This study aims to reveal the causes and consequences of school principals' favouritism behaviours based on teachers' perceptions, and definitions about favouritism behaviour within schools. A descriptive phenomenological design was applied. Data were gathered via face-to-face interviews conducted with 15 public middle school teachers in Turkey.…

Existing distributed leadership (DL) theories tend to focus on distributing financial, material and human resources in order to enhance school performance. However, their impact appears controversial. Critical scholars assert that using DL to promote trust and democracy can be a self-fulfilling prophecy orchestrated by few formal leaders. When…

Previous research has contributed to the literature on what constitutes school leaders' and teachers' democratic practices in both high- and low-stakes accountability contexts, but less is known about how they interpret, legitimize, and translate the democratic purpose of education in a low-stakes, 'soft-regulation' system. The current study used…

As an academic counselor of four schools coping with social and educational challenges in the Palestinian education system in Jerusalem, I chose to direct the spotlight on the case of a high school serving mainly Muslim students, to observe how gender issues were reflected in the school's activities to shape an experience of equity for male and…

Despite growing interest in social justice leadership and awareness of the need to include this focus in leadership preparation and development, little is understood of practices used to support such commitment. In this article, Bacchi's (2012a) Foucaldian approach is drawn from, to provide a specific means of critically analysing what problem(s)…

Background: School leader decision making can be complicated by the enrollment of affluent, and often white families in educational spaces that have served low-income, Black, and Brown families post-Brown. Principals' behaviors influence whose power is coalesced and wielded to make school-wide curricular, budgetary, and personnel decisions.…

Many teacher activists engage in justice-oriented work within and outside their classrooms, yet the work of mathematics teacher activists has been understudied. In this qualitative interview study, I investigated ten women of Color mathematics teacher activists' actualization of their organizing work, which includes the creation of and…

This paper advances an alternative leadership metaphor of 'punk rock leadership'. I work through the usefulness of a metaphor of punk rock leadership as a way of exploring one principal's vision of leadership and his efforts to work outside of system expectations in his quest to achieve the school's goals. In doing so, I contribute to our wider…

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…

Racism is about institutional power to maintain racial hierarchy (Solorzano, Allen, & Carroll, 2002). School systems are hierarchies that were originally designed to educate white males. The majority of school districts and buildings are led by white people. The focus of this paper exposes the normalization of inherent racism and institutional…

The current study examined the role formal leaders can play in creating routines and practices to foster and sustain organizational leadership of equity-focused teams of educators, parents, and students in schools. Using a case study methodology, we explored how a Black female K-8 school leader steeped in social justice leadership work and a white…

Although there is much contention around the role of settlers in reconciliation [Maddison, S., Clark, T., & de Costa, R. (2016). "The limits of settler colonial reconciliation: Non-Indigenous peoples and the responsibility to engage." Singapore: Springer], the current under-representation of Indigenous peoples in Canada's K-12…

This case study explores an urban elementary school principal's efforts to advance reflective and anti-oppressive practices to counter teachers' beliefs and behaviors toward their Black male students. Data collected and analyzed include five in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations of the school, classroom and professional…

This case study offers an in-depth analysis of the initiatives implemented by a principal in an intentionally diverse charter school. Through extensive interviews with the principal, assistant principals, classroom teachers, and data gathered from surveys, classroom observations, and school documents, this research identifies the successful…

This exciting book explores the concept of transformative leadership and how leaders can create learning environments that are academically excellent, equitable, inclusive, and socially just. Grounded in research and real examples, Dr. Carolyn Shields presents an approach to leadership that is engaged, authentic, courageous, and effective in…