1st Edition
Leading Socially Just Schools The Role of Professional Learning and Growth
Equity and social justice have become central to the work of schools. Teachers and leaders are at the forefront of building socially just schools. Issues related to equity and social justice in education, however, are complex and deeply contested. Professional learning is critical to enable teachers and school leaders to develop the understandings, skills and confidence to grapple with often challenging issues. This book brings together a range of contributions from different systems. The contributors to this book explore ways in which professional learning can support efforts to bring about socially just schools. The authors adopt a variety of perspectives, with some looking at professional learning around a broad concept of social justice and the task of the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged learners. Other contributors explore the question of professional learning in relation to a specific issue or area of practice to raise awareness and deepen knowledge and skills. Barring one, all the chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in the journal Professional Development in Education.
Foreword
Fiona King
1 Introduction
Christine Forde and Deirdre Torrance
Leadership development and leading socially just schools
2 Anti- racist school leadership: making ‘race’ count in leadership preparation and development
Paul Miller
3 What is the problem? A critical review of social justice leadership preparation and development
Deirdre Torrance, Christine Forde, Fiona King et al.
4 Learning to lead socially just schools: an exploration of candidate readiness for equity- focused principal preparation in the United States
Corrie Stone- Johnson, Corey Gray and Casandra Wright
5 The need for career- long professional learning for social justice leaders in affluent school contexts
Karen Huchting and Jill Bickett
6 Professional development for school leaders in England: decision- making for social justice
Ian Potter and Stephanie Chitpin
Leading in socially just schools
7 Promoting socially just schools through professional learning: lessons from four US principals in rural contexts
Pamela S. Angelle, Mary Lynne Derrington and Alex N. Oldham
8 Critical professional development and the racial justice leadership possibilities of teachers of colour in K- 12 schools
Rita Kohli, Marcos Pizarro, Luis- Genaro Garcia, et al
9 The role of trade union provision for critical professional learning in supporting member teachers’ social justice leadership practice
Halil Buyruk
Teacher development to build practice in socially just schools
10 Promoting professional growth to build a socially just school through participation in ethnographic research
Begoña Vigo- Arrazola and Dennis Beach
11 ‘Every single student counts’: leadership of professional development underpinned by social justice for sessional staff in a South Australian university
Sarah K. Hattam and Tanya Weiler
12 A cross- school PLC: how could teacher professional development of robot- based pedagogies for all students build a social- justice school?
Elson Szeto, Kenneth Sin and George Leung
13 Supporting gender- inclusive schools: educators’ beliefs about gender diversity training and implementation plans
Mollie T. McQuillan and Jennifer Leininger
14 Learning about culture together: enhancing educators cultural competence through collaborative teacher study groups
Chrystal S. Johnson, Jennifer Sdunzik, Cornelius Bynum, et al.
15 The professional development needs of primary teachers in special classes for children with autism in the Republic of Ireland
Caitriìona Finlay, William Kinsella and Paula Prendeville
Afterword: inserting social justice into professional development
Ira Bogotch
Biography
Christine Forde is Emeritus Professor at the University of Glasgow. Current research includes social justice leadership, middle leadership in schools, life histories and headship, governance. She is a Fellow of the International Professional Development Association and received the Robert Owen Award for services to Scottish education in 2019.
Deirdre Torrance is Senior Research Fellow in Educational and School Leadership in the School of Education, University of Glasgow. Deirdre leads the Future of Headship Research Team and is engaged in numerous collaborative research and writing projects around policy, leadership preparation, school leadership and management, and social justice leadership.
