Researching Gender in School Administration: To Know May Be Enough

• In Event: Multiple Dimensions of Leadership for Social Justice

Abstract

Gender inequalities in educational administration are internationally the focus of calls for research. The degree of concern and the urgent search for cause and cure are characterised as within an epidemic logic, evoking a managerialist ‘scientific’ reliance on evidence driven change. Taking a poststructuralist approach, the paper uses a study of South African female school principals to position gender research as a tool for change. The paper challenges the cultural assumptions of the convention theme, suggesting that it embodies specifically Western perceptions. It suggests that knowledge may be all we have to continue the negotiation of power where there is no solid ground of rightness about what views and actions disempower or the contrary.

Author

• Jacky Lumby, University of Southampton