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Challenging Leadership Norms: A New Way of Thinking About Leadership Preparation

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The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Discourse

Abstract

Images of principals are often of a seasoned educator well into their teaching career, having risen through the ranks, gaining experience in middle- and senior-level leadership, ideally having completed some form of leadership preparation, and given license to lead a school. Their leadership development, most likely self-managed, perhaps including some formal studies, and most certainly including experience in leadership roles, occurs well into their careers as teachers. So, the idea of introducing pre-service teachers to notions of educational leadership in their initial teacher training is far from conventional thinking. This chapter explores new possibilities in leadership preparation arguing that because today’s teacher graduates are entering educational settings that are rapidly changing and increasing in complexity, they need to be prepared for leadership early in their careers. Distributed leadership structures are now commonplace with increasing opportunities and expectations for leadership across all levels. Graduates entering the profession can find themselves leading very early in their careers without any leadership knowledge, experience, or competencies. This chapter challenges leadership norms by rethinking how we prepare teachers for the profession recognizing the need to better equip teacher graduates for the reality in schools, the changing nature of a teachers’ role, and the need to create a pipeline of experienced leaders to lead the schools of the future. After sections describing the changing nature of schools and school leadership, teacher roles, and initial teacher education (ITE), the chapter considers how ITE courses are responding to these pressures through the provision of leadership learning.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Daniela Acquaro & David Gurr

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  1. Daniela Acquaro
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  2. David Gurr
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Correspondence to Daniela Acquaro .

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Acquaro, D., Gurr, D. (2022). Challenging Leadership Norms: A New Way of Thinking About Leadership Preparation. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39666-4_25-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39666-4_25-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39666-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39666-4

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