From the Field: A Proposal for Educating Leaders for Social Justice

TLDR

Educational leaders for social justice must raise academic achievement, prepare students as critical citizens, and achieve these goals through inclusive, heterogeneous classrooms offering a rich curriculum. The article proposes a structured educational leadership program to prepare principals for social justice work and encourages discussion and future research. The program is built on foundational components that outline selection criteria, knowledge content for social justice leaders, and post‑graduation induction and praxis. Faculty can use the proposed framework to assess and enhance program quality tailored to their students’ unique needs.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to suggest the structure and content of an educational leadership program whose aim is to prepare principals for social justice work. Research Design: The authors have conceptualized foundational components for a comprehensive principalship program focused on social justice. They assert that educational leaders for social justice must have three goals at the forefront of their efforts: (a) They must raise the academic achievement of all the students in their school, that is, high test scores do matter; (b) they must prepare their students to live as critical citizens in society; and (c) both of these goals can only be achieved when leaders assign students to inclusive, heterogeneous classrooms that provide all students access to a rich and engaging curriculum. The components addressed for this social justice—oriented principalship preparation program include (a) how students should be selected for such a program and (b) an outline of the knowledge and content for educating social justice leaders. The importance of induction/praxis after students graduate from these programs is discussed. Conclusions: The aim of this article is to provoke a discussion in the field and spark faculty to engage in ongoing conversations and thinking about their own programs and to imagine new avenues for future research in this area. Faculty also can use these suggestions as a guide to assess their efforts and to bolster program quality, sensitive to the unique needs and schooling contexts of their particular students.