) In his article “What is Leadership” author James Ryan (2005) makes four key points. He is concerned with problems of leadership form as they relate to education. Firstly he notes there is no definite answer to the question – what is leadership. (Ryan: 22) As he writes it is a “contested term.” (Ryan: 22) There are, he identifies, secondly, traditional notions of leadership and more radical or progressive ideas of leadership. The third point: there can be instances where the lines are blurry, where two leadership styles intersect. Fourth, leadership equals power, and there are different ways that power can be put to use. Leadership equals power is a fundamental aspect of Ryan's reflections on leadership. What kind of power, or how power is defined, helps us to know whether the idea is traditional or radical. Is leadership based upon the work of powerful individuals in leadership positions (hierarchical) who guide others towards goals? Or, is leadership more of a collective process (horizontal) where people work together to solve common issues? The author identifies three leadership approaches: individual, collective and process oriented; each represents a different concept of power. (Ryan: 22)
[...] write that in schools where there is a strong anti-racist perspective, or acknowledgment of the need for inclusive education, personal subjective identification with the learning process makes it possible for the individual or group to invest in transformative educational practices.” (Dei et al: 143) The situation in the school and Jane-Finch community is not static. There is a high level of consciousness of need for fundamental transformation. This comes from a number of directions, showing that in this school district, the leadership style is a combination of horizontal and traditional/hierarchical. [...]
[...] Therefore, developing as an individual teacher, an anti-racist, process- oriented sense of leadership, which includes students needs, parents concern, and takes into account the social dynamics and social location of the community, all contribute to the possibility of bringing about effective change. In recognizing a holistic educational approach, one that takes into account not only what is taught, but the environment of learning and the spiritual dimensions of the whole person (of the student and/teacher), the philosophical framework of anti-racist pedagogy is a positive force to challenge and transform the Eurocentric status quo. Are Black-Focused schools the answer? [...]
[...] There is a lot of agreement in the seminar around Ryan's contention that process oriented collective leadership brings out the strengths of the community; and that a coalition of people willing to work together to solve fundamental problems, can put pressure on traditional modes of operation within a school district. The more voices heard, the more people speaking out, the more collective agreement regarding common aims and goals, the more the chance that traditional authorities, with more limited perspectives, will in fact realize they have to listen. [...]
[...] It also is evidence of the value of collective horizontal process oriented leadership, when it is also combined with an individual leadership style that is, although Ryan calls it contradictory, geared towards collective involvement and participatory social justice. Individual educator activist-scholars such as George Dei have done much to raise awareness of the problems of racism in the Toronto educational system. (Dei, 1996; 2000) This makes him a singular, visionary leader who through his dedication, has brought about awareness of problems of inequality and oppressive institutional racism in Canada's education system. [...]
[...] Ryan identifies this in terms of contradiction, as it is “individualistic and hierarchical combined with a quest for social justice.” (Ryan: 24) Collective process oriented leadership is usually challenging the notion of individual leaders, status quo and limited perspectives. Instead, it is radical and inclusive, challenging institutionalized norms of society like stereotypes of race, gender, class; stereotypes that reinforce hierarchies and deny people voice. The collective works to alter the power dynamic through alliances. Finally, Ryan writes within leadership styles, both the traditional, individual and horizontal, collective model there are a range of approaches including “moral leadership managerial leadership student leadership, parent/community leadership, emancipatory leadership instructional leadership, transformational leadership and so on. [...]
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