Value- Versus Values-Driven Decision Making: The Ethics Work of English Head Teachers Within Discourses of Constraint

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18.
  In Roundtable Session: School Leadership Roundtable

Abstract

With an emphasis on social theory this paper focuses on an exploration of the experiences and perceptions of practicing headteachers and the tensions that they face when juggling government prescription and government initiatives which may be antagonistic to their educational values and beliefs. Policy is however, mediated and interpreted in relation to the interests and values of those it affects (Ball et al, 2010). Headteachers are directly responsible for the interpretation and implementation of policy and have a moral and ethical responsibility for the welfare and education of pupils. The political and policy focus on high attainment however, as Fielding (2007) warns is destructive to ‘human flourishing’ (p.405). How then does the headteacher cope with “situated ethics work” (Colley, 2010)?

Author

• Linda Hammersley-Fletcher, Manchester Metropolitan University