Skip to main content

Educational Leadership as Critical Practice

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

Critical practice; Critical scholarship; Educational leadership; Social interaction; Theory/practice divide

Introduction

The aim of this entry is to introduce the turn to practice in the social sciences that has occurred in recent years and examine how and why this turn has been taken up by scholars in the field of educational leadership. This entry outlines major trends in emergent scholarship which adopt a “critical” approach to educational leadership as a form of practice, that is, one which embraces an explicitly political, humanistic, and transformative agenda in its theorization of practice. It examines the different approaches to theorizing educational leadership as practice drawing on recent developments in practice theory and philosophy that have emerged in the field as a result of this turn, including practice scholars such as Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, and Theodore Schatzki. This entry summarizes the key contributions that a critical practice approach has...

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

References

  • Evers, C., & Lakomski, G. (2012). Science, systems, and theoretical alternatives in educational administration: The road less travelled. Journal of Educational Administration, 50(1), 57–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P., & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing practices, changing education. Singapore: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lingard, B., Hayes, D., Mills, M., & Christie, P. (2003). Leading learning: Making hope practical in schools. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. R. (2001). Introduction: Practice theory. In T. R. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina, & E. von Savigny (Eds.), The practice turn in contemporary social theory (pp. 10–21). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. R. (2002). The site of the social: A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. R. (2006). On organizations as they happen. Organization Studies, 27(12), 1863–1873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wacquant, L. J. D. (1989). Towards a reflexive sociology: A workshop with Pierre Bourdieu. Sociological Theory, 7(1), 26–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, J. (2010). Is it all a “game”? Analysing academic leadership through a Bourdieuian practice lens. Critical Studies in Education, 50(1), 41–54. doi:10.1080/17508480903450216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jane Wilkinson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

About this entry

Cite this entry

Wilkinson, J. (2015). Educational Leadership as Critical Practice. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_245-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_245-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-532-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics