Dawn C. Wallin

A Comparative Analysis of the Educational Priorities and Capacity of Rural School Districts

This article outlines a comparative analysis of three studies (one provincial, and two school division) that examined the congruence between the priorities of the Manitoba governments Kindergarten to Senior 4 (K-S4) Education Agenda for Student Success and priorities identified by stakeholders in a rural Manitoba (Canada) school division, as well as the capacity of the division to achieve them. Capacity was defined utilizing a model developed out of rural sociology termed entrepreneurial social infrastructure which includes three components for success: (1) Legitimization of Alternatives; (2) Diverse Networks; and (3) Resource Mobilization. The findings of the study suggest that (1) rural areas are dynamic and unique in their economic, social and demographic characteristics, and (2) that theoretical conceptualizations of how rural areas develop and/or thrive have yet to be refined, particularly as they relate to rural education. School reform efforts have a tendency to essentialize schooling across contexts, which provides many challenges to rural school divisions when they do not reflect local purposes, interests and/or capacities. A more localized and responsive conceptualization of school improvement strategies is therefore necessary, as well as research that is tailored to the particular needs of rural communities.

Productive Conversations from a Feminist Perspective

This chapter is written as a response to the ideas put forward in Scott Eacott’s text, Educational leadership relationally written from a feminist perspective. The response is centered on five main ideas that are discussed in the book: (1) that the relational approach provides a new way of thinking about educational administration; (2) that there exist tensions in current approaches to research due to the embodied and embedded nature of the researcher vis-a-vis the research object; (3) that there is much value in historicizing temporal trajectories and the socio-spatial contexts of research; (4) that interpretive description has the most to offer the study of the legitimation of social organizing; and; (5) that there does not exist enough attention to language and discourse within current educational administrative research. The paper concludes with suggestions for further intra-disciplinary dialogue that could deepen the sophistication of the relational approach over time.

The Voice inside Herself: Transforming Gendered Academic Identities in Educational Administration.

This paper traces the academic identity formation(s) of 10 Canadian female academics whose disciplinary knowledge is in the field of educational administration. We trace the ways in which discourses of gender, institutional power, and other cultural and social influences shaped their sense of themselves as academics in the highly patriarchal domain of the academy as an institution as well as within the discourse(s) of educational administration in faculties of education. In doing so, we discuss the ways in which these womens entry into academia transformed identity possibilities for themselves and others. We conclude that these women share a commitment to rigorous scholarship and to the values of equity and social justice. The way in which they engage with those values in their work and lives has been taken up in the particular institutional and personal circumstances of their academic lives and has been shaped by the effects of normative discourses of gender. The result, individually and cumulatively, has been transformative on the individuals, within the institutions in which they have worked, and on the scholarship of Canadian educational administration.

Theatre of the Commons: a theatrical inquiry into the democratic engagement of former refugee families in Canadian public high school communities

Background: This paper describes the creation of a theatrical commons that aimed to broaden and deepen democratic engagement between diverse citizens in one public school community in Manitoba, Canada.Purpose and method: The researchers considered how Forum and Image Theatre provided former refugee youth, guardians, parents and the general public with the opportunity to name and invent different possibilities to address complex school community challenges at an individual and at a policy level. The study utilised critical participatory action research that drew heavily on the theatrical imaginations of Augusto Boal and David Diamond.Main arguments and conclusions: Three recommendations were derived from the findings as they related to the research questions and literature: (1) that Image and Forum Theatre can be used to connect public education to the pursuit of transformative democracy; (2) that Image and Forum Theatre would be a useful means of informing system planning and reflection, and; (3) that a theatrical commons has value for creating space for marginalised voices to influence decision-making.

From Foxy Loxy to Grit and Moxie: Women Academics Challenging the Orthodoxy in Higher Education

This chapter describes the complex interplay between individual agency and structure as they intersect in the careers of female academics to change the normative discourses found in higher education. The authors base their analysis on a study that was conducted with the first female academics in Educational Administration programs in Canada. The findings demonstrate that these women, while resisted by an academy that was highly masculinist, successfully negotiated these challenges through determination, clearly focused purpose and “moxie”; in doing so, they reshaped the academic discipline of Educational Administration.