This case explores themes of equity, leadership, wellbeing, and work intensification. The case follows Jennifer "Jen" Barns, the new principal at Westfield Public School, a JK-8 school in Ontario. Jen is overwhelmed by all the responsibilities of the job. She does not have a productive working relationship with her staff and is unable to…

This case describes the experience of a principal named Jade working in a diverse school in South Central Ontario. A teacher in Jade's school had been confronted by parents and a school board trustee for reading a book to their class about a family with two moms. The teacher, no longer feeling safe or welcome, eventually decided to switch schools.…

The term glass ceiling refers to existing artificial barriers to entry into leadership positions (Wilson, 2014, Booth, 2007). The quest for equity and social justice in educational leadership positions by racialized women, defined in this study as non-white, non-First Nations women, is the focus of this comparative case study. The key source of…

This paper reports on the development of the revised Social Justice Questionnaire (SJQ2), an instrument which permits the quantitative examination of socially just school leadership. The SJQ2 is based on data drawn from an exploratory province-wide study to determine to what extent, and how, school principals on Prince Edward Island understand and…

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the scant Canadian research regarding concrete social justice leadership practices. The critical, qualitative case study discussed examined the following question: "What strategies or practices do principals develop and engage in to do their social justice work in schools?" A description of…

This article presents the results of a comparative and critical study of the competency standards of Québec school administrators compared with seven other education systems within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). An inductive-type analysis has made it possible to identify the social categories targeted in the…

This book critiques dominant discourses and debates pertaining to values education, cultural identity and teaching democracy, set against the backdrop of growing social stratification and unequal access to quality education. It addresses discourses concerning globalisation, ideologies and the state, as well as approaches to values education and…

Purpose: Principals' leadership has become a subversive activity that is carried out strategically to challenge and disrupt the status quo and resist policies and practices that are counterproductive to their work. The purpose of this paper is to reveal subversive tactics principals use in pursuit of justice and equity in schools and identify…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a study that explores the discreet activist strategies of educational leaders who promote social justice. Design/methodology/approach: Part of a larger project, this study employed qualitative methods. In particular, researchers interviewed 26 leaders--principals, vice principals, department heads,…

This qualitative study intends to highlight social injustices that appear of the greatest concern to school leaders. Semi-structured interviews were used to glean data on principals' work contexts, their perceptions of social in/justices, and relevant anecdotes, stories, and examples. Twenty-one elementary and secondary school principals were…

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Associated Schools Network is an international organization that can help teachers and students learn more about practical ways to apply social justice themes at an academic, personal, social, and global level. Learning processes are holistic and multi-dimensional within…

Critical scholars view schooling as one piece of a larger struggle for democracy and social justice. We investigated 41 school administrators' perceptions about the role and importance of equity, diversity and social justice in new teacher induction in the province of Ontario. Interviews reveal that principals were interested in shaping teacher…

This important, timely, and thought-provoking reader is a collection of original chapters by authors from five different countries, each of whom explores a facet of transformative leadership. Transformative leadership is fundamentally a critical approach to leadership that goes well beyond the tenets of most current leadership theories to focus on…