Abstract
In this chapter, we examine the heightened volatilities and politics of the emotional labour of leading in contemporary times. We begin the chapter by ‘zooming out’ to examine the practice architectures which prefigure schooling, teaching and leading practices in the state of Victoria and how they shape the intersubjective spaces of educating. Drawing on case studies of schools defined as exemplary in building socially cohesive communities, we then ‘zoom in’ to examine the practice landscapes of the case study sites and how varied types of emotional labour were enabled and constrained within them. We analyse emotional labour primarily through the contested emotion of caring, examining how ‘caring’ practices are variously bundled together with other emotions as part of the labour of leading. We analyse how these practices emerge and circulate in the sites, their political impacts, and their relationship with practices such as teaching and learning. We conclude by teasing out the implications of this analysis for practice architectures theory, educational leading and emotions as fields of scholarship and practice.
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Notes
- 1.
The study was funded by the Social Cohesion Unit, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria, Australia. It was carried out in partnership with the Victorian Department of Education and Training, the Bastow Institute of Education Leadership and The Centre for Strategic Education.
- 2.
The emphasis on social cohesion was due to the nature of the research funding we received. The aim of the broad research program driven by the Victorian Government’s Research Institute on Social Cohesion [RIOSC] was to improve “understanding of social cohesion, diversity, community resilience, community polarisation and violent extremism” in order to build an evidence base. A second aim was “to develop… innovative ways to reduce racial, ethnic and religious exclusivism and enhance Victoria’s pluralism into the future” (Research Institute on Social Cohesion, 2015, p. 1).
- 3.
The survey was funded by the RE Ross Trust and the Reichstein Foundation.
- 4.
Other Australian state education systems moved far more slowly towards the adoption of neoliberal ideologies. New South Wales, the largest education bureaucracy in Australia, only adopted policies of greater autonomy for principals in the second decade of the 2000s. Centralised controls are now being reasserted.
- 5.
These are pseudonyms. All identifying details have been changed to protect the identity of the participants and their schools.
- 6.
Due to issues of confidentiality and anonymity, the descriptions of the schools, student populations and staff have been kept relatively general.
- 7.
For further details of data collection and methodology, see Wilkinson et al. (2018).
- 8.
Due to confidentiality concerns, we have used more generalised terms and omitted identifying details in some parts of these accounts. We employ pseudonyms for teachers and students.
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Wilkinson, J., Walsh, L., Keddie, A., Longmuir, F. (2021). The Emotional Labour of Educational Leading: A Practice Lens. In: Educational Leadership through a Practice Lens . Educational Leadership Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7629-1_8
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