Noelle Witherspoon Arnold

Metaphors of leadership and spatialized practice

In our nation’s schools, there is an ‘othered’ nature of space—the fact that spaces are not discourse-neutral and serve to entrap individuals in certain representations, roles, contracts, hierarchies and other hegemonic processes. This paper focuses on research on the use of photo-elicitation, critical geography and metaphor as tools of representation, analysis and reflection of problems of practice and spatialized practices in schools. Participants were students in a graduate educational leadership courses. Preliminary analysis has given insights into how students in leadership preparation programmes begin to develop their identities as future educational leaders and how they interpret problems of schooling. Providing students with the opportunity to critically examine how spaces in and around schools convey messages about taken-for-granted leadership practices and expectations for the role empowers them. Pre-service leaders can develop their own identities and become leaders engaged in creating more socially just schools that serve the needs of all students.

The Complexity of Leveraging University Program Change

This article identifies four elements of complexity that influence how university educational leadership programs can leverage program change: faculty reward systems, faculty governance, institutional resources, and state-level influence on leadership preparation. Following the discussion of the elements of complexity, the article provides a vignette of a university program change in educational leadership to further highlight the complexity and to provide examples of the opportunities for program change. The article ends with a discussion of implications for change.

From preservice leaders to advocacy leaders: exploring intersections in standards for advocacy in educational leadership and school counselling

In this empirically based paper, we discuss educational leadership preparation as it relates to social justice, the concept of advocacy and the standards that guide leadership and counselling, respectively. To reveal how preservice leaders conceptualize advocacy as understood in professional standards, we draw on our research with 11 preservice students about the current US Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards and its relationship to what educational leaders should be able to know and do. Based on the insights students shared, we looked to the school counselling field to see how explicitly advocacy and social justice are defined for preservice counselors in standards and competencies for practice. We suggest that leadership programmes can look to school counselling and other disciplines to further inform them in preparing leaders for advocacy. We discuss why including more definitive advocacy and social justice language in leadership standards carries implications for future educational reforms. With more explicit and intentional definitions and examples of advocacy and social justice in education leadership standards, the better the likelihood that once students step into a school leadership role, they are prepared and willing to use their skills and knowledge in action.

Getting Churched and Being Schooled: Making Meaning of Leadership Practice.

Personal and professional histories can provide insights into educational leadership and administrative practice. Drawing on a life and professional historical narrative of a Black, female principal, this case explores the intersection of race, spirituality, and social justice based on excerpts from a life narrative of a Black, female principal. This case provides opportunities to explore spiritual and religious aspects of educational leadership practice, and also explores issues of church and state while asking the reader to consider their epistemological assumptions relative to sociocultural dynamics of leadership such as race, gender, and social justice.

Exploring the Meaning and Paths of Advocacy for Undocumented Students’ Access to Education

ABSTRACT There is widespread national debate over how to address and advocate for undocumented immigrants in the United States. Education is key to the economic, occupational, and social mobility of young unauthorized immigrants, but policies and practices can hinder or open their access to education. Educators pursue a range of activities to support undocumented students in school. This article identifies the conceptualizations, strategies, and thought processes of educators who advocate for undocumented students. The results reveal that advocates’ backgrounds, resources, goals, identity, and the communities in which they advocate influence their perceptions and practices of advocacy.

Religion, Spirituality and the Schooling of Black Students

The growing national conversation around issues in religion and education is welcome for addressing an important aspect of culture. Yet this discussion still largely ignores the historic saliency of religion and spirituality in education with respect to the Black community. In fact, in the Black American community, religion and spirituality have always been central to the ‘‘project of seeking change’’ in schools and communities. Historically, the idea of ‘‘social justice and Black religion seemed inseparable.’’ Religion and spirituality were areas in which African Americans’ issues of oppression could finally be engaged; often the very existence of this religious freedom was rooted in the idea of protest. Taking account of the historical significance of religion and spirituality to oppose oppression, contemporary education scholars would do well to cultivate these long-standing connections as a means for advancing the understanding of contemporary struggles for social justice. Educational scholarship continues to explore the workings of social justice to ameliorate inequities for those who have not been well served in education. Although the concept of social justice remains a somewhat inchoate term in educational literature, the Black community has a long history built around the constructs of advocacy, justice, and social change. There