TY - JOUR
T1 - The positioning of moral leadership in primary education
T2 - perspectives and contextual understandings of school principals in Ireland
AU - Simmie, Geraldine Mooney
AU - Sheehan, Ciaran
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In the study reported here, we explore the positioning of moral leadership in primary education through critical scrutiny of a select literature and the contextual understandings and perspectives of a purposive sample of 103 primary school principals in Ireland. The cultural context is unique in Europe given that primary education is a largely state funded system of denominational education with almost 90% of schools under the patronage of the Catholic Church. We draw from a number of theoretical perspectives as a critical feminist heuristic device to broaden the problem beyond any reductionist view of exchange value and to advocate for educational leadership as an emancipatory and transformative practice. Data analysis involved policy analysis of four reform documents and critical scrutiny of an empirical dataset, a regional survey and twelve in-depth interviews with school principals. The findings reveal tensions and contradictions between policy documents mandating the uncritical adoption of a model of distributive leadership and the perspectives of school principals advocating for servant leadership. The study has implications beyond Ireland for educational and moral leadership in primary education and is presented here as a hypothesis worthy of further research and consideration.
AB - In the study reported here, we explore the positioning of moral leadership in primary education through critical scrutiny of a select literature and the contextual understandings and perspectives of a purposive sample of 103 primary school principals in Ireland. The cultural context is unique in Europe given that primary education is a largely state funded system of denominational education with almost 90% of schools under the patronage of the Catholic Church. We draw from a number of theoretical perspectives as a critical feminist heuristic device to broaden the problem beyond any reductionist view of exchange value and to advocate for educational leadership as an emancipatory and transformative practice. Data analysis involved policy analysis of four reform documents and critical scrutiny of an empirical dataset, a regional survey and twelve in-depth interviews with school principals. The findings reveal tensions and contradictions between policy documents mandating the uncritical adoption of a model of distributive leadership and the perspectives of school principals advocating for servant leadership. The study has implications beyond Ireland for educational and moral leadership in primary education and is presented here as a hypothesis worthy of further research and consideration.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131079901&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13603124.2022.2077457
DO - 10.1080/13603124.2022.2077457
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85131079901
SN - 1360-3124
JO - International Journal of Leadership in Education
JF - International Journal of Leadership in Education
ER -