telling it back to them, “in a new way” (Hooks, 1990, p. 151). The researcher has to listen, “in an emotionally attentive and engaged way… demanding as it does an abandonment of the self in a quest to enter the world of another” (Riessman, 2008, pp. 26–27); exemplify “the ability to be humane, empathic, sensitive, and understanding”, be “the best listener possible” and develop “a bridge of trust… and acceptance” (Atkinson, 1998, pp. 28, 33 & 35). In so doing, “turn taking is disrupted, or suspended, for a time and the other conversational participants give the story-teller privileged access to the floor (Coates, 1996; Sacks, 1992)” (Elliott, 2005, p. 10) with “longer turns at talk than are customary in ordinary conversations, … requir[ing] investigators to give up control” (Riessman, 2008, p. 24). Narrative research with its emphasis on trustworthiness, offers a pragmatic alternative to validity and generalisability. Trustworthiness is the preferred construct for a number of authors (Atkinson, 1998; Bush, 2003; Lincoln & Guba, 1985 in Bassey, 1999; Elliott, 2005; Mishler, 1990; Riessman, 2008). Transparency becomes key in terms of making methodological decisions clear, describing the production of interpretations and the availability of primary data. In adopting a life story approach, personal truth is acknowledged from the subjective point of view (Atkinson, 1998; Riessman, 2008), internal consistency, coherence and plausibility becoming important quality checks.

6.9.1 Collaborative Analysis There is a tension between the integrity of each life history and the cross-sample analysis. Smith (2012) made a clear distinction in her study of women teachers’ careers; once she had sent the transcripts to the participants who could amend and add to the material, there was no longer any involvement in the process of analysis and development of the data. However, in our study, we are working collaboratively to ensure that the interviewee has both an active role in the construction of the life history and is also actively reflecting on the cross-sample data. The stages of this collaborative process are mapped out in Table 6.3. Our initial approach was to gather narratives of headteachers’ journeys to and experience of headship through interviews using a set of semi-open-ended questions. To analyse the data collaboratively, two researchers and the participant independently reviewed and coded the recording/transcript of the interview and then held a three-way discussion. These were intensive discussions where the meaning of key codes/themes (Clarke & Braun, 2018) were examined with researchers and participants working collaboratively to capture the participant’s meaning and define the key themes. In the pilot phase, this step was then followed by two further discussions to test the applicability of the themes, and then reflect on the process, this time between

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Table 6.3 Co-authoring life histories Stage in data analysis

Roles

Outcome

Defining and agreeing on codes and themes

Independent review

R & I individually review Set of codes and recording/transcript possible themes

> Headteacher leadership style > Reluctance to move into headship > Confidence in leading small projects > Opportunities from CPD…

Working collaboratively

R & I explore emerging codes

Agreed themes

> Influence of headteacher > Professional development > Growing sense of self as a leader > Relationships and purposes…

Cross-sample analysis

R generates a ‘code book’ and compares and contrasts emerging themes; all Is reflect and comment on codes and analysis

Sample of life histories––thematic analysis

> Influence of headteachers > Impact of professional development > External pressures > Own vision and values…

Roles: R = researcher; I = headteacher interviewee

the two researchers and two participants (who had a dual role as participants and researchers). From the discussion, it was evident that for the participant researchers, this process—the interview and the discussions agreeing on the codes and themes— had been a very positive experience. Each participant researcher indicated that they appreciated the opportunity to ‘tell their story’, to be affirmed in this, to reflect on what they saw as pivotal experiences and indeed, to make sense of their journey to and in headship. They also reported that, though lengthy, through these discussions they felt assured they were able to tell their story rather than this being interpreted by researchers. In these discussions, a significant issue emerged related to how we would maintain the significant experiences of the individual life history and the authenticity of the participant’s voice and at the same time, how we would look across the sample to generate understandings. The typical process of moving from each individual set of data would be to discuss the themes using verbatim quotations from different interviews as illustrations. However, there was a sense that this process was inadequate, as we would lose the importance of the stories they told of their day-to-day experiences.

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6.9.2 Illuminating the Lived Experiences of Headship: A Creative Analytical Approach These life history narratives are individual accounts of the journey to and in headship which can, to a degree, be regarded as fictive in that the participant selects what they regard as the significant experiences in this journey. There is a dramaturgical element with participants recounting key tensions and turning points. What is also evident is that these are ‘peopled’ accounts, peppered with references to encounters, often seemingly minor, with others. These interactions and relationships are of critical importance in understanding these headteacher life history narratives, given that leadership is a relational practice (Eacott, 2019) where leading is influencing through engagements with others. The use of a thematic analysis framework helped surface some of these references to others. However, we looked for a way of capturing and exploring these critical encounters in these ‘peopled’ life history narratives by trialling a creative analysis approach using semi-fiction (Whiteman & Phillips 2006). The peopled nature of the narratives presented in the transcripts is of interest to us, where leadership is being exercised in day-to-day, often fleeting, encounters which are of great significance for the participant, given that they selected these moments/encounters in their accounts of their experience of becoming and being a headteacher. The interview data pointed to how much of being a headteacher, is relational (Eacott, 2019). The data also pointed to the acute nature of these seemingly everyday encounters. It was here we looked for different ways in which we could analyse the data and turned to the idea of a creative analytical approach to capture these encounters. Watson (2011) notes that narrative research is used across social science as a tool but in this, there is little use of fictional narratives in which to present content. However, as Watson (2011, p. 396) notes “the artful nature of all narrative constructions” where all narratives are made up, suggests that this may be a fruitful approach in the exploration of lived experiences. There is an increasing interest in the use of literary forms to explore the lived experiences of individuals within a social setting, particularly an organizational setting (De Cock & Land, 2006) where narrative fictions are presented as research texts. Of the three modes of using literature in organization studies, De Cock and Land (2006) propose, mode 2 seemed to have the potential for us. Mode 2 is the use of literary genres as a way of representing organizational knowledge. De Cock & Land (2006, p. 11) argue that the use of literary genres can “radically critique [a] social organisation” surfacing and making explicit the lived experiences of individuals and their encounters with others. In doing so these semi-fictional texts can be provocative and lead to further reflection on these experiences. This approach can be used to present a nuanced version of these experiences, thereby having the potential to challenge unquestioned beliefs and to surface what is assumed.

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Whiteman & Phillips (2006, p. 6) argue that using different strategies to write accounts of experiences in organisations, allows us to “shape organizational knowledge in different ways”. The consonance of Whiteman &Phillips’ focus on organisation studies with the study of the role of the headteacher, suggested that producing semi-fictional texts was a possibility. Whiteman and Phillips propose two different types of stories that are utilised in research—those produced by members of an organization and collected as data and those stories created by researchers to present data. In this study of headteachers’ journey to and in headship, we looked to combine these approaches with the headteacher participants providing their story and the researchers drawing on this data to create semi-fictional accounts of specific critical incidents. In this, we looked “to produce texts that present theoretical insight into organizational phenomena” (Whiteman & Phillips, 2006, p. 14). Mifsud (2016) used a creative analytical approach to explore the mismatch between what principals narrated and their behaviour in meetings. We wanted to explore another mismatch in these encounters: the mismatch between the perceptions of the headteacher and those of the person they were engaging with. These encounters were, for the participants, ladened with meaning and the tension often related to a gap between their perceptions and the views of the other person. Indeed, the life history narratives suggest that bridging this gap is a daily task for headteachers as they engage with a wide variety of people.

6.9.3 Creative Methods of Analysis: Constructing Scenes The use of vignettes (Towers & Maguire, 2017) as a means of representing these encounters was considered––short accounts of these critical encounters provided by the participant. However, such texts would be limited to the perspective of the headteacher narrator. We decided to explore these encounters from the different perspectives of the people involved in these by constructing short scenes. The purpose in generating these dramatic scenes is partly to illuminate how headteachers “construct and perform their identities” (Mifsud, 2016, p. 866) by constructing the other (Watson 2011). Therefore, we looked for some means to explore how headteachers in the positioning of others, constructed their identity through their narration of a specific encounter. We looked to underline the differing perspective by including firstly, a dialogue between the participant and the other person and secondly, the inner monologue of each party in this dyadic encounter. By introducing the voice of ‘the other’ into the life history narratives as well as a third voice, that of the researcher by constructing these scenes allowed us to “trouble the commonsense understanding of data” (Mifsud, 2016, p. 867) and gain insights into the significance of these fleeting encounters. Once the texts were written, participants were asked to reflect on these. We chose this approach of selecting specific encounters rather than a longer dramatic narrative because, in the transcripts/recordings, there were multiple encounters over the long journey to and in headship. These encounters appeared to be highly significant, given that the participants selected these in the life history narrative but they were episodic in nature. Therefore, rather than detailing one long semi-fictional narrative or drama, we sought a way of crystalising these often fleeting encounters.

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The interview questions had lent themselves to the construction of a linear story and so our starting point in developing these scenes was to look for an overarching framework so we could contextualise these encounters at a particular point in the headteacher journey. Earley and Jones (2010) provide a schemata of the phases of headship—(1) early career leadership (2) preparation (3) early headship (4) experienced headship (5) headship and the wider system––which we used to identify the critical phases of the journey. The transcripts/recordings were reviewed and specific encounters were selected for each phase. Once the encounters had been selected, one of the researchers then constructed a short scene. We illustrate these semi-fictional accounts with two scenes from the participants’ experiences in early headship. In the interview from which the first scene is based, the headteacher spoke about the considerable pressure she had experienced in the local authority (LA) which tended to be directive about school improvement planning, in contrast to her previous experiences in another LA. The scene presents a dialogue between the headteacher and the LA officer and the inner monologue of each party. The scene was then explored with the participant who was asked to record her response to this scene. Our focus was on how the participant constructed the gap between the perceptions of a headteacher in relation to their role and the perceptions of others about this role (Table 6.4). The reflection from the participant: This still makes me feel uncomfortable even reading it now. I can completely understand the different perspectives here and the ‘support and challenge’ role of the local authorities. However, for me, it is imperative that a relationship of trust should be developed between LAs and HTs. It’s very easy to make HTs, especially those who are new in the post feel undermined rather than encouraged and empowered. If we want to attract and keep the best school leaders in HT positions, fostering a culture where HTs feel trusted, respected, and supported would seem to me to be vital. The relational aspect of this should not be underestimated.

In this scene what has been added is the perspective of the other, exploring why this first headteacher might have commented in the way she did. What this scene helps to point up is not just the mismatch between what each perceives as the priorities for the headteacher but the underpinning construction of headship. In the life history narrative, there was a strong sense of the exchange between the participant and the LA Officer with the participant quoting some of this exchange. However, in the life history narratives, there are also more fleeting moments. The scene below depicts one of these fleeting moments from the second headteacher. The topic to be discussed in this encounter was less important than the mode of interaction. In this interview, the participant had spoken about how overnight she became the ‘Headteacher’ in the eyes of the staff even though she had worked with these colleagues for ten years. The participant reflected in the interview that she realised that some staff did become more distant but this was to do with their perceptions of the role of the headteacher rather than necessarily changes she made (Table 6.5).

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Table 6.4 Scene 1: what’s important?

Perspective 1 local authority The encounter officer

Perspective 2 headteacher 1

Getting off to a good start There is a huge agenda for this school Need to prioritise attainment—that’s the job The LA provides this support. HTs need to follow

This has to be about the school community We can only improve together This is what I am about as a headteacher – building shared values, working together––not paperwork!

LGO: “So what have you been doing since you started?” HT: “Things have been going well. It’s being great, I’ve been easing myself in, finding out about the school…” LGO: “Well, that’s doesn’t seem very much… You know there’s a lot to do here in this school.” HT: “Well for me, spending the time getting to know the staff, the children, the community, that’s really important” LGO: “Of course, but there much more that needs to be done, the improvement plan, the LA has several areas to be addressed by the school” HT: “Yes, I am seeing things that need to be improved, taking a note of these, but developing a sense of community, for me, that’s vital, LGO: “This is a critical time, need to hit the ground running in a new school. Attainment has to be your focus” HT: “Yes there are many things to address but for me I am about building a community here LGO: “What that risk assessment? The LA’s guidance was sent out. Have you completed …?

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Table 6.5 Scenario 2: becoming Ms. McBeath Perspective 1: principal teacher The encounter

Perspective 2 headteacher 2

Need to discuss this with the headteacher—need a decision This is the headteacher This needs to be formal with the headteacher

It must be serious otherwise why ‘Ms. McBeath’ He has been calling me Fiona for ten years I’ve not changed I have not changed but this is not about me, it’s about the role itself

Sorry to bother you. I know you’ll be busy, Ms. McBeath Oh, come on in—just getting sorted You see Ms. McBeath n, … It’s Fiona… Ms. McBeath, it’s about… Okay, let’s talk about…

The reflection from the participant: This fleeting interaction illuminates a number of challenges of novice headship, particularly when moving to Headteacher role in my current school, leading colleagues with whom I had worked closely for over ten years. In early interactions as the headteacher I realised I was viewed differently by some colleagues and that there was greater distance and formality from some individuals and groups of staff. I was initially uncertain about my identity and position as the headteacher. I had strong, positive relationships with the staff team and I didn’t want this to be undermined simply because of their view of the role—the Headteacher title—in a system that is traditionally hierarchically structured. I was conscious of how I was being perceived and felt in some ways that it would have been easier to go to a new school as a Headteacher. I had to accept that there was a difference; while I had not changed as a person, there was a leap in responsibility and ‘status’. Through conversations with staff, I realised the formality was about the respect for the position and giving me my place. Both these scenes were crafted from the discussions with the participants in the interviews. Both scenes relate to the first few months of headship and illustrate some of the issues faced by headteachers as they become established—both in the school and in terms of their growing identity as a headteacher. The two scenes are contrasting in that scene 1 relates to a formal meeting—though these were the ‘casual’ exchanges at the beginning of the meeting—and scene 2 relates to the type of exchange headteachers have every day. These episodes were recalled by the participants in their interviews many years afterwards and so clearly had been significant. Many issues are evident in these scenes which are pertinent to the development and support of novice headteachers, their vulnerabilities and their own coming to terms with the role and the development of their identity as a headteacher. Underpinning each of these encounters, is the gap between understandings about the purpose and role of the headteacher but also implicit, is the issue of power by coming to terms with the scope but also the limits of their power and influence, along with the way in which novice headteachers have to negotiate their position and what they see as their purposes.

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6.9.4 Tensions in Exploring Experiences in Becoming and Being a Headteacher The Future of Headship research project is based on a social constructivist stance where knowledge is perceived to be socially situated and is constructed through social exchange. In this research project, we want to both represent the authentic voice of the life lived and also to theorise about these experiences, in order to better understand headship. In looking to ensure the authenticity of voice and a sound theoretical framing of these experiences, at one and the same time, we need to find ways of representing understandings of these lived experiences. This process of coproducing knowledge, particularly the life history study of the journey to and in headship, has led us to explore different ways of gathering and analysing the data collaboratively. In the Future of Headship project, we are holding in tension a number of aspects: • Individual and collective—the agency of the individual leader (at all levels) but situated in an organisational space; • Narrative and analysis—the stories of the lived experiences of individuals and the systematic analysis of these lived experiences to understand the role of the headteacher; • Experiential and theoretical—the life lived and the bodies of knowledge which these lived experiences interrogate and augment; • Practice and critical—the everyday actions in leading and the revealing of the assumptions underpinning these practices; the exercise of power through these practices and the consequences of this use of power. These tensions are evident in the purposes and epistemological underpinnings of the study and the methods used to gather and then analyse data. These tensions have led to firstly, the blurring of the boundaries between researchers and participants and secondly, the exploration of ways in which these experiences, views and stories can be told, in order to contribute to the generation of different knowledge differently. An underlying tension exists between the voice of the participant in narrating their views and experiences, and the representation of data by the researchers. These tensions are evident in the data gathering methods as well as in the methods used for data analysis in the life history narratives. Our first step had been to adopt a typical qualitative data analysis method of thematic analysis, drawing from Clarke and Braun (2018) but we have now developed this as a collaborative process with the participant. Smith (2012) in her study of the careers of women teachers, worked with the participants to ensure the accuracy of the transcript. Thereafter, Smith drew from this data to write up the analysis. We wanted to push this boundary, by engaging participants in the analysis of the transcript/recording, and to collaboratively define the themes. Here, the initial intention was then to use these themes to analyse the experiences of the journey to and in headship. However, in this, we were in danger of losing not only the powerful individual account of the lived experiences of the participants, but the very immediate and transitory nature of their experiences as an aspirant and serving headteachers in

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encounters with others. It was here that we drew from a creative analytical approach to produce semi-fiction accounts of these encounters which enabled us to further reflect on these experiences with the participants reflecting on experiences “in this playful yet potentially penetrating activity” (Whiteman & Phillips, 2006, p. 21). These scenes may well serve an additional purpose in the evolution of the research project, being used as stimulus material in interviews or focus group discussions. The methods of data gathering and analysis used in this project are intended to produce different knowledge, differently. There is an urgent need to develop such insights about the role of headteacher.

6.9.5 Conclusion The recently published report from the Review of Educational Leadership, Management and Administration in the United Kingdom (BELMAS, Woods et al., 2020, p. 17) recognises key tensions relevant to this multifaceted study exploring ‘the problem(s)’ of preparing, recruiting and retaining headteachers in Scotland: Firstly, there is the evolving headteacher role with changes to the balance of increased responsibilities, autonomy and accountability. There are tensions around whether headteachers can be genuinely characterised as policy actors or rather, simply implementers of externally mandated reform. The second challenge is the degree of centralisation being exercised by extant political leadership, the Scottish National Party Government. Educational improvement remains central to government policy (and political ambitions) and so is highly politicised. … The third challenge relates to strengthening the link between leadership and learning … the relationship [being] not fully understood nor realised consistently.

The generation of provocative dialogue could be perceived as a challenge to orthodoxy. Or it could be embraced as a genuine effort to contribute to the further development of educational leadership in constructive ways. Perhaps it can be both. Indeed, perhaps it needs to be. Without a fundamental examination of the role of the headteacher as it currently stands, the identification of enablers and barriers to and in that role, and the identification of the core purpose(s) of headship with refined role definition(s), it is likely that the role of the headteacher will continue to seem all consuming and unattractive to teachers and deputes, regardless of remuneration or promised developmental support. With that, the debate is needed in relation to the capabilities required of contemporary school leaders and how best to support their leadership (and management) development. Otherwise, it is likely that we will be having the same conversations in another twenty years about ‘the problem(s)’ of preparing, recruiting and retaining headteachers in Scotland.

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Deirdre Torrance is Senior Research Fellow in Educational and School Leadership in the School of Education, University of Glasgow. Deirdre was designated Honorary Fellow of University of Edinburgh, recognising her national and local contributions, instrumental in securing significant grants supporting partnership innovations, expanding Masters-level provision. She has substantial professional background across primary, secondary, special education, local government and higher education. Deirdre is engaged in numerous collaborative research and writing projects around policy, leadership preparation, school leadership and management, and social justice leadership. Authoring/co-authoring numerous journal articles and chapters; co-editing a book (Angelle and Torrance, eds., 2019) and special issue journals. Christine Forde is Emeritus Professor at Glasgow University where she held a personal chair in Leadership and Professional Learning. Her research interests cover educational leadership development, professional learning and accomplished teaching and equality in education. Current research includes participating in the ISLD network on social justice leadership; leadership, governance and small systems; and the development and practice of headship and of middle leadership in schools. An important element of Professor Forde’s work has been working with policy communities and in 2019 she received the Robert Owen Award for her contribution to Scottish education. She is currently working on leadership development including middle leadership with the Centre for School Leadership in Ireland, the National Academy for Educational Leadership in Wales and Education Scotland. Margery A. McMahon is Head of the School of Education at University of Glasgow and Professor of Educational Leadership. Professor McMahon played a key role in the development and implementation of the national leadership strategy for schools, including leading the scoping team for the establishment of the Scottish College for Educational Leadership. A former teacher of History and Politics Margery has been involved in teacher education, career-long professional learning and leadership education since joining University of Glasgow. She is the author and co-author of a range of books and articles focusing on professional learning and leadership including, most recently Forde, C., and McMahon, M., (2019) Teacher Quality, Professional Learning and Policy, London: Palgrave MacMillan. Professor McMahon serves as an adviser and consultant to national and international agencies on leadership development and institutional capability building. She is UK Representative for the International Study Association for Teachers and Teaching (ISATT).

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Alison Mitchell is Headteacher of Rosshall Academy, a comprehensive state secondary school in Glasgow and seconded to Headteacher in Residence at the University of Glasgow, contributing to educational leadership preparation and research. She has 29 years professional experience in secondary education in Scotland and recently completed a degree of Master of Education (Educational Studies) at the University of Glasgow, receiving the William Boyd Prize for the most distinguished Masters student in the School of Education. Her professional context and experience motivate many research interests, including ethical school leadership, education policy and professional collaboration in education. Julie Harvie is a Lecturer in Educational Leadership and Programme Leader for the In and Into Headship programmes at the University of Glasgow. She is the Depute of the Educational Leadership and Policy Research and Teaching Group and Quality Enhancement Officer for the School of Education. Julie previously held the role of Primary Head Teacher and Depute Head Teacher l. She also has experience of system leadership having worked as an Enterprise Development Officer within North Lanarkshire. She gained her Educational Doctorate in 2018 specialising in interdisciplinary learning. Julie is also a member of the School of Education Ethics Committee.

Chapter 7

The Lockdown Files: University Performance and Development Reviews (PRDs) as a Form of Governmentality Stephen Day and Anne Pirrie

Abstract This chapter offers a critical perspective on leadership and management in higher education by exploring the process of performance review and development (PRD) as a form of governmentality (‘lockdown’ in the discourse of COVID-19). The form of the chapter—a series of dialogic exchanges between co-authors—subverts the processes of subjectification that normally characterise such exchanges, where persons are placed on either side of a line that nobody drew. This unique form of representation also challenges the ‘governmentality’ that is implicit in conventional forms of academic discourse. The ethical relation between the co-authors is foregrounded through their correspondence as they embark upon the process of performance review and development (PRD) that is a common feature of academic life in the UK. They explore the fault lines between leadership and management in higher education in the context of a particular dyadic relationship. Drawing upon a brief dialogic exchange that occurred within the context of teaching and learning, the authors explore how notions of leadership are implicated in the broader enterprise of teaching and learning in initial teacher education (ITE). They conclude by drawing out a series of distinctions between leadership and management in terms that foreground the Foucauldian notion of governmentality. Keywords Performance review and development (PRD) · Higher education · Governmentality · Educational leadership · Educational management

7.1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to the debate on leadership and management in higher education. This entails exploring, albeit briefly, the extent to which they can be distinguished from the broader enterprise of teaching and learning in the context of initial teacher education (ITE). We focus primarily on how the distinct but interrelated concepts of leadership and management are enacted in the context of an S. Day (B) · A. Pirrie University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_7

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annual performance review and development (PRD) meeting. PRD meetings are an established feature of life in UK universities. All academic and professional services staff are subject to performance reviews, irrespective of career stage or status (i.e. tenured or non-tenured). This chapter comprises a series of dialogic exchanges between its co-authors. The initial focus is on a particular instance of ‘performance management’ in a UK higher education institution. Not surprisingly, given that in the UK academics are subjected to ‘the daily erosion of academic integrity, the relentless commodification of scholarly values, and the tightening grip of managerialist autocracy’ (Collini, 2018), PRD processes in universities are increasingly informed by practices that originated in the private sector. In the corporate world, there is a marked tendency to validate the quantifiable and occlude the intangible (Wolff, 2017). Our aim here is to challenge the validity of the quantifiable (e.g. the relentless focus on publications, grant capture, student satisfaction, etc., as indices of a satisfactory performance); and to afford greater scope for the not-yet speakable, the as-yet unspoken in academic life and in collegial relations across various lines of difference. Exploring the fault lines between leadership and management is a necessary corrective to the renewed interest in organisational leadership ‘in the context of a societal and organizational culture dominated by control and performativity’ (Simpson et al., 2002, p. 1209). We bring to bear a wide range of inter-disciplinary conceptual (Foucault, Butler) and stylistic resources (correspondence as an instance of practical aesthetics) (Herzogenrath) in order to consider the necessary preconditions for human flourishing across a range of roles in higher education. In the ‘leadership episode’ that provided the starting point for this chapter, the authors are cast in the roles of ‘line-manager’ and ‘reviewee’ respectively.1 It is important to point out that in this case the enactment of these roles was coloured by a pre-existing collegial relationship, and a commitment to exploring issues together in a manner that occasionally surfaces dissent. This complex relationship is made manifest through the correspondence between the co-authors of this chapter. In respect of both form and content, therefore, the aim is to transcend the ‘relentless, simplistic, prescriptive accounts of educational leadership that have been … prevalent for so many decades’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 153). There is a method concealed within this minor act of unsuspected subversion. As a form of direct address to a person, correspondence carries with it echoes of response, responsiveness and responsibility. It also foregrounds the ethical relation between the authors, affording scope for disagreement and dissent. This is part and parcel of ‘reflective practice’ in academic life, and yet it is frequently stifled in a climate of conformity and control. Proceeding via email correspondence prepares the ground for a ‘performative critique that … emphasises care, pragmatics and potentialities’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 148) rather than the fulfilment (or otherwise) of pre-determined performance indicators and the monitoring of compliance. We consider this a necessary antidote to managerialist imperatives to cohere around a set of pre-determined institutional targets and atomised, individualized SMART objectives. By seeking out ‘how discourse comes together’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 150), academic writing as correspondence foregrounds ‘who is speaking’

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(Foucault, 2002, p. 55). This implicitly challenges the governmentality of conventional academic practice, including the privileging of a ‘theoretical framework’ in writing that attempts to explore dimensions of human experience. The form of the chapter emerged as a pragmatic response to lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. We devised a way of working that draws on ‘practical aesthetics’ (Herzogenrath, 2020), i.e. informed by ‘real world’ encounters and elaborated upon in a way that enabled us to continue to think in a difficult situation. As Herzogenrath (2020, p. 1) points out, ‘sensible or aesthetic cognition, “clearobscure” as it is, is of the utmost importance for “making sense” of the world—the “logic of sense” has to be aligned with the “logic of sensation”’. Corresponding in the manner illustrated below also exposed the fallacy of ‘business as usual’ that pervaded communications from the university during this period. As the novelist Michael Faber has observed, living through the coronavirus pandemic brought with it an ‘enduring awareness that we’re all living through a different reality, despite the media rhetoric about how we’re all in this together’ (Faber, 2020). ‘The lockdown files’ also gesture towards the Foucauldian notion of governmentality that informs our exploration of the PRD process and the exploration of the distinctions between leadership and management. We suggest that the Foucauldian notion of governmentality is a useful conceptual tool for studying processes of governance by focusing critically on power dynamics and micro-practices by identifying the ‘mentality’ or rationality underpinning the reasoning that is integral to, and makes possible different modes of governing (Lemke, 2002). If lockdown becomes a metaphor for governmentality, then the correspondence between the two authors that makes up this narrative inquiry is a playful riff on two related Foucauldian concepts, subjectification and technologies of the self (Foucault, 1988), i.e. how individual subjectivities are inflected by particular discourses; and the practices through which academics shape themselves in relation to the demands placed upon them by the discourse of educational leadership and management. The mode of the presentation below encapsulates two discrete forms of resistance. Firstly, it accords primacy to the lived experience of academics in a culture of performativity, including the manner in which they resist being shaped in relation to the dominant discourse of PRD and conventional distinctions between leadership and management. Secondly, by focusing on the push–pull of exchanges conducted in a collegial spirit and in a climate of trust this contribution implicitly challenges the governmentality of the ‘theoretical framework’ that so often takes centre-stage in academic discourse. We also draw on Judith Butler’s work on the formation of the self under conditions of constraint and the concept of ethical violence (Butler, 2005).

7.2 The Matter of Methodology As we began to prepare the groundwork for this chapter, we (Stephen and Anne) had several informal discussions directed towards what the focus of this research ought to be, how we might capture the complexity of interactions surrounding the object

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of the research and how we might use the Foucauldian concepts of governmentality, subjectification and technologies of the self to illustrate our thinking through the focus on leadership as opposed to management. This sequence of discussions led us to ponder our relative positions (at the personal, professional and theoretical level) within these interactions and how best to bring these perspectives to bear on the problem at hand. We knew from the outset that we wanted to be adopt a creative yet subtle methodology, since we were engaging with one another in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, but we also wanted to capture the reality of the PRD process while taking our collaboration into deeper water conceptually. To this end, we decided to adopt a narrative inquiry approach in terms of the dialogic interactions that occurred in the run up to, during and after the PRD meeting, which we argue is a common practice within most educational establishments in the United Kingdom. The ‘data’ for this research takes the form of correspondence, in this case, an exchange of emails. The PRD meeting took place on and was recorded using the videoconferencing software Zoom for later reference and analysis. As part of our creative analytic practice, we endeavoured to maintain a level of authenticity and openness to the research process and throughout our subsequent exchanges. The rationale for adopting such an approach was threefold. First, we wished to capture and maintain the complexity of the PRD process, in terms of the thoughts and feelings of both participants within the leadership episode, while opening up the space to capture individual perspectives as this was an authentic exchange as part of our institutional annual review process. Second, we wished individually and collectively to reflect more critically on both the PRD process itself, in terms of the meeting as it unfolded, relative to its purpose, nature, and impacts and the opportunities it afforded to come to a mutual understanding of the complex forces that are brought to bear on the actors within the process as seen within the correspondence that followed. Third, we recognised that the focus of the research neatly aligned with our shared interest in social theory and so we approached the analysis in terms of how the application of a Foucauldian lens, as an analytical frame for analysing the ‘data’ would help us to cope with the complexity of the data while explicitly rendering the seemingly mundane and quotidian practice of PRD more visible. What follows outlines the exchange while attempting to bring a more humanistic view into focus of what we would argue is a bureaucratic process of social control.

7.3 The Lockdown Files Let us enter into this correspondence by taking a look at what was going on in the second author’s head prior to the PRD meeting with her line-manager during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anne emails Stephen It is always difficult to determine when any particular story begins. For our current purposes, however, I will take the annual invitation from the university to engage

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with the performance review and development (PRD) process. I am assured that this process is designed to be ‘collaborative and supportive’ and am informed that there is an explicit focus on well-being in the light of the disruption to normal patterns of work brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Yet I am also acutely aware that the basic assumptions that govern the process remain unchanged. In this instance as a ‘reviewee’, I require development and support; and as my ‘line-manager’ and reviewer you don’t (although the university deems that you may benefit from undertaking ‘training’ in this area). In short, in the context of this particular interaction, you are the one who passes judgement on me, and in circumstances other than those we are currently experiencing in lockdown, you are the one who deems my performance as satisfactory or otherwise. There is a vessel to be filled, and it has been pre-ordained that my cup will never run over. And yet we both know that this is not how it works, and that is why we have embarked on this joint enterprise. In short, there is a degree of reciprocity and uncertainty involved in the PRD process that is often overlooked rarely theorised. I’ve been thinking back to yesterday, when we went through the business of reviewing my ‘performance’. I wanted to put my impressions on record, as I sense that they have a bearing on the validity of the typology of leadership upon which you originally wanted to draw in order to explore the dynamics of what you are calling a ‘leadership episode’. I think of it as just another in a series of professional encounters that bear the hallmarks of the particular relational ethics (Frosh, 2011) that give them their character. Yesterday, for me you were *just* Stephen. You began by asking me to look back over the past year and identify what I considered my greatest achievement. As you are Stephen and I am Anne—a theme that we have addressed before (Pirrie & Day, 2019)—I was able to tell you pretty much in so many words that I don’t view my performance in such terms. ‘I don’t think of my professional life in terms of individual achievements’, I said. I tried to explain (no doubt slightly awkwardly because I had that all-too-familiar sense of not being able to do as I am bidden) that anything of value in my personal or professional life arises in and through relationships with others. I gave some examples that I won’t reprise in detail here, apart from to point out (and later, perhaps, to demonstrate) that the most precious of these were not things that could be set on the invisible set of scales and measured. Indeed, due to the nature of the ‘technologies’ adopted by the university—i.e. ‘the intellectual, practical instruments and devices which shape and guide “being human”, or, more specifically here, being a teacher or a researcher’ (Ball, 2016, p.1135)—the things that matter most cannot even be rendered visible. Fortunately, due to the factors I outline above, I was able to entrust them to you in any case. As O’Brien (2019) puts it, there is a need ‘to push back against … accumulating what is measurable [and] instead become engrossed in what counts.’ What happened next was a chance event that made me question the assumptions of our current enterprise, namely that it is feasible to do as you initially suggested, i.e. for you to enact certain leadership styles (e.g. autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire or transformational) ex nihilo and for us to review this process together.2 You and I are not just some random ciphers pulled out a machine. Nor do we exist in a vacuum, but rather in a complex interplay with our environment and the various technologies (in

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the everyday and in the Foucauldian senses) that exist within it. But yet as Michael Faber pointed out, ‘we are all living through a different reality’. You are Zoomed out. And I have zoned-out, for reasons that I could explain but won’t here. Where do ‘leadership styles’ fit into our joint enterprise? I think leadership, learning and teaching are inextricably linked. ‘Line managers’ do not necessarily have a monopoly on the notion of leadership, nor even do teachers or lecturers. In short, leadership, teaching and learning are complex dances that involve following as well as leading. Stephen emails Anne Thank you for sending me your thoughts. I found them most illuminating. I confess to having been a little anxious in the run up to the meeting. This was mainly due to my understanding of how these types of meetings have been for you in the past and because I am acutely aware of our professional and personal relationship. The anxiety stems from my shared understanding of your work history over the past five years and from my deep desire to approach this meeting with compassion, respect and in some way to recalibrate the ‘institutional relationship’ rather than our personal and professional relationship. As I approached this meeting, I was reflecting on three key elements of my own leadership that I wished to bring to the discussion, namely humanity, integrity and openness. While I leave you to judge the extent to which I succeeded in embodying these characteristics, I feel that these three elements imbued the spirit of the discussion, at least in part, and the nature of the exchange. For me, the PRD meeting is a ‘leadership episode’ that ought to take place more often throughout the year than it hitherto has, given the nature of the work we do. I also believe that it is the place where together we create space for reflection on what has happened over the year, where we are now and where we wish to go from here. I have never agreed with the notion of judgement or the idea that these meetings are in some way based on a deficit model. However, I am increasingly aware of how these types of meetings are set up by the institution to position the corresponding actors within the meeting in certain ways, as you describe. My natural inclination, in this regard, is to trouble and to resist this notion. Yet I am positioned in terms of the institution and must be seen to comply with this pervasive form of governmentality. Otherwise, I may be deemed to be failing in my duty to comply with institutional requirements. We plod on. For my part, the cup is there to be filled but whose cup is it? Yours? Mine? Ours? Let us journey together and see where the road takes us. As I sit here this morning, drinking tea and wondering what to have for breakfast, I have been reflecting on what you wrote on Saturday. It is refreshing to engage in this form of exchange, as I have never been one for committing my thoughts to paper in this way. In response to the points you raised, I decided not to respond to your correspondence immediately as I did to your previous reflections. I wanted to consider each point in more detail. This was as much as a mark of respect for the effort you had put into exposing yourself and your thoughts to such scrutiny but also to enter into the spirit of the enterprise. I must apologise for what follows as it typifies my continuing struggle with free-form writing. I just can’t seem to move away from the academic form. So what follows is what I would describe as ‘pseudo-academic’.

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I would like to share my thinking on the typology of leadership styles. When I initially framed this chapter in such a way, I was attempting to question the validity of such typologies and to trouble the notion that these styles exist in isolation from one another. My current thinking is that these ‘styles’ are at best one dimensional, lack a sense of embodiment and need to be viewed as interwoven, dynamic and socioculturally bound. The original idea developed out of my desire to resist the view that a leader can be stereotyped in such a manner. The choice of the PRD process as an artefact of institutional governmentality provides us with a way in, with the means to critique the inter-related and often interchangeable concepts of leadership and management. During the PRD meeting, I felt relaxed and at ease. Your responses to my questions were open, very honest and more thoughtful (at least to my mind) than perhaps you realise. I want you to know how much I enjoyed the meeting. I wanted the meeting to take the form of a professional conversation between two persons, Stephen and Anne, with a view to bringing about a ‘meeting of minds’ framed around reflective questions designed to support the reflective process, not to drive it. In this regard, I think we did indeed manage to create a space where you could safely answer the reflective questions in a critical way. It was gratifying to know you could share your thinking in this way and I hope you felt that we could navigate any awkwardness that you felt when answering. The questions were meant to help you articulate your thinking, question the process and bring your character and personality to the fore. I know you well, and I hope that because of our working relationship, I was able to help you to surface your feelings and to air your concerns. My approach to PRD is to treat the reviewee as in individual rather than to try to fit them into a ‘one-size-fits-all’ techno-rational process. For that is contrary to my professional ethics and does not fit with who I am. The notion of leadership that I wish to embody, i.e. one that is humane, socioculturally responsive and that offers scope to explore and question theory, policy and practice. I wholeheartedly agree that we are not random ciphers but two professionals who correspond in a complex interplay with our environment and the various ‘technologies’ that govern our professional lives. We also relate to one another on other levels professionally and personally so any ‘leadership episode’ needs to be viewed in that relational context. I have no doubt that we will continue to converse, agree, disagree, debate and grow professionally together. It is this relationality that supports our development in theoretical and practical terms. Anne emails Stephen It’s a relief (but no great surprise) that we can ‘take a cup of kindness’, as it were. I’m pleased to note just how readily you have jettisoned the language of organizational leadership and the methodological straightjacket of ‘prescriptive, descriptive and normative models’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 148). As I suggested earlier, attempting to enact a particular ‘leadership style’, even in the interests of raising ‘significant questions about prevailing policy and practice that enrich an ongoing conversation’ (Barone, 2007, p. 460), would in our case have amounted to a pointless game of charades. In

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addition, and more nefariously, it would have fuelled the ‘over-estimation of leadercentric accounts of practice’ and ‘the valorisation of leadership as heroic’ (Niesche, 2018, p.148). I was delighted to see the words compassion, respect, integrity and openness feature in your response. It’s worth stressing that the reinstatement of the auxiliary virtues that you identify above is a necessary antidote to the practices and technologies (including the PRD process) that ensnare us in forms of performative individualism that abridge our humanity. I think that your desire to make good, or perhaps to make amends for the ethical violence to which I was previously subjected at an institutional level is laudable, but ultimately misplaced. What matters in the here and now is the quality of our personal and professional relationship, as we reconceptualise the role of performance in a culture dominated by performativity. Performance, i.e. the action of performing rather than the carrying out of a command or a duty, opens up a space and offers scope for the involvement of a range of players: students, teachers, ‘line managers’, etc. Performativity closes off such opportunities. The university determines who should strut and fret their hour upon a stage, while the poor players (i.e. those subject to review) are cast in the role of walking shadows. The manager initiates the review; the reviewee dons a mask and performs according to a script that has been expressly devised—or in the best-case scenario, co-created—for the purpose of demonstrating capabilities or achievement over a pre-determined time frame. As you rightly pointed out, this is repeatedly enacted at different levels in the institutional hierarchy. In the PRD process as currently constituted, there is little room for hesitancy, doubt or uncertainty, or indeed for relationships and interests that evolve over a broader time frame. Allow me to invoke Foucault (2002, p. 19) here: ‘do not ask who I am and do not ask me to remain the same: leave it to our bureaucrats and our police to see that our papers are in order. At least spare us their morality when we write’. Or as Butler (2005, p. 42) puts it, ‘any effort “to give an account of oneself” will have to fail in order to approach being true’. The paradox at the heart of this PRD process is that it will succeed only to the extent that, to paraphrase Butler, it ‘lets the other live’. Butler (2005) uses the term ethical violence to describe attempts to call forth a version of the other that makes the other something it should not be, to feel uncomfortable in a place where one might reasonably expect to feel at home. As far as I am concerned, the ethical violence to which I was previously subjected precludes any recalibration of the ‘institutional relationship’. As Butler (2005, p. 24) points out ‘[the] social dimension of normativity precedes and conditions any dyadic exchange, even though it seems that we make contact with that sphere of normativity precisely in the context of such proximate exchanges.’ As you said before, you are enmeshed in the problematic of power even as you reflect upon how to interact with me. Yet to mend what has previously been broken lies beyond your capabilities as an individual. There will be no superheroes here. As there is no system of redress, no possibility of the persons responsible for the injurious actions inflicted upon me being called to account, I am consigned to the institutional shadows. I have it written on my body, as it were, that ‘the collective ethos instrumentalizes violence to maintain the appearance of its collectivity’ (Butler, 2005, p. 4). Yet as you know I refuse to be ‘locked down’

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by these experiences. I have tried to suggest elsewhere that it is possible to ‘live our lives the whole way through, even in the midst of the inferno that is the contemporary university’. I have also indicated that to do so ‘requires a more conversational approach to education’ (Pirrie, 2019, p. 132). It is this turning towards the other that is the necessary precondition for giving an account of oneself. We embody that here, through the nature of this exchange. This turning towards the other is evident in your correspondence with me, and in the way in which you seek opportunities to let me bring my ‘character and personality to the fore’. This ethical stance transcends the limits of bureaucratic, managerial process that is premised on nailing things down, in eliciting definitive answers. It consists ‘in asking the question “Who are you?” and continuing to ask it without any expectation of a full or final answer’ (Butler, 2005, p. 43). There was one further point I wanted to raise with you before I briefly explore the ‘leadership episode’ that occurred during teaching, in order to demonstrate the point that notions of leadership permeate every aspect of our professional lives, including our teaching, and are not the preserve of leadership and management studies. In short, to consider leadership and management in a vacuum is to submit to the governmentality of managerialism. You seem to have a particular view of academic writing that precludes the conversational turn that we have taken here. I know that we can only touch upon the theme of governmentality very briefly here, but I wondered if your dismissal of this form of writing as ‘pseudo-academic’ is not itself a demonstration of the insidious power of governmentality. At the very least, your scepticism regarding this novel form of presentation demonstrates your enduring faith in the scientific method and perhaps an innate distrust of the artistic and literary, the personal and conversational. These differences between us are bound to surface now and then, given that your background in biomedical sciences and mine in the humanities. I raise this issue merely to draw attention to the pervasive nature of the ‘struggle against power, a struggle aimed at revealing and undermining power where it is most invisible and insidious’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 152). Veering away from positivism or admitting to a moment of hesitation about what to have for breakfast does not undermine what you or I have to say about governmentality. Quite the contrary in fact. As Bob Dylan reminds us in ‘It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) ‘even the president of the United States sometimes has to stand naked’. I see our ‘lockdown files’ as an example of a ‘form of knowledge development [that extends] beyond the more traditional and narrow mainstream framing’ (Niesche, 2018, p. 154); as a way of re-instating the particular and selective as the conditions under which ethical relations may flourish; and, in respect of methodology, of working with as a form of practical aesthetics rooted in experience. As Butler (2005, p. 6) points out, if an ethical norm remains in the domain of the impartial and universal, that is to say completely cut off from existing social conditions, then that ethos becomes violent (Butler, 2005, p. 6). As we gradually emerge from lockdown (literally and metaphorically), let me tell you what happened with the student (Arnault) prior to, during and after my contribution to a final-year undergraduate module entitled ‘Leadership for Learning’. I hope that this will lead to a broader understanding of leadership as playing an

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integral role in teaching and learning rather than as a quality that is only considered in relation to organisational management. It will also enable us further to explore the role scope for reflexive inaction in a climate in which decisive action is hailed as the hallmark of good leadership (Simpson et al., 2002). Your ‘negative capability’, i.e. your readiness to let my hidden story emerge says more about your qualities as a leader than any ‘irritable reaching’ after typologies of management styles. Ingold (2018, p. ix) suggests that education ‘is about attending to things, rather than acquiring the knowledge that absolves us of the need to do so; about exposure rather than immunisation’. Perhaps the same might be said of leadership; and the obverse of management. I first met Arnault in the penultimate year of his undergraduate course (BA Education). I had just finished giving a lecture on research ethics and in the final few minutes of the class found myself making a wager. ‘I’m not really a betting woman’, I said ‘but if I were, then I’d bet that in your final year the focus will be on complying with ethical guidelines rather than on ethical principles.’ The students looked vaguely intrigued. ‘Go on then’, I said. ‘If I’m right, then I’ll be expecting a bar of my favourite chocolate sometime next term.’ ‘Who will be the chocolate monitor?’ I quipped. Before I knew it, Arnault, the only black student in the class, called out. ‘I will be the chocolate monitor’. There were gales of laughter. I felt momentarily embarrassed, as if I had tripped over the hem of my white privilege. The laughter soon subsided and the class dispersed. In a subsequent exchange, Arnault recalled this moment as follows: This was the moment when I really started to think of you as a teacher/lecturer/human being that I will always remember. Not because of accolades and professional accomplishments nor titles but because of who you were at that moment and even for who you are now.

This account demonstrates that although a particular ‘regime of truth’ (Foucault, 1980) offers a framework for recognition, ‘delineating who will qualify as a subject of recognition and offering available norms for the act of recognition’ (Butler, 2005, p. 22), it does not fully dictate what form this takes. The vibrant laughter of the other students in the lecture theatre provided a raucous testimony to this moment of recognition. Arnault turned out to be a man of his word. Six months later, he intercepted me in the canteen and handed me a bar of dark chocolate. ‘You were right’, he said. I cherished that moment of recognition, and have every reason to believe that Arnault did too. The being-right didn’t last, of course. Several months later, when the same cohort of students was in their final year, I was providing an ‘input’ into a colleague’s course on ‘leadership for learning’. Once again, I was extemporising towards the end of the seminar, during which I had asked the students to consider the field in which some of the terms they were using had originated (notions such as ‘transformational’ or ‘distributed’ leadership, for instance). I asked them to consider the implications of importing notions elaborated in management and organisational studies to the field of education. Earlier in the session I had been exploring the educational legacy of Nan Shepherd (1893–1981), whom I had described elsewhere as ‘a lodestar for all those of independent mind and free spirit’ (Pirrie, 2018, p. 76). I had suggested that she stood

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as a beacon for ‘those whose research and scholarship [and by implication teaching] is ruminative, patient, serendipitous, counter-cultural, diffident but unafraid’ (Conroy and Smith 2017, p. 706) (my emphasis). There followed some discussion about educational role models and memorable teachers from primary school and beyond. Having been educated in Kinshasa, Prague, Orléans, Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Arnault had numerous examples upon which to draw. ‘Let’s face it’, I said, in an attempt to draw the lively exchanges to a close, ‘you’re not going to remember a teacher just because they demonstrated a particular leadership style’. ‘You’re going to remember them because they were a legend’. ‘You’re a legend’, announced Arnault, within earshot of the whole group. Once again, there were gales of laughter. I was tripped into self-deprecatory denial, and suggested that Arnault was merely trying to flatter me. My attempt to bring the session to a conclusion had opened up a whole new line of inquiry that is still active, more than a year later. The incident stayed with me, and by the evening I had had second thoughts about my conduct and emailed Arnault to tell him that he was right, and that I was indeed a legend. I ended the message with a self-deprecating emoji. Arnault replied almost immediately, expressing his appreciation that I challenged students to think critically. He told me that he had wanted the whole class to hear his assessment of what I brought to the pedagogical encounter. It was as if he had been able to detect in me qualities that I was only dimly aware of most of the time (for example, my ambivalent attitude to authority). In the most eloquent and playful of illocutionary moves, Arnault had assumed the leadership role and I that of a tongue-tied disciple. In retrospect, the fact the exchange took place in French seems significant. For me, speaking a language that was not the language of instruction was liberating, even although it put me at a disadvantage in terms of ease of communication. For Arnault, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, recourse to the language of colonialism was perhaps a natural(ised) expression of a playful inversion of authority relations and the respective roles of teacher and learner. ‘I also found it liberating to speak French, even though my English is fluent’, he told me later. ‘But it does not come to me as naturally as French does, so I loved our interactions’. For me, troubling that line between teacher and student with a whirling skipping rope, it was precisely the reverse. French doesn’t come to me as naturally as English, so I too loved our interactions…. In respect of the pedagogical relation being played out here, what seems to be at stake here was not (merely) leadership or authority relations, but the Hegelian concept of reciprocal recognition, ‘since I must somehow see that the other is like me, and see that the other is making the same recognition of our likeness’ (Butler, 2005, p. 41). Butler (ibid.) point outs out that ‘we might consider a certain postHegelian reading of the scene of recognition in which precisely my own opacity to myself occasions my capacity to confer a certain kind of recognition on others’. In the final episode of the lockdown correspondence, Stephen returns to the themes of reciprocal learning and the locus of dissent in academic life. He then elaborates on the theme of performance and performativity in the context of the exercise of leadership. The latter is a prelude for a more detailed treatment of the distinction between leadership and management under a Foucauldian lens.

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Stephen emails Anne Thank you for drawing attention to the inter-relationship between leadership and learning in your account of the dialogic exchanges with Arnault. I found both these dimensions illuminating and instructive. I have read and re-read your email several times, as I am struck by the openness and honesty in the way you share your particular variations on our theme. This has helped me to reflect on several points that you made in course of your correspondence that I would like to respond to. Part of my motivation for doing so is to draw attention to our continued desire to explore each other’s perspectives and pose questions. I agree that it is not my place to repair a relationship that I did not break and that it would be a misplaced effort, on my part, to act as if such a resolution is even possible. However, what sustains me is that it is the quality of our professional (and personal) relationship. This is of prime importance and that as we move forward we must ensure that we nurture and sustain it at all costs. I believe that it is through this positive, mutually respectful relationship that we can perform good work, and thus transcend the institutional performativity culture. This brings me to the points I want to make regarding performance, processes of subjectification and the way the university in which we work (which is by no mean different from others in this regard) construes the PRD process. In my opinion, the latter is a techno-rational, performativity (surveillance) tool. Let’s look at how I view performance as opposed to how it might be regarded at the institutional level. For me, performance is a very different concept from performativity. As you suggest above, ‘performance’ has artistic, behavioural, technological and economic connotations and can have different context-dependent meanings. All of these ‘meanings’ have a ‘doing’ element, delineated by some kind of ‘event’ or happening that can be evaluated in terms of time and cost, depending on the purpose. In contrast, I see ‘performativity’ as the quest for efficiency: the very best input/output model driven by a neoliberal governmentality (Locke, 2015). The act or ‘performance’ that we are engaging in here differs, in my view, from the way the PRD process is conceptualised at the institutional level, i.e. as a quest for an efficient accounting of designated outcomes. I do not hold you accountable for academic outcomes or responsible for future targets in the way the university might expect me to. As I said at the outset, I had little idea where this journey would take us, but I had a reasonable hunch that it would take us somewhere. Am I being laissez-faire? I don’t think so, but that might be one interpretation of my actions. As I see it, I am mediating the encounter to suit my purposes and values as a leader, and not just managing the process. In other words, I am exercising my agency as a leader by interpreting my brief, given that in my role as Head of the Division of Education it is my responsibility to provide strategic leadership. I agree that ‘performance opens up a space and offers scope for the involvement of a range of players’. However, one may argue that from the university’s perspective the only players that matter within this context are the reviewer and the reviewee. This positions us within a power dynamic that neither of us recognises as being congruent with our broader mission. Your encounters with Arnault demonstrate this, as well as

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drawing attention to the temporal dimension of ethical relations, which develop over time. The restricted operating definition of performance adopted by the university shifts the emphasis away from ‘the performance’, which could be construed as the process towards the product construed as measurable output or outcome. I also agree that performativity closes off discursive opportunities by reducing the PRD meeting to an accounting and target-setting exercise. It appears that the PRD meeting is an organisational structure used by the university to weigh, measure and if need be, call colleagues to account. In this regard it is a process of subjectification, which reduces the players within the act (the PRD meeting) to the level of subjects and sets up a situation where the reviewee accounts for what has happened in the time that has elapsed since the last meeting. Indeed, the ‘script’ for the PRD meeting was neither co-constructed nor devised by me. In fact, it was given to me or more accurately strongly suggested that I use it by HR. In this regard, it constructs a particular discursive space that may or may not be helpful to the reviewer or the reviewee. For me, it is through the nature and conduct of the interaction within the leadership episode that affordances occur that may allow or preclude the expression of doubt, hesitancy or uncertainty. It is to this notion of leadership and/or management that I wish to trouble. Simply put, the demeanour or attitude of the reviewer and reviewee determines the nature of the interactions within the meeting and as such sets up a regime of performance that shifts the burden of responsibility from the institution to the individual by transferring the performance into a problem of self-care (Lemke, 2002) (see also Day & Pirrie, 2020). This positions us both as responsible, to varying degrees, within a ‘process of subjectification’. It is the degree to which the reviewer ‘buys into’ the governmentality of the institution which influences the nature and atmosphere within the PRD meeting. In my view, leaders tend to exercise personal autonomy and agency in order to nurture and enhance their colleagues to ‘get the best out of them’, whereas managers just manage processes and may or may not invest in the bigger picture. I see myself as a leader rather than a manager and this is an important distinction for me, although I admit that following a script provided by HR muddies the waters here. As for your characterisation of me as a ‘recovering positivist’. I agree that I am far from at ease writing in a more conversational style. But I am becoming more and more convinced of the value of this form of academic discourse, and that it serves our purpose well if you’ll permit this transitory instrumental focus. That said, I confess to struggling daily with the concept of epistemic arbitrage (Seabrooke, 2014), and accept that I tend to privilege empirical evidence, arguably scientifically derived, over other ways of knowing. However, as a leader, I recognise the value of and the requirement to engage with all forms of evidence. As you know, part of my research involves working with fundamental patterns of knowing (Carper, 1978; Heath, 1998; Johns, 1995). This theoretical engagement has given me the vocabulary to reflect on this struggle. My internal struggle is as you say more symptomatic of the power dynamic that exists more widely between the sciences, often portrayed as ‘gold standard’, and other ways of knowing. For me, the epistemic often tends to outweigh the aesthetic, ethical, personal, socio-political and ‘unknowing’ ways of knowing. To be a good leader, I recognise that one needs to value different ways of knowing

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and different ways of talking about what we know and what we don’t know. It is partly by engaging in this correspondence that I have come to know and appreciate alternative ways of developing capacities as an academic that extend beyond the more traditional and narrow mainstream framing of research. I see this as an important form of professional development that is enlightening. It also strengthens my conviction that it is by engaging constructively across the disciplinary boundaries that one demonstrates leadership as opposed to merely exercising a managerial function. As is evident in the encounters with Arnault, ethical leadership sometimes involves taking one’s cue from others, across hierarchical boundaries. I am a work in progress and will grow and develop as we journey together for a time. I promise to attend more to things rather than to acquire knowledge.

7.4 Troubling the Notions of Educational ‘Leadership’ and/or ‘Management’ As we critically reflect upon the correspondence between the authors, a clear tension emerges. This stems from the way the key players in the leadership (PRD) episode viewed the process. It is also reflected in the way that they view the nature of the interactions during the meeting and how they conceptualise (and operationalise) the notions of educational ‘leadership’ and ‘management’. The nature of this tension requires us to expand upon the way that the PRD meeting, and subsequent correspondence has surfaced the personal, professional and relational features of this leadership (and/or management) episode. In addition, the correspondence brings into sharp focus the duality of how the concepts of ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ are enacted within the PRD meeting and viewed by the actors within the correspondence. To tease out the notions of educational ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ further, we must first define our terms and explain, from a theoretical perspective, how we understand the complex interaction between the concepts of leadership and management. As detailed in Stephen’s correspondence, the inter-relationship between the concepts of ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ emerges as a theme due to his desire to embody the professional values that he espouses. This entails according to primacy to the former rather than to the latter. This draws attention to the way in which the terms leadership and management are used, depending on how individuals view their role within an organisation. Some view leadership and management as synonymous (Solomon et al., 2016), whereas for others they are two distinct concepts (e.g. Bennis, 2009). Irrespective of any definitional nuances, the reality is that in many organisations both functions are often performed by the same individual, and the above case is no exception. This necessitates further exploration of the complexity of the interaction between the two concepts from differing perspectives.

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7.4.1 The Nature of Leadership and Management As Algahtani (2014) suggests, the exercise of leadership and management entails a unique set of activities or functions. We concur with the view that while leaders and managers share some similarities due to their ability to influence (and be influenced by) others by using specific powers to achieve certain goals, there are also some prominent differences (Northouse, 2007). Leadership is a process that involves vision, motivation and actions on the part of the leader that enables their ‘followers’ to achieve certain collective goals (Toor & Ofori, 2008). As the dialogue with the student illustrates, reflexive leaders sometimes follow the lead of others in order to develop richer pedagogical relationships. The purpose of leadership is to guide or enable development and bring about change. In contrast, the goal of management is to facilitate the attainment of organisational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organising, and controlling resources (Daft, 2003). Levitt (1976) suggests that management consists of the rational assessment of a situation; the systematic selection of goals and purposes; the systematic development of processes to achieve these goals; the marshalling of the required resources; the rational design, organisation, direction and control of the activities required to attain the selected purposes; and the selection and rewarding of people to do the work. We suggest that leadership is a multi-directional, interactional practice focused on relationships, while management is a unidirectional authority relationship. Bennis and Nanus (1985, p. 33) neatly describe the differences between leaders and managers: ‘Leaders do the right things; managers do things right’. It is clear that the lines between leadership and management are somewhat porous, which commonly results in the conflation of the two concepts. In an attempt to achieve greater clarity around this issue, we suggest that leadership and management are practices that are socio-culturally bound and situationally rooted in the complex dynamics of the professional relationships that exist between those who lead and those who follow, with the caveat that the ascription of these roles in institutional contexts is to some degree contingent. In Fig. 7.1, we provide a synoptic overview of the key features of leadership and management traits as a continuum. Furthermore, we suggest that those charged with leadership roles in any organisation often have to traverse the continuum in ways that are complex, situation-specific, context-dependent and socio-culturally bound. The complexity emerges when institutional imperatives such as the prevailing governmentality of the organisation drives those in leadership roles to think and act in a particular fashion. The organisational governmentality directs leaders in a particular way through a process of subjectification, which positions them within a power dynamic that renders them potentially as a docile body (Beattie, 2020). We would suggest that compliance with this situation indicates a managerial turn, and that resistance to this state of affairs is a hallmark of leadership. It is how leaders negotiate the context that often presents as an array of factors to be accounted for when engaging with colleagues. This dictates the extent to which they can be said to lead, or merely to manage any given situation.

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Leader Focuses on people Looks outward Articulates a vision Creates the future Sees the forest Empowers Colleagues Trusts and develops Does the right things Creates change Serves sub-ordinates Uses influence Uses conflict Acts decisively Innovates Develops Inspires and act on trust Challenges the status quo

Manager Focuses on processes and systems Looks inward Executes plans Improves the present Sees the trees Controls Subordinates Directs and coordinates Does things right Manages change Serves super-ordinates Uses authority Avoids conflict Acts responsibly Administers Maintains Monitors compliance Maintains the status quo

Note: The conƟnuum is a synthesis of aƩributes from Lunenburg (2011), Bennis and Goldsmith (1997), and Northouse (2007).

Fig. 7.1 The leadership/management continuum. Note The continuum is a synthesis of attributes from Lunenburg (2011), Bennis and Goldsmith (1997), and Northouse (2007)

We argue that the contextual factors outlined above determine the extent to which those in leadership roles feel able to exercise professional autonomy and agency. For example, within the PRD meeting it is the affective demeanour of the person in the leadership role that influences the way they approach the situation. This has a significant impact upon the nature of the interaction, although it does not determine it completely. Taking this one step further, the extent to which leaders move along the continuum towards managing the encounter is dependent on several personal and professional factors such as attitudes towards colleagues in the context of a particular interaction; the nature and purpose of the meeting; the extent to which those in leadership role subscribe to the idea of leading or managing; and buy into the organisational governmentality. The degree to which the person in the leadership role intends the encounters in the context of PRD to be about ‘accounting for’ or ‘holding responsible’ colleagues also has a bearing on the matter. In the light of the exchanges above, it seems reasonable to suggest that there are a number of personal and professional factors that influence leadership episodes. These add a layer of complexity that needs to be balanced against a number of competing demands, such as top-down directives from the university executive, priority areas of

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work aligned to strategic priorities at various levels in the institution, as well as the demands placed upon individuals by their specific areas of professional responsibility. If we adopt a Foucauldian perspective on the PDR meeting and the subsequent correspondence, it is evident that Stephen and Anne exist within an organisational structure that views them as subjects with different roles. Stephen is Head of Division, and Anne is a Reader in Education. These roles have particular implications. Stephen is cast in the role of leader/manager in respect of Anne, whose performance as an academic it is his responsibility to judge against the key performance indicators set by the University. Stephen makes a conscious decision to approach the PDR meeting as an opportunity to exercise leadership as opposed to management. It is this exercise in self-governance (a technology of the self ) that sets the tone within the PRD meeting and the subsequent correspondence. It is important to note the subtle change in purpose on Stephen’s part to the PRD meeting which disrupts the techno-rationality of the process. Also, it is through Anne’s willingness to engage openly and to embrace the uncertainties and potentially her vulnerabilities (also a technology of the self ) that allows this episode to become one of leadership rather than of management. This affords both parties scope to move beyond the expectations set down by the organisational bureaucracy and to create the space where a fruitful, cordial and collegial relationship can grow. This is a space where genuine dialogue and debate can flourish, as a prerequisite for gaining an understanding of the who, what, why, when, where and how of academic discourse that transcends the mundane exercise of box-ticking and accounting for action or indeed inaction. Stephen’s refusal to hold Anne responsible during this interaction is not neutral but is a political act of leadership designed to encourage learning together. Their continuing engagement in correspondence, both literal and metaphorical provides the bedrock upon which relationships can be fostered and consolidated, and where trust and respect are forged. If a leader is to lead, they need those whom they lead to trust and respect them and ‘to buy in’ to their vision if the organisation is to move forward. A manager’s role is to take that vision and set processes in place to realise that vision. A leader recognises when to push back against the urge to value only that which can be measured and instead places equal value in what counts. Most importantly, a leader recognises that there are occasions on which they follow the lead set by those whom the institution has deemed to be in need of leadership.

7.5 Coda This contribution to the debate on leadership and management in higher education has oscillated between a highly personal account in the form of a ‘correspondence’ and more conventional theoretically informed approaches. The decision to focus on the former was expedient (i.e. a way of working that was sustainable during the Covid-19 pandemic). Yet is was also deliberately subversive, in so far as it decentred the role of theory in writing about existential issues. The ‘correspondence’ problematised the instance of PRD and posited a notion of leadership that is inextricably linked

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to the broader enterprise of teaching and learning. The form of leadership that we espouse is dynamic and entails a readiness to take on different roles. We hope that it is evident from the preceding text that as colleagues we are prepared to follow as well as to lead. Furthermore, as the exchange with Arnault demonstrates, we believe that this practice also characterises more overtly educational exchanges. The above exploration of a particular episode of leadership and management in HE is personal in so far as it is rooted in the lived experience of the protagonists. It begins in the middle of a long tale that cannot be fully narrated here. There is a long tail of a different order too. This chapter is one of a series of joint explorations of the impact of the current climate in HE on constructions of personal and professional identity in academics. Who will lead? Who will follow? Who cares? We do. All that we can be sure of is that something else will happen. Notes 1.

2.

A brief explanatory note is required here. In the UK, it is not uncommon for, say an Associate Professor or a Senior Lecturer to have ‘line-management’ responsibility for a Reader or a Professor, as is the case between the co-authors of this paper. There is not scope here fully to explore the implications of this for the development and maintenance of trust in the academy, or for the ascendancy of the managerialist agenda. For now, it is sufficient to note that the situation outlined above muddies the water in respect of clear-cut distinctions between leadership and management in higher education in the UK; and that resistance to the latter is in some cases expressed by through espousal of the former as a core professional value. In other areas of practice, and perhaps even in universities in other parts of the world, the word ‘leader’ is used to refer to the person at the top of an organisational pyramid. ‘Managers’ occupy subordinate roles, and below them in the hierarchy are supervisors. As their name suggests, supervisors have oversight of those who work further down the line, e.g. workers or an assembly line in a factory; or teachers, university lecturers, social workers, health care professionals, etc. This is one of any number of adjectival models of practice that we do not intend to explore in detail here. We concur with Niesche (2018: 152) that these are ‘unhelpful for explaining complex social phenomena.’.

Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to the following people. We are particularly indebted to Arnault Bembo (now known as Arnault Kasa), who graduated from UWS in 2019 with a BA in Education with Modern Languages for insights into leadership and learning. Arnault is currently working as a primary school teacher for Fife Council, Scotland. We would also like to thank Irwin Epstein, Professor Emeritus of Social Work at the City University of New York for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this chapter; and, last but not least, Gale Macleod at the University of Edinburgh and Stephen McKinney at the University of Glasgow for their reassurances that the governance structures referred to above are not an isolated case.

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O’Brien, E. (2019). To care, capably. In Presentation at the Philosophy of Education as Lived Experience: Navigating the Dichotomies Between Thought and Action Conference. Tilos, Greece, July 2019. Pirrie, A. (2019). Virtue and the quiet art of scholarship: Reclaiming the university. Routledge. Pirrie, A. (2018). It’s a grand thing to get leave to live: The educational legacy of Nan Shepherd. Scottish Educational Review, 50(2), 73–85. Pirrie, A., & Day, S. (2019). Reflective practice and student satisfaction: Never the twain shall meet? European Educational Research Journal, 18(4), 483–496. Seabrooke, L. (2014). Epistemic arbitrage: Transnational professional knowledge in action. Journal of Professions and Organization, 1(1), 49–64. Simpson, P., French, R., & Harvey, C. E. (2002). Leadership and negative capability. Human Relations, 55(10), 1209–1226. Solomon, I. G., Costea, C., & Nita, A. M. (2016). Leadership versus management in public organizations. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 11(1), 143–151. Toor, S. U. R., & Ofori, G. (2008). Leadership versus management: How they are different, and why? Leadership and Management in Engineering, 8(2), 61–71. Wolff, J. (2017). Everything must be measured: how mimicking business taints universities. In The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/aug/08/business-taints-universities-res earch-teaching.

Stephen Day is the Head of Division of Education at the University of the West of Scotland. He has a background in biomedical sciences and science education, where he publishes on aspects of science teacher education and curriculum policy. His recent interests have taken him on a tangent in terms of the application of social theory in education. His recent work focused on the datafication of education, with a focus on school improvement. His recent publications are an eclectic mix of a Foucauldian exploration of student satisfaction, educational leadership and the qualitative characteristics of accounting standards. Anne Pirrie is Reader in Education at the University of the West of Scotland. Her recent book Virtue and the Quiet Art of Scholarship: Reclaiming the University (Routledge, 2019) offers a fresh and unorthodox perspective on what it means to be a ‘good knower’ in a social and educational environment dominated by the market order. She describes herself as a generalist with an eye for the particular.

Chapter 8

The Views of the Few or the Voices of Many: Methods of Exploring Leadership Roles Through Alternative Approaches Within Higher Education Moira E. Lafferty Abstract In the following chapter, I begin by discussing the changing landscape in higher education and argue why “leadership” is an important part of every academic’s journey. I discuss why we need to challenge traditional views of leadership and critically how we need to explore individuals’ views and reflections on their own leadership journeys. Furthermore, I will critically reflect on how we need to adopt different research methods to allow leadership journeys to emerge with a focus on the use of Q-methodology and why such approaches allow not only the emergence of understanding but can serve a dual purpose and contribute not only to a global understanding but also an individual’s personal development. Keywords Q-method · Leadership · Alternative methods · Leadership journey

8.1 Introduction The career pathway for an academic in higher education can be described as both linear and curvilinear. There is an established pathway from junior lecturer through to professor, a predefined and ordered staircase with each tread representing promotion opportunity, thus providing a linear trajectory. However, in parallel with this ordered, structured, and visible process is the development of leadership and management opportunities. For many, these leadership opportunities arise through chance and do not emerge from or through personal development plans. Critically, the leadership journey for each academic can be a winding curvilinear road with differing junctions and routes. Often the nuances of these journeys are neither documented, discussed, nor talked about and the personal subjective experiences of leadership are hidden as we fail to capture the individuality of each person’s lived experience. Finding methods that allow these stories to be told including how leadership opportunities arose, M. E. Lafferty (B) School of Psychology, University of Chester, Chester, UK e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_8

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developed, and aided career development is crucial if we are to widen opportunities, increase leadership role transparency, and help to aspire newly qualified professionals progress within higher education. In this chapter, I begin by discussing the changing landscape in higher education drawing on literature to argue why leadership is an important part of every academic’s journey and why the traditional views of leadership need to be challenged. Building on the notion of the need to understand the subjective and lived experiences I discuss how we need to move away from traditional methodological approaches and introduce the reader to Q-methodology. Drawing on one example, I describe how to use Q-methodology to explore the leadership journey and discuss why such an approach may provide insight and detail and importantly help those embarking on their leadership journey reflect on their route.

8.2 Leadership in Higher Education Traditionally, educational leaders were most often seen as those in titled positions with power, authority, and responsibility often occupying the higher echelons of a hierarchical structure (Yielder & Codling, 2004). However, the changing landscape of higher education policy, practice, and pedagogy over the last 30 years has brought with it many challenges and changes to these traditional ideas. Universities are no longer merely bastions of learning and thinking segregated from the cities, towns, or regions in which they reside, they are now part of that community with citizenship strategies, knowledge transfer agenda, and societal engagement policies (Prelipcean & Bejinaru 2016). For those publicly funded institutions, there is closer scrutiny and rightly so of value, for money, to the community and to the student consumer. The combined effect of this contextual shift from a mystified place of learning into a fully integrated institution with societal impact has led to numerous changes in roles, responsibilities, and opportunities for those within ¨ academia (Ortenblad, 2015). Gunter (2004) argues educational leadership now transcends titled roles and can be seen in many forms within the structures of higher education establishments. Indeed, it could be argued that the architectural blueprint of leadership is no longer neo-classical but now represents a period of structural expressionism, adaptable and malleable to differing concepts and occurring in different and diverse ways to accommodate the changing vision and mission of tertiary education (Prelipcean & Bejinaru 2018). This, in turn, means that academic leadership roles are no longer reserved or given merely through seniority or as Davies, Hides and Cassey (2001) contest a “first among equals approach”, a phrase used to denote the giving of leadership roles to those who are senior within the department or faculty as a sign of respect, in essence, an honorary position based on seniority rather than skill set or aptitude.

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The ‘student experience’ is now a central tenant of all institutions and this combined with the metric driven governance and scrutiny across higher education means that academics are no longer merely scholars of their chosen discipline and experts within their field. They must embrace new challenges and roles to support the student experience, engage with differing roles away from subjective specialism, and work towards becoming an institutional citizen (Astin & Astin, 2000). For example, just as students have moved from passive consumers of a curriculum to active participants in the shaping and development of curricula and thus co-creators of their educational journey and learning experience, numerous formal and informal leaders have emerged from within the academic body to support these developments both within the academic and professional services areas (Black, 2015). Whilst within these roles, staff may not perceive themselves as leaders, they do adopt facets of leadership and as such some informal faculty roles may be the inherent start of their leadership journey. Critically, this suggests that roles with an element of leadership now transcend the archaic principle of “first among equals” noted previously, and early career academics may often find themselves with leadership responsibilities at a much earlier stage in their academic journey (Bolden et al., 2012). Whilst we could argue that this might create tensions, it is also important to realise that in the changing higher education landscape, the concept of leadership should be a shared responsibility as “there is a need for multiple individuals to share leadership by working collaboratively with a focus on organisation relations and connectedness” (Joyce & O’Boyle 2013, p. 71). Furthermore, in this context, leadership should be seen not from a hierarchical but horizontal perspective and as a process of social influence (Gigliotti & Ruben, 2017), which has as its core the art and skill of communication. It is the ability to communicate both verbally and non-verbally, which influences followers and subsequent outcomes. Importantly, however, when we think in these terms, we must remember that communication is much more than a verbal exchange. A good communicator and thus leader can identify and interpret not only the spoken but also the unspoken word. They can align communication to context and culture and draw on reflective skills and knowledge of an individual and or group to identify how previous experiences can shape interactions (Ruben & Gigliotti, 2016). Opportunities for roles with an element of leadership present exciting opportunities for early career academics and importantly can contribute to promotion applications. Critically, leadership opportunities can aid development of their academic identity and sense of self as an academic. In undertaking wider Department, School or Faculty roles, early career researchers are not only developing their ‘identity as a lecturer’ they are at the same time constructing their ‘professional leadership identity’ through these early experiences (Trede et al., 2012). Whilst one might inadvertently serve the development of the other, it could also be argued that there need to be adequate developmental opportunities to engage with, a supportive Department or Faculty structure that allows not only the attendance at such development events but also the time to reflect, action, and instigate the learning from this (Efu, 2020).

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If we are to view leadership in its broadest sense and critically give younger academics the chance to undertake, grow, and develop from these “horizontal leadership” opportunities then we must look at how we develop training programmes and support structures to aid leadership development. To do this, there is a need for us to explore what we know currently and to critically reflect on the methods, we use to understand the leadership journeys of individuals and how we can use the lived experiences to shape supportive environments.

8.3 Exploring Leadership Journeys and the Problems with Traditional Approaches Whilst there is little doubt that over the last 10 years, we have seen a growing body of research (Esen et al., 2020), literature, and policy emerge that focuses on leadership development within higher education, there is still much left to uncover (Dopson et al., 2019). To plan effective leadership training, there is a need for us to conduct research that underpins the process. Much as we talk about research informed teaching, professional leadership training and development is no different and a compelling evidence base is needed (Dopson et al., 2019). However, herein lies a tension if we continue to adopt what could be considered traditional research approaches such as standard quantitative methods (surveys and questionnaires) or basic qualitative approaches (focus groups or interviews). Critically, using either approach can result in what Bottery et al. (2009) describe as voices being lost when reductionist or positivistic principles are applied to exploring complex social realworld phenomena. For example, a survey would provide merely a score with no understanding of the how and why and adopting a qualitative approach might tell us in detail the views of a few but would fail to allow us to generalise those results. To understand leadership development, there is a need to explore at a granular level, the journeys of many looking for similarities, differences, the impact of opportunity and how personal factors have contributed and shaped the journey. Importantly effective leadership development needs to account for diversity, individuality, and consider subjective experiences and social structures and networks of each participant. Furthermore, there is a need to draw this together to understand the lived experiences of those in leadership roles and importantly leader development. By doing this, we will be able to identify shared components and unique factors and attributes and thus shape development opportunities so that they are useful to, and for, the individual and consequently impact positively upon the organisation. Furthermore, adopting different approaches to understanding leadership development will allow continued professional development to become person-centred and valued rather than another course to do.

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8.4 Q-Method—An Introduction One method that may allow holistic narratives and viewpoints of leadership development and journeys to emerge is Q-method. Q-method first proposed by Stephenson in the 1930s, can be described as a technique that inverts the R-principle of standardised surveys and questionnaires by seeking to explore an individual’s subjective point of reference relative to a topic, issue, or situation. In Q-method, the analysis focuses on the patterns of responses within individuals thus allowing the researcher to explore a complex issue from the participant’s perspective (Donner, 2001; Giles, 2002). Unlike the classical factor method (R), which factors variables across people, Q factors people across variables, or suggested another way in the classical approach psychometrics or surveys apply questions to a sample of people, whereas in Qmethod people are applied to the sample of statements. It could be argued that Qmethod allows us to move from the nomothetic generalisation to a deeper level of understanding and has been described as having benefits not only as a tool within a researcher’s tool kit but also as a participatory exercise (Donner, 2001). To expand further when anyone is asked to complete a questionnaire, survey, or psychrometric, the task is approached in what we can describe as a sequential activity, that is items are checked one after the other. However, in Q-method through the Q-sort a different approach is used, and elements or chips as you will come to see are ranked more holistically through what might be described as a more Gestalt approach or procedure (Stainton Rogers, 1995). Thus Q-method can be described as diverging from the known, and this notion becomes more obvious when we think about the output from the two methods. A survey or questionnaire approach gives rise to an output or data created from the sum of parts or items. In contrast, the Q-sort output gives rise to what can be described as creative configurations. For example, imagine that we gave a survey examining leadership skills to 30 new leaders. The output would tell us about the means across categories, what areas were high and low for that group. However, it would not provide detail at the personal or individual level, nor would it show us who within the group had similar or dissimilar views. The notion of being able to understand unique profiles that are both similar and different to others within a group is critical to understand the lived experiences and when we wish to examine leadership and its development, it is this personal uniqueness that we need to explore. Q-method may serve as a medium for allowing this to happen, by inverting the standard process of psychometrics, Q-method allows the researcher to build a picture of the individual or individuals and their construction of meaning with respect to the topic under review. Emergent results are based on the individuals’ frame of reference and not the researchers (Barry & Proops, 1999; Oring & Plihal, 1993). Interestingly, the emergent results from Q-methodology show similarities and differences between people’s subjective views and allow us to understand how people in a cohort may be both similar and diverse. Exploration from this perspective as highlighted earlier could help develop continued professional development opportunities that were more tailored and bespoke towards differing groups.

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Described as a “qualiquantilogical” method by Stenner and Stainton Rogers (2004) and an “unusual qualitative method” (Watts & Stenner, 2005, p. 69), results of a Q-sort emerge from a combined analysis. The first stage uses quantitative methods to identify factors within the data, subsequently these factors are interpreted to show unique viewpoints. Whilst there has been debate surrounding whether Q-method can be considered a qualitative or quantitative methodological approach and to within which methodological school, it resides the fact that it focuses on the lived experience of the individual (Brown, 1996) means, it offers an alternative to traditional approaches and addresses the shortcomings inherent within those.

8.4.1 What Can Q-method Offer When Exploring Leadership Journeys? Whilst there are limited reports of research into academic leadership using Q-method the fact that it has been used in diverse situations and fields (e.g., health, education, management, counselling, information technology, and medicine) suggests that it has something to offer when we wish to explore and capture the lived experiences and subjective views of the leadership journey. In the following section, I introduce the examples of where and how Q-method has been used and draw on the authors’ reflections of using the technique to show how adopting Q-method may be of benefit to understanding the leadership journey within the higher education context. Janson (2009) used Q-method to explore how high school counsellors in the United States perceived their own leadership behaviours. In introducing the research question, Janson highlights that whilst research within the field might guide practice development and theory, there may also be a critical omission in the emerging narrative. That is that the voices of the counsellors have been overlooked and that “…. leadership is mostly being told about school counsellors, not by them” (pg. 87) and that models that had previously been developed were conceptual and lacked the subjective viewpoint of those within the field. In discussing the findings, Janson argues that the diversity found within the emergent factors suggests that “there is probably not a set of best practice guidelines or a definitive and monolithic school counsellor leadership model” (pg. 95). He further advocates that by using Q-method “additional voices” were heard that had not hitherto been considered and that listening and working to understand the individual would allow what he described as a more authentic approach to professional development. Militello and Benham (2010) used Q-method as one method of data collection when exploring collective leadership with participants in the Kellogg Leadership for Community Change (KLCC) initiative, this study was a mixed-method longitudinal study across numerous sites. They suggest that “Q-methodology provided a rich, robust data set that supplied us with both perceptional and actual vantage points on how collective leadership was (or was not) lived within and across the KLCC communities” (p. 629). When discussing Q-method as a process for exploring leadership

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evaluation, they highlight several advantages of the method including the fact that it enabled the inclusion of participants’ perceptions and provided a method of triangulation with the other data gathered. Interestingly, this included both photovoice and surveys, two other techniques that can allow lived experiences to emerge. Furthermore, they also highlight what were termed unintended outcomes from the Q-method such as requests from differing sites for copies of the Q-sort cards for their own use. They report that sites intended to use the approach with stakeholders to reflect on the work and look towards the development of new initiatives. Interestingly, they suggest that Q-method is not merely an evaluative technique but can through its participatory approach be a vehicle for discussions, allow for reflection and highlight areas for new development. In a study examining how doctoral programmes in educational leadership prepare and engage in diverse communities (Fitzgerald & Militello, 2016) used Q-methodology to identify the views of key stakeholders. These key stakeholders represented all those involved within the course from Deans to the actual students. Critically, Fitzgerald and Militello included two additional steps within the data gathering to enhance the richness of the data. First, after the Deans and Faculty members had completed their sort individually, they took part in focus discussions where they were asked to focus on elements at each end of the forced choice grid and discuss how these elements should influence various aspects of the educational programme, these views aided the development of the initial analysis. Second, they adopted a formalised participant inquiry data analysis process post-analysis. This additional stage to Q-method termed InQuiry (Militello et al., 2016) is a process whereby the exploration of the factors and subsequent naming is done by participants who load onto the factor and not by the researcher, participants are invited in groups to discuss through guided questions what the factor represents and why. Thus, the subjective frame of reference and the participants’ view is represented and critically understood throughout the entire process. Purswell et al. (2019) examined qualified and in-training counsellors’ views of their professional development using Q-method. In this example, the Q-sort was developed to represent the phases of the Lifespan Development Model (LDM) (Rønnestad & Skovholt 2003, 2012), 40 statements were generated to represent each phase. Results showed that two of the three emergent factors aligned to stages of the LDM although interestingly, whilst the components aligned participants sitting within these factors differed in terms of personal characteristics. This finding and the fact that one factor did not align indicated that when thinking about personal development standardised models and theories may not suit all people. In terms of leadership and leadership journeys findings such as this suggest that there is a need to employ methods that whilst robust allows for flexibility to capture the experiences and nuances of the individual’s development pathway. A further example of the diverse application of Q-method can be seen in the work of Gómez, Ali and Casillas (2014). They utilised Q-method as a tool for exploring ex-students’ views on mentorship within a specific graduate education programme. Interestingly, and of relevance when we think about leadership journeys is the fact

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that, in this study, participants were asked to think retrospectively about the characteristics a mentor should have and to Q-sort from this retrospective stance. This suggests that adopting a Q-method approach could provide us not only with an “at this moment” method for assessing leadership journeys and development but also a more robust method of allowing someone to reflect upon their journey. Whilst not intending to be a review of all Q-method research, the studies mentioned to date have highlighted the diverse ways in which Q-method may allow narratives of the leadership journey to emerge. Whilst the reviewed studies are drawn from different areas, they have one thing in common in that they all used groups of participants. One of the benefits of Q-method is that it can also be used as a single case approach with one individual completing the Q-sort several times. For example, Goldstein and Goldstein (2005) report on using Q-method to explore the self-image of a client in a therapeutic setting. They discuss how the Q-sort emerged from within the therapeutic sessions and how the client was asked to complete the “sort” several times related to differing conditions e.g., “Sort the cards to show the way you are as the lead editor” (pg. 47). In total, 13 separate sorts were completed and subsequently analysed to reveal three factors. These were then discussed as part of the therapeutic process. This example highlights how Q-method may be useful when we wish to explore with individual academics how they view leadership and their development through the multiple lenses that comprise the role of the modern academic. Given its flexibility as shown in the work of Militello and Benham (2010), Qmethod could serve as a method that not only allows for the exploration of leadership journeys within one context be that a Faculty, Department, or Institution but could allow for exploration across institutions both within, and or between countries. Through this approach, we would be able to capture diverse experiences and develop a deeper understanding of the impact of context and culture. Exploring the impact of culture is a critical aspect that has often been negated in leadership development to-date, and there is the need to explore in more depth and detail cultural influences at the individual, institutional, and environmental level. By employing alternative approaches such as Q-method with its focus on the subjective view of participants, we will, as Janson (2009) argues, be better placed to support the career development of lecturers and educators and through mentorship aid personal development so that individuals can be empowered to develop the necessary skills, attributes, personal philosophy, vision relative to their own leadership trajectory (Montgomery, 2020). Importantly, adopting an InQuiry approach as in the work of Fitzgerald and Militello (2016) will further develop our understanding of individual journeys and will allow participant voices to be heard and recorded in a robust manner. Whilst the example of Goldstein and Goldstein (2005) suggests that Q-method may provide us with a means of exploring critical factors at the individual level.

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8.5 Stages in a Q-Method Approach From the presented overview, it can be argued that Q-method may offer an interesting and exciting way of exploring leadership development in the context of higher education. In the following section, I will discuss the core stages in developing and administering the Q-method approach, so the reader has a basic understanding. There are numerous texts available that document all aspects of Q-method in detail and for those wishing to further develop their knowledge, there are numerous resources at the Q-Method website https://qmethod.org/ and the work of Donner offers an excellent practical guide (Donner, 2001).

8.5.1 The Concourse and Q-Set Development The starting point of any Q-method study is the identification of the area of discourse, the topic under review and a definition of the concourse. Brown (1993) describes the concourse as “the flow of communicability surrounding any topic” that occurs in “the ordinary conversation, commentary and discourse of everyday life”. The concourse should represent and contain all relevant views, and these can be represented in several ways. For example, a concourse may, as Van Exel and Graaf (2005) describe, be composed of pictures, objects, self-referent statements or as is more common be restricted to a verbal concourse that can include a myriad of sources, for example newspapers, observations, interviews, social media, focus groups. When generating the concourse, it is important that the information is representative of a range of views and encompassing. Critically, the development of the concourse in reported Q studies shows the divergence in approach. Some researchers have focused on using reviews of literature to allow the concourse to emerge whilst others have conducted interviews or focus groups, there are further examples of a combined approach of literature searches with focus groups. Once the concourse is assembled, the next stage is to generate a list of elements that form what is termed the Q set. These elements can be described as statements (or in some reported research chips) related to the topic under review and sitting within the umbrella question. In many ways, this is one of the most critical and crucial stages as the researcher must condense the concourse into a subset that is still representative of what may be divergent points. Dependent upon the research question, these elements may emerge as the concourse is reviewed or be drawn to represent elements of a theory. The most critical point is that the Q-set should retain diversity to capture the varying subjective opinions in and of the area (Van Exel & Graff, 2005). When developing the set of elements, there are several rules or guiding principles that should be followed. Donner (2001) suggests that each element/statement should mean different things. Furthermore, repetition and exact statement inverses should be avoided. For example, if we think about leadership capabilities as outlined by

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Black et al. (2011), we might in a Q-method study wish to include an element such as “Flexibility is important in all levels of planning”, the direct invert of this would be a statement such as “Flexibility is not important in all levels of planning”. The first statement would fit easily into the sort whilst the latter could give rise to confusion. Donner also suggests that statements containing either positive or negative extremes should be avoided as these will usually be perceived as strongly divergent within the sort. In describing element development, Donner (2001) introduces the notion that they should be plausible competitors with each other, and thus for some participants, elements may be highly attractive or resonate strongly with whilst others may be disinterested. The last point noted relates more to the stylistic approach of the elements and includes using either all sentences or phrases and avoiding a mix thus keeping a parallel style throughout and avoiding the use of double negatives. Once the statements are selected, they are numbered and transferred onto cards to form the Q-set or uploaded into one of the available Q-method software packages. The number of elements/statements included in a Q-sort within reported research has ranged from 20 to 60. When deciding on the number, researchers must remember that participants are asked to rank the statement and compare to others, therefore, the larger the number of statements in the Q-sort the higher the number of comparisons, which can impact on time and participant fatigue.

8.5.2 Q-Sorting Central to most Q-sorts is the notion of a forced choice quasi-normal distribution, for example in a Q-sort with 40 statements, a forced choice distribution might look similar to Fig. 8.1. The guide scale runs from −5 to 5 with anchors of least and most important respectively, only one statement can be sorted and placed at each extreme whilst at −3 or +3 three statements can be placed. To complete the Q-sort each participant is provided with a guide bar, the Q-set, and a sheet to record their responses. They are then instructed to read the statements and create three piles, in the example above, they would be asked to sort the statements into most important for them, least important for them and neutral. Critically, these piles do not need to include equal number of statements. Participants are then asked to focus if we use the example above, the pile representing statements most important for them and to reread the statements and select for them, the one that is most important. This statement would, in our example, be placed under 5, and the process is repeated to then select the next two most important statements, which would go under 4. This process is repeated until all the statements in the most important pile have been sorted into the distribution. This is then repeated with the least important pile, and finally the neutral set of statements. Participants are then asked to reflect on the distribution and the placement of the statements making any alterations. The statement numbers are then copied onto the recording grid ready for analysis.

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Fig. 8.1 Q-sort guide bar and distribution

8.5.3 Analysing the Q-Sort As previously described, the first stage in the analysis of Q-sorts can be considered both objective and quantitative and involves the use of a statistical package such as PQ-method. The first stage of statistical analysis is the production of a correlation matrix of all sorts. This allows similarity and dissimilarity between each participant’s sort to emerge. This correlation matrix is subsequently subjected to factor analysis. At this stage, factors emerge, these factors contain people who have shared views. For a comprehensive review of the statistical elements of Q-sort and interpretation of the statistical output, see Donner (2001). Once all statistical analysis has been completed, and statement factor scores calculated interpretation can begin. Factor scores are critical as they highlight distinguishing between factor statements whilst consensus statements show where similar views are held across factors. When interpreting the results, the focus moves from the quantitative to the qualitative as the researcher explores the uniqueness of the people in each factor through examining previously gathered information about each participant and or conducting interviews with each person where their lived experiences or views can be understood.

8.6 An Example of Using Q-Method to Explore Leadership Journeys In the following example, I draw upon the work of Goldstein and Goldstein (2005) to show how Q-method can be used to chart an individual’s journey within academia and academic leadership. An introduction to the method and approach is followed

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Fig. 8.2 The forced choice grid

by a discussion of what the Q-analysis identified. Reflections by the participant are used to exemplify the emergent story and I conclude by discussing how this approach may help us understand the lived leadership experience and how stories may help us develop appropriate structures and strategies for individualised professional development.

8.6.1 Development of the Q-Set and the Q-Sort Process The Q-sort statements for this example emerged from literature relating to academic roles and were framed around the work of Janson (2009). The final Q-set contained 30 statements including elements related to working within the Department and at a wider University level. The forced choice grid for this Q-sort was a 9-point scale with anchors of −4 and +4 and is shown in Fig. 8.2. The sort was completed by a female academic who held numerous senior management positions within a mid-sized University in the United Kingdom. They were asked to complete the Q-sort several times with differing instructions relating to timescale and role characteristics (e.g., when you started teaching, as you moved into your first full-time academic position, as you became a senior lecturer, academic/module lead through to identified management positions, for example, subject lead). For each condition, they were given a new recording grid, and the previous grid was placed in a folder to avoid previous sorting influencing current perception. An example of a completed sort for the condition “when I first started lecturing” is shown in Fig. 8.3. After the sorts had been analysed, we had a discussion to identify how the sorts might exemplify stages in the academic journey, extracts of that discussion are included to highlight critical points. The completed sorts were entered into PQ-Method software and analysed following the stages of Donner (2001). Four factors emerged with eigenvalues exceeding 1 that explained 89% of the variance. Rather than exploring the factor

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Fig. 8.3 Sort example for “When I first started lecturing”

arrays in detail, we will focus on the emerging distinguishing and the consensus statements as in many ways this exemplifies the uniqueness of the approach. Critically, three consensus statements emerged. Consensus statements as previously mentioned are those that do not distinguish between the factors (Van Exel & Graaf 2005) and in the present example may be thought of as views on statements that remained similar or stable for the participant regardless of the sorting condition. Of the three consensus statements, one was rated as consistently low across all sorts and that was “recognition for all that I do is important to me”, whilst consistently highly placed statements were “I lead by example” and “I challenge others to set high expectations for themselves and meet them”. Post-analysis when reflecting with the participant on these consensus statements, they stated that: ...it’s interesting but in a way, this actually reflects who I am, it’s not about reward or accolade as in many ways that’s not sustainable however, being seen to be doing, setting standards but also living those values yourself is I think a critical part of professional pride and leadership, I guess I have always inherently done it, you know set the bar high for myself...

The distinguishing statements for each of the four factors are shown in Table 8.1. What is interesting is when we look at which stage of the academic journey sort loads on to each of the factors and how each of these is distinguished from the others. Reflecting on Table 8.1, it is easy to see how this participant’s view on what was important at each stage in their academic journey changed and this was something we discussed post-analysis as we explored how we might label and define the factors.

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Table 8.1 Factors and distinguishing characteristics Factor 1

Factor 2

Factor 3

Factor 4

“I demonstrate my knowledge about current curriculum” “I communicate and operate from strong ideals and beliefs” “I use data to monitor the effectiveness of my pedagogical practice” “I engage other Faculty staff in conversation around academic issues” “I establish strong communication networks within the Department” “I take initiative to do things in the Department”

“I establish clear goals and keep those goals in the forefront of the Departments attention” “I adapt my leadership behaviors to the needs of the current situation”

“I develop interdependent relationships that promote the University’s guiding vision” “I foster shared beliefs and a sense of community and cooperation” “I operate from strong ideals and beliefs about University Education”

“I belong to professional organizations” “I volunteer for roles outside of my Department” “I demonstrate my knowledge about current curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices”

“I have a recognised leadership role”

“I have a visible professional profile outside of the University”

“I utilize systems thinking and develop interdependent relationships that promote the University’s guiding vision” “I have a visible professional profile outside of the University” “I perform many roles that make me highly visible to others in the University” “I work collaboratively with other leaders in the University to inform policy and strategy”

“I engage other Department staff in conversation around academic issues” “I actively challenge the status quo when necessary”

“I establish strong communication networks within the Department” “I demonstrate empathy with colleagues”

“I am given CPD opportunities to develop professionally”

(continued)

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Table 8.1 (continued) Factor 1

Factor 2

Start Lecturing, Full Subject Leader Time position, Module leader, Senior Lecturer

Factor 3

Factor 4

Deputy Head Professor Professor (Early stage) (Established) & Management Role

Key: Black statements most important/occurring, blue neutral, red least occurring/important

Factor 1—Starting Out The first factor for the participant represented the start of their journey within academia, and interestingly their sorts from the commencement of teaching life through the position of senior lecturer all share the same distinguishing features that can be summarised as; developing as an academic, establishing relationships, and working on initiatives within their home department. When discussing why these statements were important, there was the feeling that at this stage, it was about showing you could live in the academic world and at the same time developing that professional identity and establishing personal values. I suppose at the start I had to prove I had the knowledge both in terms of the subject and in terms of being able and equipped to teach and that is why thinking back to those early roles where the focus was on doing the teaching job the pedagogical factors were important, I think also during those first few years you’re establishing your professional academic identify, your core professional values but also you’re trying to move forward. I remember someone telling me that you need to put yourself forward, get involved in things and be part of the bigger picture – otherwise you will just be a teacher...

When we discussed how this translated to leadership it was clear that leadership began through opportunities such as module leadership where there was a teaching team to organise and manage. Critically, at this stage, management was discussed and framed more in terms of managing the content rather than managing people. An interesting reflection at this point was the fact that “no one actually told me what to do, how to manage a module or team – and that is something that we need to think about”. Furthermore, from the distinguishing characteristics, it is obvious that during this time, there were limited opportunities to develop a profile at a university level. This suggests that to help people develop, there need to be more opportunities for early career academics that allow them to not only develop their identity as a professional within their discipline but also within their university. Factor 2—Learning to Lead The second factor in Table 8.1 represents the stage of the leadership journey where the participant had more responsibilities and had taken on the role of subject leader. In many academic careers, this role or position represents a midway point. When reflecting on the defining characteristics, it was obvious that flexibility and developing strategic direction within their subject were critical. As we discussed, they reflected on how:

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...it’s strange that these emerged as defining characteristics.... I mean in one way it is obvious but as I reflect on them, and we are discussing the whole leadership journey I am thinking how did I learn to do that. What made me do that and you know, how comfortable was I really, in being flexible, how much did I at that point actually explore what it meant to lead... and the characteristics or was I following what had gone before...

When we think about leadership development and the lived experiences of those within academia, the above quote captures critical points. Are we developing leadership skills through professional development opportunities or do academics develop a leadership style based inherently on what they know and have personally experienced? Factor 3—Being a Leader The third factor represented their time as a Department Deputy Head. At this point, statements that were deemed most important or critical related to working towards the wider University vision, the development of community and interestingly, their professional philosophy. Reflecting on the defining characteristics, they stated that: ...When you get a role that obviously has higher recognition suddenly, there is a bigger picture to think about you know in terms not just of Department goals but how that fits into the university direction, you have a chance to be heard and to begin to shape things, but at this time as well you begin to work with others. I think, this was the point that I realised that it wasn’t just about what I was doing at a personal level but, also people from other Departments and subjects were asking my advice, I was involved much more, and people valued my opinion...

When asked about the defining characteristic of “operating from ideals and beliefs about University Education”, they discussed how this became more important and how they had at this stage spent time reflecting on and exploring their personal and professional values. ...I think at this time, especially when I started in the role, I looked at myself possibly more critically what did a University Education mean, what should it look like, how do we facilitate that and importantly if I am leading others what do I need to do, how do I do it and what should I look like as a leader...

During discussions around this stage of the journey the fact that “I demonstrate empathy with colleagues” emerged as a least occurring/important statement was explored. It’s not that I don’t empathise, I do but I think, when I was thinking about the time when I was a Deputy your focused on the challenges and moving forward.... I was and am empathetic to personal situations, but I guess as I was thinking about that statement in terms of management and working towards goals and targets...

This shows how the statements and a person subjective view can differ relative to the sort condition, the time point, and their personal interpretation. Factor 4—Moving Beyond the Home Base When we discussed the fourth factor and the fact that this related to being a professor and having a management role, the participant described how at this point leadership

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and the academic journey was more about what might be considered externality and a wider contribution to academia beyond the home base through engagement with subject networks, professional bodies, and other institutions. Interestingly, there was still a focus on demonstrating knowledge but as she described this was now much more outward facing rather than internal. Subject-specific and pedagogical knowledge were still important; however, it was not necessarily informing their actual teaching but was being shared with colleagues. This is exemplified through the following quote: ...when I look at those positive distinguishing characteristics the position and point, I am at now, it’s about sharing the knowledge, working beyond my home Department, taking that responsibility that leadership away from being the lecturer, I miss the actual teaching and now it’s more about mentoring and helping others at both a personal level but also at a pedagogical curriculum level...

Interestingly, during our discussions, we reflected on the negative distinguishing characteristic that at this point in their journey, they were not “given CPD opportunities to develop professionally”. An interesting debate ensued relative to the notion that as you progressed along the academic leadership highway it became more difficult to identify exactly what CPD was needed and when and importantly be able to prioritise your own needs.

8.7 Reflections and Conclusions In the present example, Q-method allowed the participant through discussion of the emergent factors to reflect on their journey and to discuss what they felt was important to them as they moved from being the teacher or lecturer through to a position of senior management. It was obvious that moving to a position of strategic management involved several stages as we would expect but importantly as well the defining characteristics at each point show that leadership in academia brings with it challenges for the individual. These include challenging oneself about what it means to lead, developing a leadership identity and importantly, reflecting on how leadership influences personal and professional relationships. In the present example, we also see how progression in leadership and management involved a process of moving from building a reputation within their institution to building an external profile. For those with responsibility for performance reviews and development planning how often are conversations focused around “externality” and helping early career academics to foster external relationships? As an approach, Q-method could also be used in several other ways to explore leadership. For example, it would be interesting to give the present sort to a diverse group of academics to examine commonalities and differences between institutions, disciplines, genders, and career points. For those who have a mentoring role even completing the Q-sort with a mentee may give rise to opportunities for discussion and identification of “individualised CPD” needs through analysis of the completed sort.

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Importantly, in this chapter, I have introduced and opened discussion on how we need to embrace alternative methods to build a picture of leadership journeys. Through describing Q-method, the process and output I have shown how this approach can help uncover the story behind the journey. Critically, how the process can allow exploration of individual stories at a deeper level beyond merely the reflective account. How the approach can be used for individuals to critically reflect, questioning themselves about how defining characteristics emerge and what this means and meant to and for them. Importantly, this approach may allow us to use these lived experiences in a more structured manner. For example, through helping early career colleagues structure a personal and professional development programme that is centred on their personal needs. Adopting alternative approaches such as Q-method will allow us to build a research and evidence base of leadership journeys and from this, frameworks and models may emerge that retain the uniqueness of experiences and open up further avenues for dialogue.

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Stenner, P. & Stainton Rogers, R. (2004). Q methodology and qualiquantology: The example of 120 discriminating between emotions. In Z. Todd, B. Nerlich, S. McKeown, & D. D. Clarke (Eds.), Mixing methods in psychology: The integration of qualitative and quantitative methods in theory and practice. New York: Psychology Press. Trede, F., Macklin, R., & Bridges, D. (2012). Professional identity development: A review of the higher education literature. Studies in Higher Education, 37(3), 365–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 03075079.2010.521237. Van Exel, N.J.A. & de Graff, G. (2005). Q Methodology: A sneak preview. Retrieved From https:// qmethodblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/qmethodologyasneakprevieweferenceupdate.pdf. Watts, S., & Stenner, P. (2005). Doing Q methodology: Theory method and interpretation. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 2(1), 67–91. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088705qp022oa. Yielder, J., & Codling, A. (2004). Management and leadership in the Contemporary University. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 26(3), 315–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 1360080042000290177.

Moira E. Lafferty is Professor of Applied Sport Psychology and Deputy Head in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chester. She is a Health and Care Professions Council registered sport and exercise psychologist and Chief Supervisor for the Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology for the British Psychological Society. With a career in Higher Education spanning 25 years she has held numerous roles and positions at Department and Faculty level. With a diverse portfolio of activity, she has expertise in applied practice, teaching and learning and academic management. Moira has been in receipt of external grants to explore teaching and learning in Higher Education and has written journal and book chapters exploring this. As an applied sport psychologist Moira has worked with numerous teams and individuals at National and International level and has a wealth of experience helping athletes maximise their potential. Previously she was part of a UK wide research group exploring the supervision of neophyte practitioners and has a strong interest in supervision and supervisor development both within research and practice. Her research exemplifies her desire to help and support others and she is the principal investigator and lead on the Challenging Hazing and Negative Group Events in Sport (CHANGES) programme, working in partnership with British Universities and Colleges Sport and Scottish Student Sport.

Chapter 9

Ghostly Mirroring: How Taxidermy Could Teach us Something Important About Current Attempts to Inspire STEM Aspirations in Young Women Jette Sandager and Justine Grønbæk Pors Abstract This chapter develops a hauntological methodology apt to explore effectively saturated moments, where distant pasts suddenly seem capable of evoking intensities and raising questions about the present. We develop and illustrate this methodology in relation to current policy narratives aiming to inspire young women to become interested in educations and careers in the STEM fields. We begin in one particular ethnographic moment, where a group of school children enter a classroom for a natural science lesson and encounter some old, dusty taxidermy moulds. We dwell in this moment to lure out many different histories, effects, material techniques, epistemic regimes and desires to know and master knowledge that come together in this moment. With an open mind and a methodological ambition of adding layers to our understanding of current STEM narratives, we ask the speculative question of how particular practices, power, ideas, normativities, politics, effects and techniques have been embedded in these taxidermies over time. The chapter offers a methodological approach, we term ghostly mirroring as a way to catch glimpses of other and maybe less innocent tales, than those apparently told by current glittery STEM narratives. This methodology does not aim to settle or resolve questions. Instead, it aims to open new inquiries of underlying assumptions in current policy narratives and to enrich conversations about gender and aspiration in educational leadership. Keywords Hauntology · Derrida · STEM-aspirations · Taxidermy · Gender · Educational leadership

J. Sandager · J. G. Pors (B) Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark e-mail: [email protected] J. Sandager e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_9

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9.1 Introduction1 This chapter proposes ghostly mirroring as a methodology for bringing out other stories (un)resting within contemporary narratives about educational leadership. We are interested in the empirical and contemporary phenomenon of policy narratives aiming to get more young women to choose an education and, subsequently, a career within the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Such discourses are prolific in both national and international contexts; policy actors such as the OECD, UNESCO and the EU, as well as private organizational actors such as Microsoft and Google, have all invested large amounts of money and attention in glittering up the field of STEM. Educational initiatives, such as glossy campaigns, have been developed to motivate more girls and young women to enter STEM and thus to address the current lack of labour, globally traced within the STEM field (OECD, 2017). As such, high hopes have been built for new and more bright futures when it comes to the representation of young women in STEM. As part of a research project aiming to illuminate how STEM aspirations are nurtured (or not) in primary schooling, one of the authors found herself in the mundane setting of a biology classroom. All of a sudden, she, as well as four girl pupils, discovered that they were being observed by a number of animals, dead, preserved and placed in all corners of the classroom. The preserved animals were covered in thick layers of dust, suggesting that they were not often put to use in the teaching. The preserved animals evoked varied affective responses. As such, the girl pupils expressed their disgust in loud registers at the same time as they seemed fascinated, indeed, somehow attracted to the dead, dusty beings. For the researcher, the encounter with the preserved animals invited an interest and a strange longing to know more about them.2 This brief encounter between preserved animals and political ambitions to inspire STEM aspirations and dreams with glittery campaigns seemed rich with analytical possibilities. Could this moment be host to a set of questions or concerns that might set in motion new analytical inquiries and insights? Yet, the researcher was unsure of exactly why as well as how to make the moment speak. As such, she was facing a methodological challenge of how to unpack a dense, saturated moment so as to bring out the multiple affective histories that came together in it. In studying current policy narratives, emphasizing the importance of getting more girls and young women interested in STEM, we are interested in questions about the implicit assumptions about aspiration, motivation, gender and knowledge in such narratives. What is assumed about how aspiration and motivation can and should be inspired in girls and young women? What ideas about knowledge and forms of knowing are in use? How do inbuilt assumptions about aspiration, motivation and gender constitute conditions of possibility and impossibility for the narratives? With 1

This research was made possible by a grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. Grant number 8091–00051B. 2 The authors would like to thank Dorthe Staunæs for insisting upon the importance of these taxidermy moulds.

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these general questions in mind, we take a point of departure in the ethnographic moment described above and we ask: What sort of concepts, theories and analytical approaches may help us to unpack this moment? Intuitively, the moment felt saturated with affective tensions (e.g., disgust/attraction), but the moment also felt like a compression of time. It contained both contemporary narratives fuelled with hope and futurity and the preserved animals as some sort of symbolic stand in for a past of un-inspiring, dusty teaching that these narratives want to escape. But how to dwell analytically in an affectively dense and temporally compressed moment? Our proposition is that this methodological challenge has to do with a question of how to lure out the tensions and histories that, albeit only in a brief and elusive moment, make themselves felt as a compression and an effective density. This is a question of how to evoke and capture histories that are not really there, immediately available, yet they are not absent either. How to sense, bring out and put in motion again, what Armstrong (2010) has called the embedded spectrality of culture? As Blackman (2019a: xiii) argues, present narratives are haunted by the histories that are erased for the narratives to appear coherent and orderly. It is these hauntings that we want to lure out in order to put them to work in new and other arguments and understandings (Blackman 2019a: xiii). Put differently, we are searching for methodological resources to bring into the picture the resonances, echoes, absent– presences or other spectral accumulations that exist outside the domain of the present and immediately apparent discursive manifestations (Armstrong, 2010). In this chapter, we evoke Derrida’s ideas about hauntology developed in Spectres of Marx The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International. Famously, for Derrida, the figure of the ghost reveals that history neither begins nor ends. In his analysis of the endurance of Marxism despite the supposed triumph of capitalist liberal democracy, Derrida introduces the concept of hauntology to trouble the term ontology. He writes: “It is necessary to introduce haunting into the very construction of a concept. Of every concept, beginning with the concepts of being and time” (1994: 202). Ontology and hauntology sound quite similar when spoken, but hauntology nevertheless reminds us that ontology is haunted by a corrupting and contaminating undercurrent: a spectral working that destabilizes, in a more or less subterranean fashion, any existence and any self-sufficient present (Derrida, 1994: 174; Jameson, 1999: 39). We work with the concept of hauntology as one way of engaging with the complexities of present policy narratives and the ways in which multiple pasts and futures continue to linger in spite of how certain forces work to forget and derecognize them. More specifically, we suggest an approach we term ghostly mirroring as a methodology to lure out the absent–present forces at work in particular thick moments (Edensor, 2012). This methodology builds on the theoretical concept of hauntology to draw analytical attention to the spectral forces at work in certain scenes or moments. Ghostly, methodology is an invitation to ask questions about how past struggles, controversies or affective anxieties continue to linger in spaces or things, although they are not immediately visible or present (Ratner & Pors, 2013). In our example, we take a point of departure at the moment described above to explore the possible spectral forces emanating from taxidermy moulds. More specifically, ghostly mirroring

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is a methodological practice involving three different analytical movements. First, we take a point of departure in an encounter between odd worlds (in our case shiny, glittering narratives on girls in STEM and preserved animals) and allow ourselves to wonder about the questions this moment could bring forward. Second, we consider, in speculative registers, the affective histories that may linger in particular things or spaces (in our case preserved animals). Third, we use these speculations as an analytical mirror in which to catch a glimpse of other, less immediately available forces of a contemporary phenomenon (glittery narratives on girls in STEM). In what follows, we will first introduce the policy narratives, aiming to inspire more young women to enter STEM education and careers, and present an excerpt from the ethnographic fieldwork, where one of us encountered the preserved animals. Second, we explicate our methodology of ghostly mirroring. Third, we explore the histories that might linger in preserved animals in order to create a mirror, in which we can reconsider the glittery STEM initiatives. This will take us on a visit to a world-leading taxidermist as well as lead us to explore epistemological practices of naming and cataloguing and their possible entanglement with colonial forms of power. Finally, we discuss how this methodological approach of piecing together possibly lingering histories may help us to reconsider and understand the darker sides of contemporary policy narratives. We also discuss the implications of such reconsiderations for critical educational leadership.

9.2 Glitter, Girls in STEM and Educational Leadership The policy focus on women’s lacking representation in STEM seems to be evergrowing, and various policy actors have launched educational initiatives aiming to inspire more young girls to aspire to the field of STEM. Internationally, the OECD has published various papers and reports pointing to the need for motivating more women to enter STEM (e.g., OECD 2017), and UNESCO has launched initiatives such as TeachHer (UNESCO 2017a); The International Symposium and Policy Forum; Cracking the Code (UNESCO 2017b); and alternative forms of training in genderresponsive STEM teaching (UNESCO 2017c). In the national policy context of Denmark, the phenomenon of girls in STEM has also received great attention. In 2018, the Danish Government invested 180 million DKK in the development of a national STEM policy (National Naturvidenskabsstrategi, 2018), and it supported the development of Teknologipagten [The Technology Pact] (2018) with 75 million DKK to ensure that more young girls develop an interest in STEM. Furthermore, a range of local governments, carrying the main responsibility for primary education in Denmark, have devoted large amounts of money to the design of their own unique STEM policies, guiding schools on how to create new and more exciting forms of STEM education, especially for girls (e.g., Dragør STEM Strategy, 2018; Lyngby-Taarbæk STEM Strategy, 2017; Thisted STEM Strategy, 2015).

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Such policies aim to foster a kind of educational leadership that actively works to make the STEM sciences appear more attractive to girls and young women. However, it is not only local, national and international policy actors that take part in building such a narrative about educational leadership as efforts to make girls interested in STEM. So do a range of private foundations and corporations that have financially invested in the design of different educational initiatives. Microsoft, for instance, has invested great amounts of money in the continuously running campaign #MakeWhatsNext, showing girls inspiring stories of how women have played important roles in some of the world’s most important tech and science inventions, despite their efforts being largely ignored in the history of science (Microsoft, 2016). Similarly, Google has rebuilt the entire third floor of its impressive, flashy Manhattan located headquarter into a playful, educational space where girls can experiment with the use of tech while discovering their interests and capabilities within the STEM field (Peters, 2018). One could argue that the great (financial) attention, showed to girls in STEM, comes to shape the phenomenon as a highly sparkling and glitzy one. Thus, the phenomenon of girls in STEM can be said to have been sprinkled with large amounts of glitter, which, drawing on Coleman’s (2020) theories, can be seen as an attempt to attract—and thus govern—the educational behaviour of girls towards STEM (see also Coleman, 2019). In her exploration of glitter, Coleman (2020) argues that glitter “transforms and make worlds” (p. 6), while it also fabulates “futures that are different to and better [our emphasis] than the past” (p. 7). As such, Coleman (2020) also suggests that glitter participates in the production of imagined, dazzling (future) worlds that girls will desire to live and take part in. Coleman (2020) argues that glitter is shimmering materiality in the sense of being a “collection of small, reflective plastic fragments that come in different colours and shapes, reflecting light at various angles so that it sparkles” (p. 18). In that sense, the glitter presented in the examples above can be said to exist as an extended version of Coleman’s (2020) definition of glitter, namely a more symbolic form of glitter. Material—or more precisely visual—glitter can, however, also be found sprinkled upon the phenomenon of girls in STEM. This is seen from the shiny and flashy images that have come to surround the phenomenon through various campaigns. For instance, the EU funded campaign, Science: It’s a Girl Thing, includes a video of three glamourous women dancing around in stylish (short) dresses and high heels while experimenting with glitzy chemicals, allowing them to produce beauty products such as dazzling pink lipsticks and glossy, dripping nail polishes (EU, 2012). The three women are fooling around in a fancy lab where all kinds of games and fun experiments seem possible, thereby portraying STEM as a place for exciting play with beauty and splendour (see Fig. 9.1). Presented under the slogan, Change the world—stay in STEM, another video, produced as part of a Microsoft campaign, also displays a range of glimmery aesthetics, including a group of neatly dressed young girls telling how they aspire to develop their STEM skills (Microsoft, 2017). Just as the video produced by the EU, the Microsoft video is shot in a fancy lab where all kinds of fun experiments seem possible. However, rather than focusing on play with make-up and beauty, the

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Fig. 9.1 Screenshots from the video produced as part of the EU-funded campaign: Science: It’s a Girl Thing

Microsoft video has a focus on the saving of lives and the role played by STEM in saving planet Earth. As such, all three girls in the video tell how they desire to excel in STEM in order to save the planet and the climate; to find a cure for breast cancer; and to ensure clean drinking water for everybody (Microsoft, 2017) (see Fig. 9.2). The materialized form of glitter referred to by Coleman (2020) is also to be found when searching through the market for some of the many educational toys that have been produced to inspire more girls to explore and develop an interest in STEM. A quick Internet search on educational STEM toys for girls shows STEM play kits such as the Sparkling Perfume Lab (Youniverse n.d.) where “science meets style”, and wherefrom girls can produce sparkly perfumes through chemical experiments, as well as a Unicorn Science Set (Playz n.d.) that girls can use to learn to blend and make “glow in the dark slimes and crystals.” In addition, the search shows educational STEM toys such as Mattel’s different STEM Barbies [e.g., the STEM kit Barbie who specializes in designing and dying dresses as well as building shoe racks, where she can display her glittery diamond decorated shoes, but also the Science Barbie, the Computer Engineer Barbie, and the Astrophysicist Barbie] which contribute to the glittery image of girls in STEM, not only by owning creative STEM skills but also by wearing fancy, glimmery garments, explicitly described by the designers behind the Barbies as “cute little outfit[s]” (Eckart, 2018) (see Fig. 9.3). As seen from the examples above, public and private actors alike take part in the production of a narrative describing educational leadership as efforts to make STEM appear attractive to young women. Thus, educational leaders are expected to channel the alluring narrative of how STEM competencies enable girls to create prettiness, save lives, and change the world. A range of different actors power this narrative by sprinkling it with glitter (see Coleman, 2019, 2020), making it appear not only self-evident and necessary but also fun, appealing and as an obvious path towards

Fig. 9.2 Screenshots from one of the videos in Microsoft’s #MakeWhatsNext campaign

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Fig. 9.3 Images of some of the educational STEM toys designed for girls

progress and better futures. However, with all their glitter and glow, these narratives also invite critical scrutinizing. When educational leaders channel these narratives, what assumptions about gender, aspiration and social mobility are implied? What possibilities of subjectivity are produced? What questions might be important for educational leaders to think about when engaging with the policy focus of getting more young women to take an interest in STEM? The following sections aim to bring forward and qualify such questions, thus hopefully allowing educational leaders to consider the political implications of channelling the narrative.

9.3 A Not so Glittery Experience: Entering a STEM Classroom The glittery image of STEM and the fairy tale narrative of beauty and the saving of life had formed the expectations with which one of the authors of this chapter entered a Danish primary school. Her aim was to understand what governs the interests and aspirations of young girls in a context of STEM. The visited school has actively worked to implement a STEM policy for more than 2 years, particularly focusing on how it could renew the school’s STEM education to motivate more girls to engage with the field. The author was, thus, full of excitement for the illuminating shine and shimmering worlds that would meet her as she entered the school’s biology classroom. However, as the author entered the classroom, there was neither much shine nor shimmer to be found. On the contrary, the classroom was small, dark and worn out; all furniture in the room was black; the old posters of detached body parts hanging on the walls were ragged and bleached from the sun, even though not much sun could enter the room due to very few windows; and the only—dirty—windows were facing an empty, grey parking lot, creating a bleak and gloomy atmosphere in the room. The first thing that met the eye of the author when she entered the classroom was a group of taxidermies standing on the teacher’s desk in the middle of the room. The

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preserved animals were staring straight out in the room. Some stared from upright, almost proud postures, others stared from awkward, forced positions that seemed unlikely to be found among animals vividly alive in their natural habitats. Most of the preserved animals were birds in different sizes; large, medium and small birds, all having their feet hammered onto scratched wooden plates in order to keep a fixed, balanced posture. There was, however, also a brown squirrel to be found in the small family of preserved animals, as well as a marten, showing of its pointy teeth with an aggressive expression. The author felt a slight distress from the starring taxidermies as she crossed the classroom to take her seat on a stool placed in a dim, narrow corner in the back of the room. While walking towards her seat, the teacher called for a group of girls to help remove the preserved animals from the desk and bring them back to the shelves where they usually lived. One girl covered her hands with the sleeves of her shirt before lifting a greasy bird so she would not have to touch it. Another girl was cautiously making sure to only touch the little wooden plate, onto which a small bird had its feet hammered. As such, the girls seemed to demonstrate some form of repulsion and discomfort with the taxidermies, but paradoxically this negative effect also seemed to take momentary forms of attraction and excitement as the girls also appeared to be rather fascinated with for instance the fake glass eyes of the birds. The author sat down on her chair and got ready to do her observation notes as another group of dead animals, sharing the cramped corner with her, swiftly caught her eye. These animals had the same stare as the animals that had met the author as she entered the dark classroom. Some of the animals were staring in their natural appearance in colourful feathers [a male duck] or fur [a hare], others were staring from sealed glass jars, wherein their naked bodies lay drowned in preserving formaldehyde. The author felt a slight scare as she made eye contact with what seemed to be a dead mouse floating around in miscoloured liquid [maybe it was the jar, rather than the liquid being miscoloured, but the liquid looked slightly yellow]. However, she could not help but to share some of the same fascination as the girls had expressed, as she studied the many details of the little creature (see Fig. 9.4). One animal, in particular, attracted attention. This was a big black bird [a crow] pointing its beak towards the author. The bird’s head seemed to have been twisted into a bizarre, tilted position. This unnatural position of the bird’s head and the still staring eyes of the drowned mouse brought not only a sudden sadness but also a curious wonder to the author. As such, she was hit by the fact that before living a (dead and manipulated) life in the classroom, the taxidermies had lived other and different lives in their natural habitats. Before living on a shelf, the crow had been flying free in the open air. Before having been violently stuffed in a cramped jar with miscoloured alcohol, the drowned mouse had been running free in nature on its now floating legs. Before having been hammered onto a wooden plate, the small bird had been singing in the trees. And before having been deadly shot, the marten [judging from its captured facial expression] could have been hunting down a prey for its upcoming dinner.

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Fig. 9.4 Images of starring dead animals

9.4 Mirroring Now, the methodological question is which theoretical and methodological ideas that can help us unpack the intensity of this moment where contemporary vivid and glittered narratives of girls in STEM encounter old preserved animals. We begin in a methodological tradition of dwelling in small moments or encounters in an extensive fieldwork, which, in our case, included many days of fieldwork, field notes, more than 30 interviews, documents, and hundreds of photos taken by the researchers as well as by their informants. Under umbrella terms such as non-representational or post-qualitative research, scholars have left ideas about representation, and how the selection of citations or events in a dataset should be made with reference to how these represent the larger data set (e.g., Lather & St. Pierre 2013). Instead, scholars have argued for a manner of working with data where the researcher dwells in what may at first seem like a minor or fleeting occurrence (Kociatkiewicz & Kostera, 1999). Blackman calls it “small data” (2019a, b) and Lather (1993) speaks about doing more with less. To dwell in one particular encounter or moment involves work to carefully unpack the affective qualities of the moment, consider its textures, multiplicity and layers, as well as to creatively assemble the traces, lines or half-hidden stories that seem to encounter each other in such a moment (Bell & Vachhani, 2020; Edensor, 2008). Moreover, our methodology is indebted to work that emphasizes the ability of the researcher to be surprised and even enchanted with mundane things. As Bennett (2001, 2010) has argued, an enchantment with things in the everyday world, a feeling of surprise and a state of wonder can be a fruitful point of departure for new analytical inquiries (see also MacLure, 2013). Also, in work done under the umbrella term of New Materialism (Barad, 2010; Bell & Vachhani, 2020; Ford et al., 2017; Juelskjær, 2019), we find a methodological sensitivity to the agentic and vibrant forces of things or matter (see also Edensor, 2020). Thus, our methodology begins as a concern with particular, perhaps minor, moments that seem saturated with meaning and intensity,

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although, the researcher is at first not exactly sure why. Moreover, our point of departure is the importance of the ability of the researcher to be surprised, perhaps even enchanted, or spooked, by the things she may meet in her research. To become capable of sensing and evoking the hauntological forces working in the narratives on girls in STEM, we propose a methodological approach of mirroring. Objects or bodies in mirrors have a spectral character. They are both absent and present. Thus, mirrors seem suitable for hauntological endeavours and for tracing absent–presences. As we will elaborate on below, our idea of mirroring includes to allow two different empirical phenomena (glittery narratives on girls in STEM and preserved animals) to reflect on each other and to explore the tensions, images, visions and apparitions that might emerge in the reflections. Mirrors and ghosts have a long-standing relationship. The mirror is often what allows people to get a rare glimpse of the ghost. In popular culture, the scene is well known, where a mirror shows at first a person’s own reflection, but then also another figure behind the first figure. The effective anxiety that emerges in this scene arises from the question of whether the figure in the mirror is there or not. The extra figure is an absent–presence. This is close to Derrida’s (1994) ideas about hauntology, when, in Spectres of Marx The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International, he plays with the sound of the word ontology and replaces it with hauntology. The concept of hauntology emphasizes the impossibility of fixed meanings and significations and brings to the fore an “experience of the non-present, of the non-living present in the living present, of that which lives on” (Derrida, 1999: 254). The mirror is for us the scene where absent–presences can be seen although their existence is contested. We draw on Derrida to think about absent–presence as something which perhaps used to, but no longer has a place in discourse and knowledge. Derrida writes: One does not know what it [the spectre] is, what it is presently. It is something that one does not know, precisely, and one does not know if precisely it is, if it exists, if it responds to a name and corresponds to an essence does not know: not out of ignorance, but because this non-object, this non-present present, this being-there of an absent or departed one no longer belongs to knowledge. (Derrida, 1994: 5)

This absent–presence, this paradoxical being-there of what should have departed or been expelled, is something that perhaps used to but no longer belongs to a system of knowledge. The ghost brings with it a message from a space outside of discourse and representation (Pors 2016a). From a methodological perspective, the mirror, or the practice of mirroring, is a way to catch a glimpse of that which no longer counts as knowledge, which has been erased from present discourses. When we mirror glittered narratives on girls in STEM in preserved animals, it is these other figures, these absent–presences may emerge in the mirror that we aim to tease or lure out of our empirical material, although—and precisely because—they may not be immediately visible. Mirroring is a methodology that builds on the idea that one way of luring out certain realities not immediately visible is to work to make the well-known and taken for granted appear strange and disturbing (Beyes & Steyaert, 2013; Pors 2016b). It

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is a methodology that seeks to disrupt the normalized affordances of discourses, i.e., how they enable and constrain taken-for-granted modes of action and practice (Holloway & Kneale, 2008). We suggest mirroring glittery policy narratives of girls in STEM in preserved animals as a way of making strange the discourse about women in STEM, so that its usual manner of guiding behaviour, leadership and decision-making can be troubled. However, before we can mirror the narratives in the preserved animals, we will explore more deeply what a preserved animal is, the practices through which it has come into being and the histories to which it is entangled. This is a methodological move of making the preserved animals as rich as possible as a mirror for the glittery narratives. Here, we build on the perhaps speculative idea that affects, atmosphere, events or practices leave traces or are stored in materiality. As Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos (2013: 40) phrases it: The glass is hit by birds and becomes weaker with every crash – the matter remembers, the idea of affect becomes inscribed in the affected body. The body bears on its surface the historicity of affects.

This is the idea that effective traces of meaning are stored in surfaces and materials. In his work with what he calls spectral ethnography, Armstrong (2010) suggests viewing objects and spaces as collections of accumulated and layered affective and cultural meaning. He argues that ethnographic attention should be directed to how layers of meaning, affect, stories, practices accumulate in things, buildings or landscapes. Armstrong suggests that while left to themselves, slowly fading from collective memory, buildings, things or landscapes may continue to release resonances of the practices, stories and emotions that have over time imprinted themselves in them. Armstrong writes that resonances are “not distinct or separate, but they overlap and converge in constellations of beauty, sadness, and memory” (Armstrong, 2010: 249). These resonances may no longer be easily available. Often, they have been expelled from official self-representations, yet their meaning might be drawn out from the researcher’s subjective and reflexive interactions with them. Also, in the case of digital data, Blackman (2019a: xiii) has proposed that things bear the traces of the human, material, technical, symbolic and imaginary histories that are often displaced and occluded from their present surface or appearance. Histories may linger in materiality, be it bricks, walls, bodies or things, and remain there as absent presences. They are not immediately visible or present, but such histories are not entirely absent either. They remain as ghostly traces, as absent–presences. However, to poach them and lure them into our analysis, a particular methodological approach is needed in which the researcher considers the possible multiple histories to which a thing may be entangled. This is an explorative and speculative endeavour where many different threads, lines, links and intuitions can be followed, some leading to dead-ends (Blackman 2019a, 2019b), and others prove to be helpful for the analysis. In a hauntological fashion, the aim is to bring out those relations, entanglements and histories whose ontology is questionable. It is not the case that they are simply there, but they may not be entirely absent either—they are not present, yet they somehow exist.

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9.5 Exploring the Histories Lingering in Taxidermies In the following, we explore taxidermy as a material, immaterial and epistemological practice, and we analyze the colonial histories that might linger in such practices. Other lines of inquiry could of course have been explored and indeed were explored as part of our initial analytical engagement with the material. We chose to focus on these specific taxidermic practices because they can help us to explore which assumptions about aspirations, motivation and knowledge are at work in the studied glittery narratives on girls in STEM.

9.5.1 Conservation Practices: Bringing Life to the Dead To understand the life of the animals in the biology classroom, one of us made a visit to a taxidermist, specializing in giving dead birds an eternal life as preserved animals. When arriving at the taxidermist, the author was first walked through a showroom, wherein a group of chosen birds were showcased for customers to inspect [she was later shown how a large group of failed animals, not reflecting natural life enough to be worthy of showcasing in the shop, were piled and hidden away in the basement under the shop where they lived a life in darkness], before entering the surgical workshop, where lifeless animals were brought back from the dead. The author was placed at the end of a newspaper-covered table, where the taxidermist had already started skinning a sparrow hawk for the author to follow the process of breathing life into a dead animal from beginning to end. The instruments used for skinning resembled instruments used for human surgery as well as more morbid tools originally designed for carpentry use and building work (see Fig. 9.5). From the skinning of the bird, it was clear that bringing life to a dead animal is indeed a practical and material act. The taxidermist showed the author how the skin of the lifeless animal is first removed from its little frozen body [the author was told that the animal is handed in warm and freshly dead and is then frozen down

Fig. 9.5 Images of one of the failed animals, as well as of some of the taxidermic practices, including a newly painted beak of a seagull

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until the preservation process begins. Thus, the preservation process starts with a thawed animal] before being moulded onto a reconstructed body, cut and crafted from soft balsawood. As such, the author watched how a sharp scalpel was used to gently release the shiny feather splendour from the sparrow hawk’s fleshy body; she watched how the shiny feather splendour was carefully powdered with sawdust from the inside to absorb the many greasy juices that continue to be released from the skin even after death has entered. The sawdust also makes the feathers appear dusty; she observed how the feather splendour was carefully and neatly wrapped around the balsawood body; how the bird physically arose—like a balloon being inflated—as the gaps between the balsawood body and the feather splendour were filled with acrylic foam, sprayed into the emptied body with an iron syringe; and finally, how the bird had hard steel wires pressed up through its feet, before being hammered and stabilized onto a stump of wood. As the author only had 1 day available for visiting the taxidermist, and the process of preserving an animal is long, the taxidermist guided her through the last parts of the preservation process verbally. The taxidermist thus told the author how the final part of the preservation process, called finishing, involves the bird going through a careful grooming procedure where it is glittered and make-upped back to natural life. As such, the final part of the preservation process entails that the bird’s feathers are softly blow-dried and brushed, and its beak and feet diligently airbrushed with the bright and shimmering colours that slowly fade into grey, as soon as death occurs and blood stops nurturing the now blackish limbs of the bird. During the preservation process, the author did not only observe how bringing life to dead animals is a practical material act but she also observed how it is indeed an immaterial act of bringing character and hence personality to the life of the animal. As she watched the taxidermist slowly revive the sparrow hawk, she thus observed how new life was given to the animal through the taxidermist’s own preferences and interpretations of nature. As such, the skinned body of the dead animal constituted a mouldable surface on which all kinds of expressions and characteristics could be inscribed by the taxidermist (see e.g., Aloi (2018) for a historical description of taxidermic practices). Comparing dead animals to music, the taxidermist told the author the following about how he, as some kind of God, gave life to dead animals by installing a particular “personality” in the taxidermies, despite having a philosophy of letting nature govern the life of the animals by itself: It’s the same with music, there’s a heck of a difference in how it’s interpreted. When you play a piece of music by a specific composer there is a set of notes and it’s fixed how it should be played, but you can’t help but creating your own version of it. Different musicians will play different versions of the same piece of music because you put your own personality into it […] I look at something dead and then I have to play God and make them [the dead animals] look alive. I impose my own personality on them. I force the skin where I want it instead of following nature. But my ego can’t dominate nature, I can’t make my own version of them, that’s actually a no go in my own book.

From the words of the taxidermist, it can be seen how the new life lived by taxidermies is shaped by the choices made by its creator, namely the taxidermist.

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As such, the new life lived by taxidermies depends on how the taxidermist “force[s] the skin” onto the crafted balsawood body and the bright colours (s)he uses to paint the animal’s bloodless limbs, rather than on some natural given law. In giving life to a dead animal, a distinction between natural and unnatural is, thus, constantly navigated by the taxidermist. To emphasize his point of how nature should always govern the preservation process, the taxidermist showed the author a range of different American magazines for Wildlife Artists [a synonym used for taxidermist, mainly in a US context]. Scrolling through the magazines, the taxidermist repeatedly rolled his eyes to signal his disapproval of how the preserved animals on display in the magazines were too artistic, too anthropocentric, and thus, unnatural. A case in point was a zebra with its head placed on some kind of triangular pedestal, which, in prolongation of the head, had also been artistically wrapped in striped, zebra skin. Bringing the case into a context of his own preservation practices, the taxidermist told how he had recently had some correspondence with a customer requesting the head of a barn owl to be tilted in a very particular way. The taxidermist had been opposing the customer request as he believed that the tilted head went against the owl’s posture in nature: “…it is able to do that, but it’s very much a specific moment captured in time, it’s not a common and natural posture of the owl.” Indeed, the taxidermist spent many hours every week studying birds in their natural habitats to get not only valuable information but also an intuitive understanding of their movements, expressions and lives. Thus, the visit to the taxidermist offers valuable insights about the difficult navigation of distinctions between natural and artificial. Bringing vivid life back to dead animals is a practical and material act of glittering up the animals to look shiny and beautiful, but also an immaterial act of investing personal choices, preferences and spirit in the animals. Perhaps, these tensions and intuitions may help us to better understand current narratives on girls in STEM. But before we turn to such explorations, we investigate entanglements of taxidermies and particular epistemological and colonial practices.

9.5.2 Possible Histories of Taxidermy Taxidermy is entangled in conditions of knowledge production in the biological sciences. Still today, taxonomic systems and thus the possibilities of identifying, documenting, counting and studying an animal, plant or fungus rely on the so-called primary type specimens (more precisely, a holotype). A primary specimen is kept and stored in a collection somewhere in the world and serves as the objective standard of reference for the identification and naming of species. In many cases, one single specimen serves as the scientific name-bearing representative for any animal, plant or fungus species. Thus, the practices of preserving and preparing a specimen to last forever and function as a standard reference are key to many biological sciences. Indeed, possibilities of knowing, studying, sharing, accumulating and advancing

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knowledge are entangled to the practicalities of conserving the precious primary type specimens. If a particular holotype specimen is lost, biological knowledge no longer has the reference from which to determine the species of an animal, plant or fungus. Thus, it is of great importance that the particular specimen is preserved adequately and is stored and maintained in the correct manners. Even if this happens less nowadays, where many type specimens are available digitally as images and extensive descriptions, specimens travel around the world to help scientific projects in their determination of questions about species. For present purposes, what we want to highlight is how taxidermy is entangled with particular practices of knowing and producing knowledge. It is entangled to the classification system proposed by the Swedish botanist Carl Linné in the eighteenth century, in which all life on earth can be positioned in a specific place in the tree of life. All life can be ordered and organized, i.e., placed in proximity to similar species by help of categories of kingdom, classes, orders, family, genus and species. Taxidermy is the practice that keeps knowledge in place. It is what ensures the stability of human determination of species. Many scholars have demonstrated and discussed how the mastery of biological knowledge, the taxonomic systems, and the practices of naming and cataloguing were (and still are) a core political foundation of colonial regimes (Das & Loew 2018; Richards, 1993). The practices of collecting and preserving animals have a long history, in which scientific and political forces are difficult to disentangle. As many scholars have argued, the scientific efforts to find and collect animals and plants in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries were part and parcel of colonial practices of conquering territories and building empires (Richards, 1993; Stoler, 2009). Species were removed from biodiversity-rich regions in the global south and transported to imperial centres in the north, where they were carefully preserved and utilized to build prestigious collections in the Natural History Museum or Kew Gardens in London or in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington. Controversy and anxiety surround questions about whether, today, type specimens should be sent back to the regions where they were found (often global south), or whether they are best kept in the grand museum collections in the global north (Antonelli, 2020). As Richards (1993) has argued in the case of the Victorian archive, the production of a knowledge can be seen as an apparatus for controlling territory by producing, distributing and consuming information about it. For example, practices of classification and cataloguing served empires in transforming blank spaces on maps into colonial societies (that blankness itself being a violent and powerful force, making it possible to ignore the people already inhabiting that space as well as the knowledge and relationships they had to animals and the ecosystems in which they lived) (Richards, 1993: 17). Practices of collecting facts and material specimens, of archiving, cataloguing and counting were all considered key to solve the colonial problem of how to govern at a distance (Richards, 1993: 6). And, indeed, colonial administrations were prolific producers of categories (Stoler, 2009: 3). As Thomas Richards (1993: 5) has argued, the production of knowledge should not be understood as supplement of power, but as its replacement in the colonial world.

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Thus, when considering, perhaps speculative, questions about what might linger or is somehow stored in preserved animals, we will propose that taxidermy has a history with particular entanglements to a manner of knowing and of producing knowledge that rests on particular practices of naming, classifying and cataloguing. This is a practice that includes the idea that knowledge production depends on the reliability and stability of standards (Bowker, 2008). Moreover, we suggest that there is a, perhaps half-forgotten, yet lingering, the relationship between taxidermy and colonial histories of ambitions to master the world. Although not immediately visible today, the history of taxidermy includes relations to colonial expeditions to uncivilised (sic) worlds, where specimens were collected, removed from the regions in which they were found and brought back to imperial centres and collections, where they could come on display and excite western audiences with their exotic and foreign charisma. Even if these may be elusive and, indeed, not linear, or causal, practices of taxidermy have links back to colonial urges to catalogue the world in order to know it; and know it in order to master it. These explorations about the histories lingering in taxidermies should not be read as an explanation of the affective reaction of the girls in the STEM classroom. We are not arguing that these histories are simply, solidly present and available to whomever walks by preserved animals. Instead, we propose that taxidermic practices, affective forces and histories are both there and not there. What we are suggesting is a methodological approach of following and evoking certain histories with the specific methodological purpose of exploring contemporary narratives aiming to attract more girls to STEM educations and careers. In coining the term hauntology, Derrida (1994: 63) emphasized that hauntologies are performative methodologies. They are interpretations that transform the thing they interpret. The approach we suggest is a performative act of conjuring the forces or histories that, on the one hand, are no longer immediately available to us, but, on the other hand, are not dead, departed or without agency either. We evoke these half-hidden, half-forgotten affective histories with the specific purpose of exploring assumptions about aspiration, motivation, knowledge and gender in current glittery narratives. The aim is to bring out and put in motion other stories, than those the field tells about itself. In our case, other stories than the glittery narrative about a lack of women in STEM and what to do about it. Although highly subjective and reflexive—indeed a result of the particular staging we perform when mirroring current policy narratives on girls in STEM in preserved animals—our suggestion is that this method offers one way of getting into contact with the half-hidden forces and assumptions that also constitute current truths about STEM, aspirations and women. Having explored taxidermy and its histories, we can now re-consider contemporary, glittery policy narratives and perhaps catch a glimpse of another figure than the one first observed. In the following section, we demonstrate what sort of analytical questions and lines the methodological approach we have described could make possible.

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9.6 STEM Narratives Mirrored in Taxidermy When we first observed an encounter between preserved animals and glittery leadership narratives about how to get more women into STEM educations and careers, we saw a clash between two very different worlds. The glittery narratives seemed to clash with the dusty and decaying preserved animals found in the STEM classroom. Whereas the narratives portray natural sciences as clean, futuristic, bright, beautiful and glittery practices, the preserved animals associate natural science with a dusty, long-gone past. Whereas the narratives associate natural sciences with large, light, shiny and expensive laboratories, the preserved animals can be associated with local, murky classrooms where not so wealthy schools rely on outdated artefacts in the teaching of natural sciences. Also, whereas in the narratives, natural science is carefully related to present life of young girls assumingly consisting of make-up practices, perfume, fashion design, etc., the preserved animals do not really belong in anyone’s life anymore—even in a teaching situation, they are almost no longer needed and have indeed become superfluous beings hidden on shelves. However, if we mirror the glittery narratives in the mirror consisting of some of the half-forgotten practices and histories that may linger in the preserved animals, what could we find? In the following, we will try to catch a glimpse of other and more ghostly figures that might also emerge in the mirror. When we consider the material taxidermic practices of carefully powdering dead fleshy bodies with sawdust to absorb greasy juices released from their skin, or of putting shiny lipstick on faded beaks, we catch a glimpse of certain similarities between the world of glittery policy narratives and preserved animals. Although, at first sight, the two worlds seem opposing, they also share a normative valuation for the beautiful, for the aesthetic, and for making surfaces and skin look pretty. The STEM narrative aims to inspire girls to develop STEM aspirations by showcasing how science can be utilized in fashion or to produce make-up or perfume. This may open analytical questions about how it is beauty and aesthetics that are meant to inspire STEM aspirations in girls and young women. It seems that an urge for normative beauty and practices of making things pretty are the affective lines through which girls and young women are invited to be attracted to STEM. STEM aspirations are supposed to grow out of an affective urge to produce beauty and work on bodies— perhaps even one’s own body—to become more beautiful. Thus, the first possible line of inquiry, emerging from our suggested mirroring approach, is to ask questions about the assumption built into the glittery narrative about how motivation emerges from and can be activated by desires to be normatively beautiful. How and with what effects may glittery narratives assume that motivation can be inspired by speaking to desires to make or be beautiful? There is also another set of underlying assumptions that we can start to bring out by considering similarities between the STEM narrative and taxidermy. Taxidermy is the art of using artificial skeletons, carefully crafted balsawood bodies, as well as acrylic foam, to shape dead bodies so that they come to appear natural and alive. Moreover, it is portrayed, at least by the taxidermist we visited, as an art of breathing life into a

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dead body, behaving God-like and offering some of your own personality and spirit to the dead body. There is a balancing act that needs to be mastered by the taxidermist, namely, the act of finding the right position and expression of the preserved animal, so that it presents itself with some personality, without appearing overly staged and hence unnatural. Thus, some finetuned mastery of humans over animals may linger in taxidermies; a mastery of humans over life; as well as a mastery of humans over the fine lines between the natural and unnatural (Patchett, 2017; Searle, 2021). Mirroring glittery STEM narratives in such lingering forces may be a way to consider, how the narratives are built on the assumption that motivation comes from a desire to master life and death as well as a longing to master the fine lines between what gets to count as natural and unnatural. The narratives often emphasize how entering STEM will allow girls to invent new technology, to develop vaccines or other important medicine. While we, by no means, want to argue that these would not be admirable reasons to enter STEM, it is also a particular capturing of motivation. The narratives seem to assume that motivation can be inspired by speaking to noble but also grand ambitions of wanting to master life and death. When the narratives portray scientific knowledge practices, they portray a specific relationship between the human subject and the natural world, where the latter is an object of human investigation and intervention. The human subject is active, knowledgeable and interventionist, and the natural world is somewhat passive or useless until the human subject does something to it (for a critique of such an assumption see Bennett, 2010). Thus, we can also ask questions about how and with what possible consequences the narratives are built on the assumption that motivation springs from a desire to master life and death. Finally, we suggested that taxidermy is entangled to practices of naming, classifying and ordering animals in accordance with taxonomic systems and in accordance with established standards. We also proposed that taxidermy has a history that is linked to colonial practices of governing by forcing particular western knowledge systems upon indigenous societies. Observed in this mirror, an image emerges, in which it becomes visible and apprehensible, how the STEM narrative aims to inspire aspirations through an urge to order and master life. One can start to wonder about why it does not seem to be an unruly, unknowable nature or vibrant life that are meant to inspire STEM aspirations. It is not necessarily the yet unknown mysteries of life on our planet, but a particular manner of mastering the natural world and bringing it to use for specific human purposes that are believed to inspire aspirations. Many of the narratives introduced above offer girls a prefabricated and well-described script for how to encounter and interact with the natural world. For example, the STEM toys explain how, if mastered the right way, certain chemicals can be used to design and dye clothes or create make-up or perfume. How and why and with what implications is this a particular instrumental approach to chemicals or biological life that is meant to motivate? It is not so much the mysteries of the natural world that are meant to inspire aspirations, but the instrumental use of, e.g., the certain qualities of certain chemicals that allow people to develop make-up products. The campaigns portray knowledge and knowledge practices not so much as efforts to wonder and marvel at the mysteries and capacities of the natural world but as instrumental practices of bringing things to use for certain limited purposes. Thus, there might also be a set

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of questions to be explored around how and with what possible consequences the narratives assume scientific knowledge and knowledge practices to be about bringing to use and making knowledge instrumental, rather than, e.g., exploring and dwelling in mysteries or unsolved questions. Which questions about current STEM policies do the above considerations prompt? Should educational leaders work to implement such policies, and, if so, how? While it is easy to share the concern of the STEM initiatives of creating equal possibilities for all children and young people to become interested in STEM, we hope to have also spurred reflections in the reader about the underlying assumptions about gender, aspiration, and knowledge (un)resting in these initiatives. Although the STEM narrative effectively touches and moves us with its glittery visions about the future success of girls and young women, we hope to have opened a space for educational leaders in which to think about how the narrative may also enforce stereotypical gender roles by focusing on pinky matters such as make-up and perfumes, and by portraying girls with an interest in STEM as being attracted to fancy garments and cute little outfits. Although the campaigns aim to inspire aspiration and produce motivation, could it be that they decrease rather than increase possibilities of being inspired and becoming motivated? Could it be that it is a very particular and limited affective and discursive grid that structures possibilities of aspiration and motivation in the campaigns? What kind of girl do the campaigns make it possible for children to be? These are the sort of questions that we propose critical educational leadership should consider. In the ghostly mirror that we have created by speculating about taxidermies, it has become possible to consider, whether the invitation to become motivated, offered by the STEM narrative, runs along somewhat limited effective lines of desiring to be beautiful or making surfaces look beautiful. In the campaigns, becoming interested in and developing aspirations for STEM seems mostly possible via desires for normative beauty. Thus, educational leaders may want to consider if there are manners of inspiring STEM aspirations that work through a broader plurality of different lines through which to be attracted to STEM. Also, our speculations may open a set of considerations about the assumptions, working in the STEM narrative, concerning the relationships between humans and non-humans. What ideas about the human as the active, knowledgeable and interventionist subject, and the non-human as passive or inert matter are channelled through these campaigns? How are STEM aspirations sought inspired through a view of matter (e.g., chemicals or minerals) as an instrument available to human? What kind of natural scientific thinking and practice becomes possible, when aspiration is inspired through desires to master, to follow a planned script and to assume that things around us are inert and passive until humans find ways to exploit them? How would attempts to inspire STEM aspirations look like, if they were built on ideas about plants, animals and chemicals as lively and vibrant matter (Bennett, 2010)? In times in which human activity is destroying the planet, might it be possible to develop a more eco-sensitive manner of inspiring STEM aspiration in young women? What consequences could it have for our futures that STEM aspirations are sought incited through desires to master life and death?

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It is our hope that an ongoing conversation about a lack of women in STEM, and what educational leaders should do about it, can be enriched by such reflections.

9.7 Conclusion In this chapter, we began in one ethnographic moment, where a glittery narrative emphasising the importance of inspiring girls and young women to develop aspirations in STEM educations and careers encountered some dusty, preserved animals. We wondered whether this moment might enable us to ask new questions in our study of these narratives, particularly in relation to our interest in the assumptions about aspirations, motivation, gender and knowledge on which these narratives rest. Drawing on Derrida’s notion of hauntology, we have suggested a methodological approach, a process of ghostly mirroring, through which one can explore the histories and affective anxieties that may linger in certain spaces, scenes or objects. In our case, we explored preserved animals and lured out the half-hidden histories, epistemological categories and colonial violence, to which they are entangled. Thereafter, we turned the preserved animals into a mirror in which new aspects, questions or concerns about the glittery policy narratives may appear. Our methodology builds on work that has encouraged analytical dwelling in minor moments that seem to hold the capacity to make it possible to reconsider or tell other stories, than the ones particular narratives tell about themselves (Blackman 2019a, 2019b). Moreover, we are indebted to work that emphasizes the ability of the researcher to be surprised or enchanted by the objects she may meet (Bennett, 2010; MacLure, 2013). It could easily be argued that preserved animals are in no manner central to a study of glittery narratives on girls in STEM and the assumptions about gender they appear to rely on. However, taking an experimental or even speculative route, we have tried to demonstrate that we can learn something about the current narratives by mirroring them in preserved animals. To do this—to make preserved animals a rich mirror for current STEM narratives—we have considered in some detail the histories that might linger in preserved animals. We have visited a worldleading taxidermist to learn about the practices and art of preserving dead animals. Furthermore, we have considered the epistemological practices as well as the colonial histories, to which preserved animals might be entangled. The aim of this was to bring out and put in motion other stories, than those the field tells about itself. In our case, other stories than the policy narrative about a lack of women in STEM and what to do about it. Although highly subjective and reflexive—indeed a result of the particular staging we perform when mirroring STEM narratives in preserved animals—our suggestion is that this methodology offers one way of getting into contact with the half-hidden forces and assumptions that also constitute current truths about STEM, aspirations and women. With these explorations, we hope to raise a set of questions for critical educational leaders. If one shares with the STEM policies and campaigns a concern about equal opportunities for all children to develop interests and aspirations, then how

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could educational leaders work towards equality without installing very particular and narrow patterns of aspiration? How may one inspire STEM aspirations without simultaneously producing a rather limited affective and discursive grid structuring possibilities of aspiration and motivation? How can leaders work to inspire aspirations without limiting the possibilities of gender subjectivity of children and young people? What would leadership initiatives look like that did not only assume diversity to be a matter of getting more women into STEM careers by convincing them that STEM is about making beauty and mastering life but also worked to make new and different knowledge and curiosity practices possible? Ghostly mirroring, we find, is a process that is more helpful for purposes of bringing forward new questions than for analyses aiming to end in specific answers. It can perhaps be described as a particular care for questions. It is a manner of engaging with empirical material, where open questions are appreciated, cared for, animated and allowed to put other questions in motion. To care for questions is not aiming to resolve or settle doubts or ambivalences, but to be able to accommodate, even amplify, the complexity, contradictions and uncertainty of the material one is working with. This is a manner of engaging with empirical material where one is very attentive to the questions that empirical material often generously offers to us (MacLure, 2013). It is a manner of approaching a given material that seeks to keep open, to keep alive questions, rather than settling with certain answers (see Karlsen, 2018). We recall here Walter Benjamin’s approach to reading Kafka, as described by Richter (2016: 18; see also Karlsen, 2018: 56), as a process of “allowing oneself to be led ever more deeply into a problem rather than wishing to be guided out of it.” Ghostly mirroring is a process that should work to problematize, to make that which is questioned even stranger, make it something that triggers new questions.

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Peters, A. (2018). Black Girls Code has a new lab inside Google’s New York office. Fast Company. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://www.fastcompany.com/40589933/black-girls-codehas-a-new-lab-inside-googles-new-york-office. Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A. (2013). Atmospheres of law: Senses, affects, lawscapes. Emotion, Space and Society, 7(1), 35–44. Playz. (n.d.). Playz unicorn slime & crystals science kit. Advertisement. Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.amazon.com/Playz-Unicorn-Crystals-Science-Experiments/dp/B07 TYFVYYY. Pors, J. G. (2016a). The ghostly workings of Danish accountability policies. Journal of Education Policy, 31(4), 466–481. Pors, J. G. (2016b). ‘It sends a cold shiver down my spine’: Ghostly interruptions to strategy implementation. Organization Studies, 37(11), 1641–1659. Ratner, H., & Pors, J. G. (2013). Making invisible forces visible. Managing employees’ values and attitudes through transient emotions. International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 7(3–4), 208–223. Richards, T. (1993). The imperial archive: Knowledge and the fantasy of empire. Verso. Richter, G. (2016). Inheriting Walter benjamin. London/New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academics. Searle, A. (2021). Hunting ghosts: On spectacles of spectrality and the trophy animal. Cultural Geographies. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474020987250 Stoler, A. (2009). Along the archival grain: Epistemic anxieties and colonial common sense. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press. Teknologipagten. (2018). Om teknologipagten. Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://www.tek nologipagten.dk/teknologipagten/om-teknologipagten. Thisted STEM Strategy. (2015). Naturfagsstrategi. Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://www. thisted.dk/Borger/SkoleUddannelse/Folkeskoler/~/media/BORGER/SkoleUddannelse/Naturf agsstrategi.pdf. UNESCO. (2017a). Cracking the code: Girls’ and women’s education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Report. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://unesdoc. unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000253479. UNESCO. (2017b). International Symposium and Policy Forum. Cracking the code. Girls’ education in STEM. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://en.unesco.org/unesco-internationalsymposium-and-policy-forum-cracking-code-girls-education-stem. UNESCO. (2017c). TeachHer. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from http://www.unesco.org/new/ en/unesco/themes/gender-equality/resources/single-view-gender/news/teachher_regional_tra ining_workshop_in_panama/. Youniverse. (n.d.). Youniverse create your own sparkling perfume lab. Advertisement. Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.amazon.com/Youniverse-Create-Sparkling-Perfume-Hor izon/dp/B07G7XSL92.

Jette Sandager is a Ph.D. Fellow at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School. She has an M.Sc degree in Gender, Policy and Inequalities from London School of Economics and an MSc degree in Political Communication and Management from Copenhagen Business School. Her research explores the organizing, management, and governance of gender with a specific focus on girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Justine Grønbæk Pors works at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School. Her work concerns changes in public policy and in the leadership practices of public organizations as well as how these challenge professional and ethical values. She is particularly interested in the contradictions inherent to contemporary education policy and in subjectivity, affect and ghostly matters.

Chapter 10

Conclusions: A Critical Commentary on the Theory and Methodology of Educational Leadership Narratives Denise Mifsud

Abstract This concluding chapter, that acts as the prologue [rather than epilogue] to this edited collection of educational leadership narratives with a difference, will attempt to ‘bring together’ the contributions in order for both me as editor, and future readers, to reflect on what constitutes the ‘whole’ of this book. This will take the form of an inner reflexive critical dialogue in which Denise features in her simultaneous, overlapping roles of editor and academic/educational leader/policy actor and critic, starting from the inception of this volume, and gradually demonstrating how the individual contributions developed and evolved, thus ‘getting together’ the theoretical and methodological threads spinning all the chapters. This will attempt to raise questions for the reader, thus opening up a dialogue on how to represent educational leadership research differently and critically. Keywords Critical perspectives · Data representation · Leadership narratives · Methodology · Theoretical framework · Writing story

10.1 Prologue to the Writing Story This concluding, or should I say final chapter [as it is not meant to conclude anything, but open up new modes of being and becoming for educational scholars and leaders], of this edited manuscript serves as a prologue in which the stage curtains are raised, rather than closed down on all the actors enacting the leadership narratives in the preceding Chapter. I thereby present the story of my writing story [which then became ours as individual authors were engaged in the narrative writing process], starting from my very initial ideas for this edited book to the actual process of engaging with the contributors on both a general and individual level until submitting this manuscript to the series editors and subsequently to the publisher. In this prologue, I attempt to outline the [in]complete narrative of how this edited volume came into being, from inception to production, and its potential [un]intended aftermath. I will be focusing on the methodological and representational in this D. Mifsud (B) University of Bath, Bath, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0_10

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chapter, as the educational leadership theory speaks for itself in the individual chapters. The data presented below has been extracted from my email exchanges with both the series editors, Richard Niesche (who also happens to be one of the chapter authors) and Scott Eacott, as well as the individual contributors at varying degrees of frequency. There is therefore a three-fold communication that unfolds on three distinct levels, concurrently and disparately, with the series editors, general emails addressed to all the contributors, as well as the very insightful exchanges with the individual authors, some of which also unfolded online via Skype. I will also be including extracts from the book proposal form (both the draft and final versions), as well as the reviewers’ comments and my response. This chapter is thus presented as a reflexive, critical dialogue between Denise and the various actors whose starring role all made this book possible. These exchanges are interspersed with reflexive comments (presented in thought bubbles) that are meant to act as asides to present the reader with the drama unfolding behind the scenes. I, as Denise, therefore, play two major roles: that of Denise the editor (in the exchanges), together with Denise the academic/educational leader/policy actor plus critic (in the asides), indistinguishable roles that more often than not overlap. Only Denise and the series editors are referred to directly, the rest of the contributors engaged with in this chapter are not referred to by name for anonymity purposes. For issues of reader clarity, the exchanges made by Denise the editor are in bold typeface, while those that address all the contributors are presented in a shadowed bold typeface using a different font, in order to enable distinction from the individual contributor addresses. The exchanges in normal typeface belong to the contributors, while the text in italics has been taken from documents, namely, the book series brief and the reviewers’ feedback on the book proposal. Greetings are only used in the exchanges between Denise and the series editors, in order to start off the conversation narrative. ______________________________ The Educational Leadership Theory book series provides a forum for internationally renowned and emerging scholars whose ongoing scholarship is seriously and consequentially engaged in theoretical and methodological developments in educational leadership, management, and administration. Its primary aim is to deliver an innovative and provocative dialogue whose coherence comes not from the adoption of a single paradigmatic lens but rather in an engagement with the theoretical and methodological preliminaries of scholarship. Dear Richard and Scott, Hope this email finds you well. I am wondering whether you are still receiving book proposals for the Educational Leadership Theory series. I am interested in doing an edited volume about the exploration of leadership through different theoretical and methodological lenses. Dear Denise, It is nice to hear from you and I hope all is well. Yes, we are wanting book proposals. What you are thinking of sounds great, and I would love to hear more. I am certainly

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happy to help in any way I can either with the proposal or approaching people or both so please let me know. We are certainly very interested in following up with you! Dear Richard, Many thanks for your prompt reply and for your offer to help, which is much appreciated … I will get back to you after the weekend when I would have had time to focus on the proposal. I already have a clear idea of what I would like to do—I just need to give it some more thought to articulate it on paper and present it to you. Your suggestions are more than welcome. Sounds great, I am looking forward to it! Submission of the first version of the Book Proposal Form

Hi Denise, I have had a chat with Scott, and we have provided some comments on the proposal. Overall, it needs a bit more clarity as to the purpose of the collection and also how it will be different from what else is out there. You will also need to give a clear indication to the contributors of what you are looking for as well as a timeline of abstracts/ first drafts/final drafts etc. The proposed contributors are fine, and we can discuss others if needed. PROPOSED TITLE Theoretical and Methodological Forays in Educational Leadership Research OR The Educational Leadership Research Landscape: Theoretical and Methodological Terrains OR The Landscape of Educational Leadership Research: Mapping Theory and Methodology RN: Quite generic and doesn’t help the reader—how about something on creative analytic practices? This edited volume documents and deconstructs the concept of educational leadership within various education settings originating from diverse global environments, drawing on studies focusing on distinct theoretical frameworks and methodologies. RN: Something about proposing creative alternative practices as an approach that will be beneficial and take the field beyond what has been done before This volume welcomes contributions that ‘do representation differently’. One example is through the use of creative analytic practices (CAPs) that utilize genres such as auto-ethnography, fiction, poetry, drama, readers’ theatre, writing stories,

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aphorisms, layered texts, conversations, epistles, polyvocal texts, comedy, satire, allegory, visual texts, hypertexts, choreographed findings, and performance pieces, to name some of the categories that are identified as new ‘species’ of qualitative writing (Richardson & St. Pierre, 2005). I thus invite papers that experiment with textual form, with voice, and with frame, with writing regarded as a ‘field of play’ (Richardson, 1997). RN: As I said in my previous email I think this should be the theme of the book with the focus on these different kinds of representations and methodologies. Yes, the theoretical is there but this is a key marker of distinction to what is already out there and what is missing in published works. I would then encourage explicitly these approaches in the invitations to authors. Dear Richard, Many thanks to you and Scott on the feedback about my first draft proposal. I did not answer straight away as I wanted to think a bit on how to steer the book towards a focus on creative analytic practices. I can do this by inviting potential contributors to adopt a narrative methodology (it will be clearer in the revised proposal, but now I have a clearer idea myself of the book focus). This will definitely contribute something novel to the field of educational leadership theory. Submission of the second version of the Book Proposal Form [with the newly proposed title ‘Narratives of Educational Leadership: Representing Research via Creative Analytic Practices’] plus the draft invitation email to contributors

Hi Denise, Both Scott and I think this proposal is much improved! So well done. We are now happy for you to start inviting contributors as per the invitation. You can also say to contributors that the proposal has strong support from Scott and I as series editors if they have any questions about that.

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Getting in touch with potential contributors, receipt of positive and negative replies, widening the range of contacts, receipt of abstracts from committed authors … leading to the final submission of the Book Proposal Form with a complete Table of Contents to go out for review

Hi Denise, Thanks for sending these through. There look to be some exciting chapters here. One suggestion might be to have a concluding chapter (actually now that I type this I think it needs to be there) to try to ‘bring together’ the contributions. The challenge here is to reflect on what constitutes the ‘whole’ of this book—they are all so different that some commentary on how they can be brought together would be good—and you can even be more prescriptive to the authors here as well when they write their chapters to facilitate this. Now you can write this or you can invite someone to do this for you. Hi Denise and Richard, I am happy to send the proposal out to review. As with Richard’s previous comment, there is value in having a commentary to conclude the book or even a conclusion from Denise as the editor. This serves two purposes: (i) provides the opportunity to tie the contributions together and conclude the book; and (ii) gives the editor final say in the book (which seems a little ego driven, but if we want a book that carves out an agenda and is more than a collection of chapters, this is a good option).

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Dear Scott and Richard, Many thanks for your feedback. With regards to the conclusion, I’ve thought about and will include a commentary that runs as a critical dialogue in order to sort of ’get together’ the theoretical and methodological threads spinning all the contributions. I already have something in mind, but it’s difficult to express in words at the moment. And this is how the final chapter started off – with a series of ideas going around in my head while I ruminated on how best to represent the gestation and eventual birth of my book idea. I wanted to make both readers and chapter contributors aware of how this edited volume was created …

Hi Denise, We have received back 3 reviews of your book proposal (I know—this is almost the quickest I have seen!!!). I have attached them for you and they are all positive for publication. In terms of addressing the issues raised by reviewer 3 (and also the comment on the title by reviewer 1 and the coherence issue raised by all), Scott and I think these can be addressed largely in your first chapter of the book. Dear Richard and Scott, With regards to queries about coherence, these are not to be addressed in the Introduction. For me, the introductory chapter serves as a way of setting the stage for the subsequent chapters that will offer critical leadership narratives via an unconventional mode of representation, not trying to bring coherence. Offering homogeneity is not the purpose of this book, on the other hand, I want it to raise questions, rather than offer conclusions—this will definitely make it stand out from other texts. I had already decided that I will write a concluding commentary that runs as a critical dialogue in order to sort of ’get together’ the theoretical and methodological threads spinning all the contributions. I already have something in mind, but it’s difficult to express in words at the moment (email, June 11). You asked me if I have any responses to the feedback, so I’m going to be honest with you. Reviewer 3 was totally negative and failed to understand the gist of my edited collection—an idea which I’ve been working on for the last five months and have developed thanks to the constant feedback and support given by you both into a book which I’ve been dreaming about for some time, but didn’t think possible. I am just copying a sentence of the review that crowns it all: I hesitate to use the ‘kitchen sink’ metaphor, but this book collection is scattered and not cohesive—suggesting that the scope has not been thought through, nor what all of these approaches actually mean, and their relationship to each other.

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I respond very well to constructive criticism, but do not tend to suffer fools gladly, if you know what I mean… Hi Denise, Thanks for your extensive responses to the reviewers’ comments and feedback. We understand your thoughts in relation to some of Reviewer 3’s comments so we are not asking you to revise the proposal. Rather we would like you to consider addressing some of the issues raised in a paragraph or two in the introductory chapter which will help situate the collection and its contribution (which you are planning on anyway but being mindful of readers of the book like reviewer 3). The conclusion will also help in this regard. As I said, Scott and I are happy to formally now accept the proposal so if you could please send us the final version (include the conclusion chapter too if not already) and we will pass on to Nick at Springer so they can issue contracts etc. Congratulations (!) and we look forward to seeing the book develop and in print next year. Issuing and signing of contracts

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In the following months, several emails regarding the individual chapters increased the inbox traffic flow of both Denise and the contributors, as she received first drafts, provided feedback in writing and also via Skype (when requested), offered pointers on the second draft where necessary, and received the final chapter versions that were eventually submitted to the series editors. Below, Denise will provide some examples of excerpts from email exchanges that demonstrate the crisis with representation and the difficulties of applying critical theory in educational leadership that the authors grappled with…

I’m afraid that we are going to need that extension. Huge apologies: I am never That Author, but this has been a very challenging year in a number of ways, both general and singular. Negotiating revised deadlines and submissions of first draft months after the first proposed presentation date!

Thank you so much for your polite reminder and also your patience! I had actually completed about ¾ of the chapter before being swamped by a whole host of things

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to deal with recently (no excuse though). If you could give me the weekend to finish and polish I will send it early next week. I hope this doesn’t interrupt the timeline too much. I had set myself an ambitious bringing together of a bunch of different ideas for the chapter and needed a break from it. I do hope it holds up—I had also hoped to send it to a few colleagues for a read before submitting it but may need to skip that to get it to you in time. Taxing engagements with theory and methodology … and their representation … A particularly striking example …

Thank you very much for your forbearance in waiting for our chapter. Please find attached. It is quite the most unusual thing we have ever written. I have read your co-authored chapter and I just wanted to let you know that I am just GOBSMACKED, STUNNED AND SPEECHLESS … in an extremely positive way, as you fully understood the scope of my edited book and incorporated all the chapter suggestions I had sent out to all contributors. I loved it so much that I have already read it twice, as it resonates a lot with my area of interest in educational leadership, as well as my methodological CAP! The chapter has an unwavering focus on an educational leadership narrative … the context of which is very well laid-out … for readers who are as yet unfamiliar with the … education system. There is also an excellent adoption of critical perspectives throughout … this will subsequently foster the development of alternate, more diverse understandings of educational leadership, which is the ultimate aim of the book. The methodology is very well laid-out, as the reader gets a clear understanding of your trajectory from data to drama … The rationale behind this particular choice of data representation is also very detailed and I’m sure that it will convince more academics to experiment with their data and be unconventional. Your leadership narrative is very innovative and unconventional—exactly what I wished for—so you get A+++ for this! Thank you for not being afraid to think ’out of the box’! Well, that is a surprise. Thank you very much for your generous feedback. What we had written was very far out of our comfort zone indeed, such that our only point of reference was your exciting and challenging brief, and so I certainly was steeling myself to hear back that it was unpublishable! You are most welcome. I was not being generous with my feedback, but just being honest … Your chapter is the best one that has been submitted and the one that replied exactly to my proposed chapter guidelines, far from the ’unpublishable’ status you assigned it! Thank you once more for going out of your comfort zone.

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I hope you like the chapter, it was certainly a challenge to write but interesting at the same time being very different and incorporating a variety of genres and techniques. I hope it works for you! I have just finished reading your chapter and I’m just impressed—it’s very good—anyway, I didn’t expect otherwise … It is very innovative and unconventional indeed, and will definitely make a marked contribution to the volume … I’m simply impressed by the presentation and structure… Thank you for the feedback and I am glad you liked the chapter. It was certainly something different and challenging! First of all, I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed reading your chapter—it is awesome! The way you presented the leadership narratives is very innovative and unconventional, while at the same time making so much out of an email conversation exchange, if you know what I mean. _______ had given me an idea of how the chapter was going to be in our Skype meetings, but I still was pleasantly surprised and could just picture you two as I read your emails… So, thanks for coming so close to life… Thank you for the kind remarks, the detailed feedback, and the clear manner in which you have presented it … the comments will help sharpen the chapter up … It has been, and always will be, a pleasure to support you in your efforts to take forwards research in education. It was a fantastic process to engage with ____ on the work for this chapter. Instructive and cathartic in equal measure. [De]centring educational leadership narratives?

The focus of the chapter needs to be centred around narratives of educational leadership, but this is absent. There is constant reference to ‘____ leadership narratives’ but I have failed to detect the critical leadership aspects present. If you remember well, I had drawn attention to this when you submitted your first abstract and you had amended accordingly. The ____ narratives presented deserve a deeper analysis that would help you to critically explore the educational leadership that unfolds and put forward recommendations for educational/school leadership that would encourage more interest in ____ subjects. In your original abstract, you state ‘Which questions about current policies do these tensions raise and how they may enrich an ongoing conversation about educational leadership’—but this is absent. I thus suggest you go through the chapter with educational leadership in mind.

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We do apologize for not having properly thought hard enough about the leadership aspects. If, at this stage, you can share with us one of the other chapters, that you find bring out the leadership aspects in a fruitful way, it would be a big help for us. I am afraid that I cannot share one of the other chapters with you at this stage of manuscript preparation, for obvious reasons. Your chapter needs to present a leadership narrative, presented via a creative analytic practice – at present, you have a very strong CAP, minus the leadership narrative. We have worked with the questions about educational leadership in response to your comments. We have taken this very seriously and carefully thought through what our analysis/methodology means for educational leadership. Our approach is to offer questions rather than answers. As also elaborated in the conclusion, we believe that the methodology we develop should inspire questions and critical thinking rather than answers and guidelines. [Un]Grooming the narrative in terms of criticality?

The title of section _ on p.__ promises to ’trouble’ the notions of educational leadership and/or management. But I’m afraid that the troubling does not come across very strongly in section ___, unlike the rest of the chapter. Where is the criticality? Section _, on the other hand, is very promising and does problematize by posing questions. There are other issues of critical leadership that could have been developed from the ’narratives’. For example, … I’m just playing the devil’s advocate here. In the troubling the notion of leadership section we have added in a paragraph which draws out from the correspondence the Foucauldian concepts to the point that we spell out what leadership is and how it is through an act of will that leadership must emerge from the management of any given situation. It was made clear that authors were expected to adopt critical perspectives for the development of alternate, more diverse understandings of educational leadership. However, this chapter gives more of the same and comes out as very positivistic as it contains a lot of generalizations about leadership and leadership typologies that critical leadership theoryproblematizes (for example, pedagogical leadership, shared leadership, charismatic leadership, democratic leadership, etc.). Where is the critique? This chapter does not read as a critical narrative of educational leadership, but as a series of instructions on what must be done for ’inclusive pedagogical leadership’. We understand that we have adopted a clearly critical perspective for the development of alternative and diverse educational leadership proposals. All references or approaches related to generalizations about leadership and leadership typologies that could give a positivist perspective have been removed.

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On p._, you make a brief mention of the form of the chapter as ’a curious amalgam of notes-to-self and a correspondence between…’. However, there needs to be a clear focus on methodology, the creative analytic practice/s to be used and the rationale behind this particular choice. I suggest including a section on this narrative form of representation and analysis—why this particular form of CAP? We have deleted the reference to the form of the chapter as ’a curious amalgam of notes-to-self and a correspondence between…’ and inserted a few sentences on the middle of p._ (highlighted in yellow) that make explicit reference to methodological considerations. ____ thinks it important to emphasise that the structure of the chapter bears some of the methodological load. It is for this reason that we have not opted to have a separate section on the ‘narrative form of representation’. We hope the compromise position will meet with your approval. With regards to Methodology, yes, ____, I fully understand that this is illustrated by the chapter format itself, however this book has an explicit focus on creative analytic practices and I am afraid that just adding a couple of sentences on p._ is not enough for the purpose of my book. Kindly address my original feedback on Methodology in more depth please. This is an absolute requirement for all the chapters in the book. And tribulations …

Well done! this is an excellent chapter presenting a vital educational leadership narrative about the … … … a policy ‘problem’ that is simultaneously local and global, with far-reaching implications for policy, theory, and practice. I am fully aware of the fact that the data collection process was halted due to the constraints imposed by the pandemic, but as it stands the chapter does not make use of any creative analytic practices. I thought about this and have a couple of suggestions … … The excellent content remains the same, it is just the mode of presentation that changes. Do let me know what you think and how far you are willing to ’play around’ with your chapter. I’m suggesting this in order for it to be more aligned to the rest of the chapters and the overall scope of the manuscript. Thank you for your positive feedback on the content of our chapter and for your careful consideration of possible ways in which we might adjust the mode of presentation … We will take some time to consider what might be possible within the new national Covid constraints … We are a creative bunch!

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I’m afraid that the issue regarding creative analytic practices has not been addressed in the second revision. I’m attaching a paper of mine that uses narrative dramatization as a creative analytic practice—just for you to have an idea. Many thanks for your email and for your feedback, and also for your article. Your article has been very helpful in crystalizing the focus of this book and helped me look at the chapter anew … However, from your article I have a much better understanding of what you are nudging us towards in terms of ’dialogue’ and authentic representation of voice/experience as story. I’m glad that you got the gist of what I was trying to say regarding the presentation of chapter and creative analytic practices … I only sent my paper as an example, since there are many ways of data representation using creative analytic practices. What you’re suggesting sounds excellent and I’m looking forward to reading this version. Your email has really helped to make me think differently which was much appreciated. I am a firm believer in the importance of peer feedback and I think we now have a direction to go in. I will send you the latest draft as soon as we have worked up the new material. [A month later …] We have spent some time discussing how we could adapt the chapter, making the issue of creative analytical approaches more explicit. Your article was most useful in helping to crystallise our ideas. We have also done some further reading including an article by Cate Watson, which again was helpful. As a result, we have pushed our thinking to explore ways in which we could build an explicit creative analytical approach as part of the project. Attached is a draft of the final section of the chapter with examples of a creative analysis using a semi-fictional form which we are trialling. I thought it would be useful to see the direction of our thinking and how we are developing this approach. Including this section will require some pruning and refocussing the previous sections and we should have that over the next couple of days. Let me know what you think—are we going down the right lines for the book? It is just excellent and fits in perfectly with the aims of the edited manuscript—it will definitely make a very valuable contribution. Well done to you all for coming up with this creative analytic practice to represent your leadership narratives of …! Progressing to the manuscript submission stage

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Denise makes her final request to the contributors

______________________________ Raising critical questions around educational leadership that emerged from the narratives presented in the previous chapters … I must clarify that these are not conclusions, but a way of opening up further critical discussions around mundane leadership practices in different education settings.

Re-conceptualizing educational leadership from the lens of critical scholarship: Detecting traces of Niesche’s (2018) ‘theory turn’. Niesche problematizes and critiques educational leadership and scholarship by philosophizing around the meaning of the term, its limitations, weaknesses, and problems—a tension he works with while simultaneously making explicit and clear by drawing on the thoughts [or rather oeuvres] of Derrida, Lyotard, Berlant, and Stiegler. Can such a thing as ‘good leadership’ exist, be researched, analysed, dissected, and published? How does educational leadership feature and function in the process of multiacademization? Courtney and McGinity make up a Brechtian-inspired aesthetic to both reveal and explain the power structures and relations in play through education arrangements. Does the practice of messianic educational leadership enable or disable the recruitment of multi-academy trusts? It all translates in the complex

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and tempestuous interplay among leader humility, follower faith and the in-between tensions. What role does school leadership play in addressing issues of cultural diversity and equity? Utilizing her various leadership experiences and identities inextricably interwoven with theory, policy, and practice, Mifsud crafts a semi-fictionalized narrative dramatization in her attempt to transgress and unsettle social justice leadership discourses positioning school leaders, through which they simultaneously reposition themselves as social justice leadership actors. Michel Foucault also plays a part in the unsettling of social justice and equity as it unfolds in school leadership enactment. How is it possible for education reform to make the transit from a neoliberal-oriented managerial leadership model towards a conception of an inclusive educational leadership for social justice and the common good? Diez-Gutierrez and Gajardo demonstrate how this is possible via an autoethnographic account where rather than dismissing the role of management in favour of shared leadership, they call for its redefinition via the promotion of participatory processes of inclusive leadership promoted by the management teams themselves. How do critical scholars approach the policy ‘problem’ of headteacher preparation, recruitment, and retention? Torrance et al. utilize a participatory action research approach in the co-production of knowledge by constructing narratives of educational leadership via the involvement of participants in both the research design and analysis of findings, which leads to a particular form of data representation. What is the core purpose of headship and the ensuing ‘role definition’? How can headteachers’ leadership and management development be best supported by policy and scholarship? How do the discourses of leadership and management unfold in a higher education setting, more specifically in the performance review and development process? Day and Pirrie problematize this process in a series of dialogic exchanges in which they actually stage manage this ‘performance management’ procedure as co-actors/protagonists. Is it an exercise in self-governance? Why is leadership considered to be a vital aspect of every academic’s career trajectory? In an era where educational leadership transcends titled roles and is moreover visible under many guises within the structures of higher education establishments, Lafferty promotes a particular research method that allows leadership journeys to emerge while simultaneously challenging and critiquing traditional views of leadership. How have particular practices, power, ideas, normativities, politics, affects, and techniques been embedded in educational leadership policy and practice? Using a hauntological methodology that is sparked off by an ethnographic moment, Sandager and Gronbaek Pors raise a set of questions for critical educational leaders as they work towards equality without installing very particular and narrow patterns of aspiration and gender in relation to STEM careers.

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With the help of all the educational leadership scholars who contributed to this volume, we have manged to both show and tell how a post-structuralist analysis positions leadership as a site of political struggle, subsequently enabling more avenues for doing leadership research in the ELMA field and beyond, in line with the proposal put forward by Niesche and Gowlett (2015). The leadership field is indeed theoretically strong!

References Niesche, R. (2018). Critical perspectives in educational leadership: A new “theory turn”? Journal of Educational Administration and History, 50(3), 145–158. Niesche, R., & Gowlett, C. (2015). Advocating a post-structuralist politics for educational leadership. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(4), 372–386. Richardson, L. (1997). Fields of play: Constructing an academic life. Rutgers University Press. Richardson, L., & St. Pierre, E. . (2005). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 959–978). Sage.

Denise Mifsud is Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management and Governance in the Department of Education at the University of Bath. She has many years of practitioner experience in education settings in both teaching and leadership roles, the most recent being that of Head of College Network, a top-management position within the Ministry for Education, Malta, besides being an independent education researcher and consultant. She previously held a full-time lecturing post at the University of the West of Scotland as well as being a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta. She is also an Associate Fellow of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research within the same university. She was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Stirling in 2015. Research areas of interest include educational policy analysis, generation, reception and enactment; critical leadership theories, with a particular interest in educational leadership, especially distributed forms; school networks and educational reform; initial teacher education; power relations; Foucauldian theory; Actor-Network theory, as well as qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on narrative, as well as creative and unconventional modes of data representation. She has presented her research at various international conferences, besides winning numerous academic awards, namely from the American Education Research Association, the European Education Research Association and the Scottish Education Research Association. She is a member of several professional organizations, in addition to being an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has published in several international top-rated journals, in addition to monographs and edited volumes.

Index

A Absent-presence, 201, 208, 209 Academic roles, 190 Affect, 90, 91, 98, 199, 206, 209, 238 Anglocentric policy, 6 Aspirations, 134, 141, 143, 199, 200, 205, 210, 214–219, 238 Autoethnography, 119, 120, 124, 125

B Bacchi, Carol, 131–133, 139, 140 Barbie, 204 Berlant, Lauren, 15, 21, 23, 24, 237 Biopolitics, 118 Brechtian, 15, 35, 37, 45, 64, 65, 68, 237

C Career pathway, 179 Challenges in higher education, 179 Charisma, 21, 30, 35, 36, 38, 214 Collaborative research, 133 Common good, 6, 74, 115, 123, 125, 237 Consumer capitalism, 26, 31, 32 Co-production of knowledge, 131, 133, 237 Correspondence, 159–162, 164, 167, 169, 170, 172, 175, 212, 234 Creative analytic practices, 1, 13–15, 75, 80, 162, 225, 226, 233–236 Crisis of representation, 12, 13, 79, 107 Critical approach, 5, 6, 22, 31, 115, 120 Critical leadership theory, 3, 234 Critical policy analysis, 139 Critique, 3, 5–7, 9–11, 16, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 31, 32, 44, 45, 75, 82, 83, 88,

104, 106, 139, 146, 160, 165, 216, 234, 237 Cruel optimism, 5, 23, 24 Cultural situatedness, 8

D Data representation, 14, 42, 44, 80, 107, 232, 235, 237 Deconstruction, 22, 24, 25 Delphi method, 133, 139–141 Democratic education, 125 Derrida, Jacques, 15, 21–25, 27, 28, 31, 201, 208, 214, 218, 237 Differend, 22, 26, 27 Discourses of educational leadership, 3 Drama, 14, 15, 35, 36, 42, 44, 45, 55, 64, 65, 67, 68, 80, 83, 107, 147, 224, 225, 232

E Educational leadership, 1–3, 5–11, 13–16, 21–23, 25–32, 35, 37–40, 44, 47, 65, 67, 68, 75, 79, 82, 88, 91, 106, 107, 115, 120, 123–125, 131–133, 137, 138, 152, 160, 161, 180, 185, 199, 200, 202–204, 217, 223–226, 231–235, 237, 238 Educational reforms, 15, 79, 115, 116 Education policy, 11, 37, 74, 76, 81, 98, 180 Epistemic arbitrage, 171 Equity, 15, 73–79, 81, 82, 85, 88–91, 93, 95–98, 108, 109, 125, 134, 237 Ethical violence, 161, 166 Ethics of entrepreneurship, 119

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Mifsud (ed.), Narratives of Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0

239

240 Ethnographic moments, 199, 201, 218, 238

F Faith, 4, 35, 36, 39, 63, 64, 66, 67, 95, 167, 237 Fictional representation, 79 Foucault, Michel, 1, 11, 12, 16, 26–31, 75, 82, 83, 88–91, 95–99, 104–109, 116–118, 121, 124, 125, 139, 160, 161, 166, 168, 237 Frame of reference, 183, 185

G Gender, 6, 9, 30, 79, 84, 85, 87, 95, 105, 195, 199, 200, 202, 205, 214, 217–219, 238 Ghostly mirroring, 199–202, 218, 219 Ghosts, 201, 208 Glitter, 202–205 Governmentality, 15, 82, 88, 90, 115, 117, 118, 159, 161, 162, 164, 165, 167, 170, 171, 173, 174 Government at a distance, 116, 117, 124

H Hauntology, 201, 208, 214, 218 Headteacher preparation, 237 Headteacher recruitment, 15, 131, 132, 135, 237 Headteacher retention, 132, 135, 136, 138, 237

I Identity crisis, 7 Inclusive leadership, 83, 87, 89, 90, 96, 120, 122, 123, 125, 237

L Leadership, 1–11, 13–15, 21–32, 36–41, 45, 46, 49, 65–68, 73–75, 79, 81, 83, 89–91, 95, 98, 108, 115–117, 121–125, 135, 137, 138, 142, 143, 146, 148, 152, 159–176, 179–184, 186, 187, 190–195, 209, 219, 223, 224, 228, 231–234, 237, 238 Leadership episode, 104, 160, 162–165, 167, 171, 174 Leadership for social justice, 75, 79, 82, 83, 89–91, 98, 100, 104–108, 115

Index Leadership journey, 15, 179–182, 184–186, 189, 193, 194, 196, 238 Leadership romanticization, 3 Leadership styles, 121, 145, 163–165, 169, 194 Leading practice, 9, 39, 131, 146, 151, 202, 218 Life history, 131–133, 138, 139, 141–148, 151 Life history interviews, 139 Lived experience, 12, 13, 107, 132, 133, 137, 138, 142, 143, 146, 151, 161, 176, 179, 180, 182–185, 189, 194, 196 Lived experiences of headteachers, 138 Local authorities, 37, 52, 57, 134, 148 Lyotard, Jean-Francois, 11, 15, 21–23, 26–28, 31, 237 M Management, 2, 6, 8, 37, 86, 115–119, 121, 122, 125, 137, 152, 159, 162, 168, 172, 173, 175, 184, 190, 193–195, 237 Management leadership, 2, 3, 6–8, 15, 115, 121, 123, 137, 138, 152, 159–161, 165, 167, 169, 171–176, 179, 195, 224, 233, 237 Managerialism, 116, 122, 167 MAT CEO, 35, 36, 40, 45, 47, 49, 53, 60 Messianic educational leadership, 35, 37–39, 237 Metaphysics, 24, 25 Migrant learners, 73, 74, 78, 83, 84, 86, 87, 98 Mirror, 202, 208, 209, 215–218 Multi-academisation, 15, 35–37, 39, 40, 42, 44–49, 53, 57, 64–66, 68, 237 Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), 36–38, 40, 41, 45, 46, 48, 50, 52–54, 56–58, 60, 64, 66, 67, 237 Multiculturalism, 101 N Narrative, 1, 3, 6, 9–11, 13–15, 22, 23, 29, 30, 36, 37, 42, 43, 45, 46, 63, 65, 73, 75, 79–82, 107, 109, 115, 116, 120, 125, 131–133, 138, 139, 141–144, 146–148, 151, 183, 184, 186, 199–205, 208–210, 212, 214–218, 223, 224, 226, 228, 231–237 Narrative analysis, 36, 79, 80, 133, 142

Index Narrative inquiry, 142, 143, 161, 162 Narrative research, 108, 144, 146 Neoliberal ideology, 116, 117 O Organizational culture, 125, 160 P Participatory action research, 131, 132, 237 Participatory exercise, 183 Performance, 8, 14, 15, 23, 52, 57, 73–75, 80, 81, 84, 98, 107, 108, 115, 116, 123, 134, 137, 159, 160, 163, 166, 169–171, 175, 195, 226, 237 Performance management, 160, 237 Performativity, 9, 134, 160, 161, 166, 169–171 Pharmakon, 25 Policy, 1, 3, 5–11, 14–16, 23, 26, 29, 32, 37, 38, 43, 47, 51, 64, 73–89, 91–93, 95–101, 104, 105, 108, 123, 131–135, 137–141, 152, 165, 180, 182, 192, 199–203, 205, 209, 214, 217, 218, 224, 233, 235, 237, 238 Post-qualitative inquiry, 12, 13 Post-structuralism, 11, 13, 14, 27, 29 Power, 4, 9, 13, 21, 23, 26, 30, 32, 38, 39, 45, 49, 65, 67, 68, 76, 79, 82, 88, 89, 96, 98, 105, 106, 118, 132–134, 142, 150, 151, 161, 166, 167, 170, 171, 173, 180, 199, 202, 204, 213, 237, 238 Practical aesthetics, 160, 161, 167 Preservation, 211, 212 Problematization, 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 82, 88 Psychopolitics, 115, 118 Q Q-method, 183–189, 195, 196 Q-Sort, 183–186, 188–190, 195 Qualitative research, 12, 13, 42, 79, 120, 207 R Reciprocal recognition, 169 Reflexive inaction, 168 Regime of truth, 168 Relational ethics, 163 Representation, 1, 9, 11–15, 22, 23, 44–46, 80, 81, 108, 116, 139, 142, 151, 159,

241 200, 202, 207–209, 225, 226, 228, 234, 235 Research methods, 15, 119, 133, 139, 140, 179, 238

S Scepticism, 3, 11, 82, 88, 167 School leadership, 5, 6, 8, 9, 74, 75, 135, 233, 237 Scottish education policy, 134 SMART objectives, 160 Social justice, 6, 9, 15, 28, 29, 73–78, 81, 83, 88–91, 95–99, 104–106, 108, 109, 115, 123–125, 237 Social structures, 182 Spectrality, 201 STEM, 15, 52, 199, 200, 202–205, 207–210, 212, 214–219, 238 Stiegler, Bernard, 15, 21, 25, 26, 31, 32, 237 Structure, 5, 22, 24, 25, 36, 37, 40, 44, 45, 48, 64, 65, 67, 82, 103, 106, 122, 141, 171, 175, 176, 180–182, 190, 217, 232, 234, 237, 238 Subjectification, 82, 104, 159, 161, 162, 170, 171, 173 Subjective experiences, 179, 182 Subjectivity remodelling

T Target-setting, 171 Taxidermy, 199–201, 205, 206, 210–217 Technologies of the self, 161, 162 Text, 12–16, 22–27, 46, 80, 107, 108, 120, 125, 139, 140, 146, 147, 176, 187, 224, 226, 228 Theory turn, 1, 6, 7, 15, 237 Truth, 11, 13, 14, 16, 24, 35, 42, 63, 81, 89, 95, 97, 105–108, 139, 142–144, 214, 218

V Verfremdungseffekt, 45, 64

W Westernized leadership approaches, 8 Writing as a method of inquiry, 14, 80

Z Zombie leadership, 30