Defining Learning in Educational Leadership: Reframing the Narrative

• In Event: 16.062 - Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: 16.062-1 - School Leadership and Principals' Management Practices

Abstract

Because educational leadership has historically been more grounded in the science of management than the science of learning it has tended to fall into what Burrell and Morgan (1979) describe as the functionalist domain, emphasizing objectivity and order. Using theory development methods and problem posing, we deconstruct and explore the field of educational leadership along with key literature from the learning and cognitive sciences. We identify four key assumptions within these literatures that we argue constrain the field, which over time has become an excepted and unexamined part of the social fabric of education. Furthermore we build the argument that establishing more substantive science of learning lenses could better advance the field, providing a more appropriate grounding for our goals.

Authors

• Steve P. Myran, Old Dominion University

• Ian Sutherland