Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The ‘Crucified’ Leader: Cynicism, Fantasies and Paradoxes in Education

Studies in Philosophy and Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper we argue that transnational as well as national political demands and expectations on the educational field are contributing to (re)produce four ideological-based educational leadership discourses in the literature. In order to conceptualize these discourses, we turn to the work of Schmidt (Diagnosis I—Filosoferende eksperimenter. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, 1999, On respect. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, 2011) and Zizek (Mapping ideology. Verso, New York, 2000, The sublime object of ideology. Verso, New York, 2008a). On that basis we identify four dominant educational leadership discourses: (a) a personhood-based discourse, (b) a profession-based discourse, (c) a standard-based discourse, and (d) a resource-based discourse. These discourses have—as we will show—various consequences for the way we think and talk about education and educational leadership in our age. Using examples that stem from a project about educational leadership in Danish upper secondary school, we will illustrate how educational leaders’ beings and doings are ‘regulated’ by these discourses, which place them in a tension field where different and conflicting (ideological) fantasies seem to be played out. Then, we will discuss how these fantasies can be challenged and how we can think and speak more intellectually about education and educational leadership. By using the term intellectual we are referring to educational leaders’ ability as human beings to critically reflect on their contemporary doings and beings within and beyond the existing social order. Hopefully this can help them (and us) to establish new ways for discussing not only what educational leadership is and should be about, but also what it could be about.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The empirical data for this study stems from a study following a leader training program for educational leaders in Danish upper secondary schools. The program had 24 participants from different schools. The two authors have observed different parts of the program, including teaching sessions, group sessions, and organized network meetings. During the program we interviewed four educational leaders, and after the program ended we conducted a focus group interview with that group. Our data in this paper stem from these interviews, in which we talked to the leaders about how they experience the political demands and expectations they face.

  2. With the term win–win politics we have seen how the neo-liberal agenda makes it difficult to embrace conflicting ideological views and makes it difficult to live out the idea about democratic pluralism. Within the neo-liberal agenda it becomes more difficult to acknowledging the constitutive character of social division, where no final reconciliation between adversaries can be reached (Mouffe 2013).

  3. Fantasies are an unavoidable part of the reality. We can never escape them once and for all. Still, it can be argued that some fantasies seem to control us more than they should. That is, some fantasies are so absurd that they produce a lot of problems while at the same time providing us with (assumed) solutions to those problems.

  4. The huge number of management books has spawned a ‘guru industry’ (Crainer 1998). It has been argued that this industry is part of the entertainment industry. The term guru refers to wise men or women who are seen as religious prophets (Pattison 1997), providing a vision of good and evil, heaven and hell, and salvation and damnation. Around the great gurus emerge a herd of homages and hagiologies, or writers of redemptive texts (Collins 2000).

  5. Our “Leadership Cross” is inspired by Lars-Henrik Schmidt’s social-analytical thoughts and the way Schmidt is trying to configure and re-configure social tension fields between conflictual rationalities, logics, and perspectives.

References

  • Adnett, N., and P. Davies. 2002. Education as a positional good: Implications for market-based reforms of state schooling. British Journal of Educational Studies 50(2): 189–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agamben, G. 2009. Potentialities: Collected essays in philosophy. California: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avolio, B.J., and L.W. Gardner. 2005. Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly 16: 315–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S.J. 2008. The education debate. University of Bristol: The Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biesta, G.J.J. 2006. Beyond learning: Democratic education for a human future. London: Paradigm Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biesta, G.J.J. 2009. Good education in an age of measurement: On the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability 21(1): 33–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. 1977. Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. In Power and ideology in education, ed. Jerome Karabel, and Albert H. Halsey. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyett, J.H., and J.T. Boyett. 1998. The guru guide™: The best ideas of the top management thinkers. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T., D. Atkinson, and J. England. 2006. Regulatory discourses in education. A Lacanian perspective. Bern: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cerny, P.G. 1997. Paradoxes of the competition state: The dynamics of political globalization. Government and Opposition 32(2): 252–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, M. 2012. The (absent) politics of neoliberal education policy. Critical Studies in Education 53(3): 297–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, D. 2000. Management fads and buzzwords. Critical-practical perspectives. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courtney, S.J., and H.M. Gunter. 2015. Get off my bus! School leaders, vision work and the elimination of teachers. International Journal of Leadership in Education 18(4): 395–417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crainer, S. 1998. The ultimate business guru book: 50 thinkers who made management. Oxford: Capstone.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cranston, N. 2013. School leaders leading: Professional responsibility not accountability as the key focus. Educational Management, Administration and Leadership 41(2): 5–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danish Ministry of Education. 2013. Endnu bedre uddannelser—for unge og voksne. (Even better education—for young and adults). Copenhagen: Danish Ministry of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darling-Hammond, L. and Rothman, R. (Eds.) (2011). Teacher and leader effectiveness in high-performing education systems. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education and Stanford, CA: Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.

  • Drucker, P.F. 2006. The effective executive: The definitive guide to getting the right things done. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furedi, F. 2004. Therapy culture: Cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furedi, F. 2009. Wasted. Why education isn’t educating. New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, W.L., C.C. Cogliser, K.M. Davis, and M.P. Dickens. 2011. Authentic leadership: A review of the literature and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly 22: 1120–1145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gellis, Z.D. 2001. Social work perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership in health care. Social Work Research 25(1): 17–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimmet, P.P. 2015. Revisioning decision making in educational leadership. In Decision making in educational leadership: Principles, policies, and practices, ed. Stephanie Chitpin, and Colin W. Evers. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gronn, P. 2003. The new work of educational leaders. Changing leadership practice in an era of school reform. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammershøj, L.G. 2015. Diagnosis of the times vs description of society. Current Sociology Monograph 63(2): 140–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hattie, J.A.C. 2009. Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, A. 2005. Leading from the chalk-face: An overview of school leadership. Leadership 1(1): 73–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hay, I. 2006. Transformational leadership: Characteristics and criticisms. E-Journal of Organizational Learning and Leadership 5(2): 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. 1991. A public management for all seasons? Public Administration 69: 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopmann, S.T. 2008. No child, no school, no state left behind: Schooling in the age of accountability. Journal of Curriculum Studies 40(4): 417–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jabbar, H. 2016. Between structure and agency: Contextualizing school leaders’ strategic responses to market pressures. American Journal of Education 122(3): 399–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristensen, J.E. 2001. Den urene økonomiske fornuft. In Kritik af den økonomiske fornuft, ed. C. Fenger Grøn, and Jens Erik Kristensen. Hans Reitzels Forlag: København.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leithwood, K., et al. 2004. How leadership influences student learning: A review of research for the learning from leadership project. New York: The Wallace Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, T.E. 2011. Rethinking the learning society: Giorgio Agamben on studying, stupidity, and impotence. Studies in Philosophy and Education 30(6): 585–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundahl, L., I.E. Arreman, A.S. Holm, and U. Lundström. 2013. Educational marketization the Swedish way. Education Inquiry 4(3): 497–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masschelein, J., and M. Simons. 2013. In defence of the school: A public issue. Leuven: E-ducation, Culture & Society Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, H.-D., and A. Aaron Benavot (eds.). 2013. PISA, power, and policy: The emergence of global educational governance. Oxford: Symposium Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, P., and N. Rose. 2008. Governing the present. Administering economic, social and personal life. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, H. 1983. Structure in fives: Designing effective organizations. New York: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouffe, C. 2013. Agonistics: Thinking the world politically. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulford, B. 2003. School leaders: Changing roles and impact on teacher and school effectiveness. A paper commissioned by the Education and Training Policy Division, OECD, for the Activity Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. https://www.oecd.org/edu/school/2635399.pdf.

  • Parker, I. 1997. Psychoanalytic culture. Psychoanalytic discourse in western society. London: SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pattison, S. 1997. The faith of the managers: When management becomes religion. London: Cassell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, T.J., and R.H. Waterman. 1982. In search of excellence, lessons from America’s best-run companies. Cambridge: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, M. 1997. The audit society: Rituals of verification. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, M., T. Scheytt, K. Soin, and K. Sahlin. 2009. Reputational risk as a logic of organizing in late modernity. Organization Studies 30(2&3): 301–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, V.M.J., C.A. Lloyd, and K.J. Rowe. 2008. The impact of leadership on student outcomes: An analysis of the differential effects of leadership types. Educational Administration Quarterly 44(5): 635–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosa, H. 2010. Alienation and acceleration. Towards a critical theory of late-modern temporality. Malmö: NSU Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. 1998. Inventing our selves: Psychology, power, and personhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. 1999. Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, Rüsselbæk, and A. Qvortrup. 2013. Evaluerings- og synliggørelseskrav—undervisningskultur og lærerprofession. In Frihed og styring: En antologi om læringskulturer i forandring, ed. Steen Beck, and Dion Rüsselbæk Hansen. Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rüsselbæk Hansen, D., S. Beck, and J.D. Bøje. 2014. What are they talking about? The construction of good teaching among students, teachers and management in the reformed Danish upper secondary school. Education Inquiry 5(4): 583–601.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rüsselbæk Hansen, D. and Frederiksen, L. F. 2015. Samtidens skoleledelse—tegn og tendenser i toneangivende ledelsesdiskurser. Gjallerhorn nr. 21. VIA University College.

  • Rüsselbæk Hansen, D., A.M. Phelan, and A. Qvortrup. 2015. Teacher education in Canada and Denmark in an era of neutrality. Transnational Curriculum Inquiry 12: 40–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadovnik, A. 2006. Toward a sociology of educational change: An application of Bernstein to the US “No Child Left Behind” Act. In Knowledge, power and educational reform: Applying the sociology of Basil Bernstein, ed. R. Moore, M. Arnot, J. Beck, and H. Daniels. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scalia, J., and L. Scalia. 2011. Ideological critique and ethical leadership. Philosophical Studies in Education 42: 55–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scharmer, C.O. 2009. Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. Oakland: Berrett Koehler Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, L.-H. 1999. Diagnosis I—Filosoferende eksperimenter. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, L.-H. 2002. Livsduelighed. In Kristendomskundskab/livsoplysning, ed. Lars-Henrik Schmidt, et al. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, L.-H. 2011. On respect. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seery, A. 2008. Slavoj Zizek’s dialectics of ideology and the discourses of Irish education. Irish Educational Studies 27(2): 133–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, M., and J. Masschelein. 2007. The learning society and governmentality: An introduction. In The learning society from the perspective of governmentality, ed. Jan Masschelein, Maarten Simons, Ulrich Bröckling, and Ludwig Pongratz. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taubman, P.M. 2009. Teaching by numbers. Deconstructing the discourse of standards and accountability in education. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C. 1992. Sources of the self: Making of the modern identity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tooley, J. 1995. Markets or democracy for education? A reply to Stewart Ranson. British Journal of Educational Studies 43(1): 21–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tosas, M.R. 2016. Educational leadership reconsidered: Arendt, Agamben, and Bauman. Studies in Philosophy and Education 35(4): 353–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uljens, M., J. Møller, H. Ärlestig, and L.F. Frederiksen. 2013. The professionalization of Nordic school leadership. In Transnational influences on values and practices in Nordic educational leadership. Is there a Nordic model?, ed. L. Moos. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vadolas, A. 2012. The bounced cheques of Neoliberal fantasy: Anxiety in times of economic crisis. Subjectivity 5(4): 355–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wall, T., and D. Perrin. 2015. Slavoj Zizek. A Zizekian gaze at education. London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yukl, G. 1999. An evaluation of conceptual weaknesses in transformational and charismatic leadership theory. The Leadership Quarterly 10(2): 285–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zizek, S. 2000. The spectre of ideology. In Mapping ideology, ed. Slavoj Zizek. New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zizek, S. 2006. The parallax view. London: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zizek, S. 2008a. The sublime object of ideology. New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zizek, S. 2008b. The plague of fantasies. New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zizek, S. 2009. First as tragedy, then as farce. New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dion Rüsselbæk Hansen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hansen, D.R., Frederiksen, L.F. The ‘Crucified’ Leader: Cynicism, Fantasies and Paradoxes in Education. Stud Philos Educ 36, 425–441 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-016-9539-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-016-9539-y

Keywords

Navigation