A Critical Program Director Exploring the Revolutionary Potential of Postmodern and Posthuman Ideals: A Self-Study

• In Event: 34.066 - Program Directors for Social Equity: Eliminating Barriers to Opportunities and Success

Abstract

Overview
Market driven reforms and neoliberal policies have unfortunately significantly influenced not only the roles of educators and leaders, but also their identities as managers of an audit or performance culture rather than critical leaders who care about social justice and equity. This new managerialism promotes such practices as increased standardization, outcomes, surveillance, competition among public and private entities, contracting private services, and administrative decentralization. Educators and leaders are under great pressure to succumb to this new form of professionalism and I have witnessed critical educators and leaders become fearful to speak up and cynical and overwhelmed about the unfairness and injustice they see in the educational enterprise.
Purpose
This essay explores how a director of a critically grounded educational leadership program positions school leaders to resist being complicit in injustice as well as confront their issues of fear and cynicism in their everyday work. In addition to their comprehensive critical theoretical preparation, the students are now interacting with numerous postmodern and posthuman concepts including parrhesia (Foucault, 2001), liquid modernity (Bauman, 2013), care of the self (Foucault, 1982), ritual critique (Quantz, 2011), and material feminisms (Barad, 2008).
Theoretical Perspective
The paper is informed by ideas surrounding transformative leadership. Program directors as well as scholars who support this leadership paradigm believe educational leaders must be committed to challenging power imbalances, social inequalities, and oppression that are prevalent within schools and society. They also are committed to altering educational institutions, so they do not serve the dominant interests in society. They are also committed to engendering critical dialogue and building strong relationships in classrooms, where all children are capable of learning (Shields, 2004).
Methodology
This paper employs self-study as methodology. This mode of inquiry is designed for educators to examine and transform their professional practice. Over the course of the fall academic term, I will unpack whether numerous postmodern and posthuman concepts are able to position students in an educational leadership doctoral program to speak up about the unfairness and injustice prevalent within their educational settings. Specifically, 12 doctoral students will write reflective journals and engage in focus groups sessions from September 2016 until January 2017. They explore whether the concepts supported them to address issues of fear and cynicism in their everyday work.
Significance
Educational program directors who are committed to the ideals of equity and social justice must ensure their students are able to become bold socially responsible leaders who do not let fear and cynicism block them from becoming challenging injustice and inequality in their everyday work. Exploring the potential that postmodern and posthuman ideas have on school leaders may assist other program leaders. It may ensure their students become agents of change and transformation in schools, instead of keeping in place the policies, practices, and structures responsible for injustice and oppression at today’s historical moment.

Author

• Lauren P. Hoffman, Lewis University