Transforming Educational Leadership Preparation: Starting with Ourselves

Authors

Patricia L. Guerra, Texas State UniversityFollow
Barbara L. Pazey, The University of Texas at AustinFollow

Abstract

To lead for social justice, scholars have maintained aspiring leaders should examine their own values and beliefs that dictate, to a great extent, their day-to-day decision-making and responsibilities. To do so requires faculty to examine themselves before they can prepare leaders for social justice. The purpose of this paper is to engage others with similar interests toward creating and/or improving programs designed to prepare leaders for social justice. Serving as a source of data and method of analysis, this duoethnography chronicles the life histories of two faculty members working in different leadership programs to reveal how their understanding of diversity and social justice has been formed over the course of their lives. Sharing stories, they dialogically critiqued and questioned each other, challenging one another to reconceptualize beliefs and meanings about their lived experiences. Duoethnography has the potential to transform faculty’s conceptions of diversity and social justice as well as promote empathy, compassion and understanding. When trust is established, faculty can take risks, ask tough questions, reveal vulnerabilities, exchange uncensored comments, and challenge deficit thinking. Duoethnography can be a valuable tool for faculty development. The authors question, however, whether faculty would be willing to employ duoethnography to explore their beliefs about diversity and increase their knowledge of social justice. Due to a perceived lack of trust, power differences, fear of uncovering biases, engaging in conflict, and/or denial of tenure and promotion, they question whether faculty would be willing to engage in this methodology.

Keywords

Educational Leadership, Faculty Development, Social Justice, Transformative Learning, Duoethnography

Author Bio(s)

Patricia L. Guerra is an associate professor in the Education and Community Leadership program at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. She earned a doctorate in educational administration/special education administration from The University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from this same university. Previous to her faculty position, she was a public school educator and leader. Her research interests focus on addressing issues of equity, diversity, and social justice through culturally responsive teaching and leadership. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: Texas State University, 601 University Drive, ASB South 313, San Marcos, TX 78666; Email: pg16@txstate.edu.

Barbara L. Pazey is an assistant professor in the Departments of Special Education and Educational Administration at The University of Texas at Austin. She holds a doctorate in educational administration/special education administration from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Arts degree in music from The Ohio State University. Her research interests focus on the development of socially just administrator and teacher leadership preparation programs in the context of meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of special population students; ethical leadership and decision-making processes applied to special education law and policy; and the analysis of P-12 education programs within urban and/or turnaround school settings that empower student voice and recognize and foster the growth of special population students' 21st century skills. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: The University of Texas at Austin, Departments of Special Education & Educational Administration, 1912 Speedway D5300, SZB 374C, Austin, TX 78712; Email: bpazey@austin.utexas.edu.

Publication Date

10-3-2016

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2440

Recommended APA Citation

Guerra, P. L., & Pazey, B. L. (2016). Transforming Educational Leadership Preparation: Starting with Ourselves. The Qualitative Report, 21(10), 1751-1784. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2440