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Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education pp 1085–1111Cite as

Hegemony, Principal Preparation, and the Language of the Oppressor: The Elusive Preparation of Socially Just School Leaders

Abstract

School leader preparation has a long history in the United States. For approximately a century, school leadership preparation programs have been developed, critiqued, reformed, and restructured, and this continues today. There are multiple purposes of this chapter: First, to respond to the question “how can school leaders be prepared in a way that would support a high-level of success in practice, especially in leading schools to further social justice, while acknowledging that the traditional preparation of school leaders has been insufficient?”: Second, to problematize what researchers have said about school leader preparation: Finally, to reconsider, and move beyond, what has been conceptualized as school leader preparation to develop leaders for social justice. In order to develop social justice-oriented school leaders, inclusion of a vision of school leadership which incorporates the broader societal implications of implementing socially just practices in schools is crucial.

Keywords

  • Principal preparation
  • Leadership for social justice
  • School leadership
  • Visionary leadership preparation
  • Socially just school leadership practices

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Las Vegas, NV, USA

    Jacob D. Skousen

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  1. Jacob D. Skousen
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Correspondence to Jacob D. Skousen .

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  1. Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, CA, USA

    Rosemary Papa

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  1. The Graduate School, Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, California, USA

    John M. Heffron

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Skousen, J.D. (2020). Hegemony, Principal Preparation, and the Language of the Oppressor: The Elusive Preparation of Socially Just School Leaders. In: Papa, R. (eds) Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14625-2_116

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