Globally Minded Leadership: New Approaches for Leading Schools in a Diverse Democracy

• In Event: Park Central Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Leadership and Meaning-Making: Ethics, Emotion, and Global-mindedness

Abstract

For public education to remain relevant and effective, schools must teach knowledge, skills, and mindsets that help each student thrive in and productively contribute to a pluralist democracy and globally-connected world. What leadership approaches can be reimagined to facilitate the learning of such critical competencies? This study explores school leadership practices that help cultivate global learning among students and staff, using a grounded theory approach to analyze in-depth interviews with eleven practicing school principals. Eight globally-minded leadership practices emerged from the data, which fell under the constructs of setting the direction, developing people, redesigning the school, and globally-situated actions. Findings hold implications for how educational leadership programs and professional development providers can utilize this emerging framework to cultivate globally-minded leaders.

Author

• Ariel Tichnor-Wagner, ASCD