What Is a Leader? New Insights Into the Complexities of Children's Perspectives About Leadership

• In Event: 81.033 - MTCC Roundtable Session 38
  In Roundtable Session: 81.033-3 - Pedagogical Inquiry: Critical Practices

Abstract

This study is an exploration in how female students, aged 8-11, think about leadership and position themselves as leaders. Educational researchers have conceptualized child leadership in different ways, however have not fully grasped the children’s viewpoint on this. To address this gap, we constructed a discussion guide related to assessments of leadership for youth and contextual factors related an after-school program. Preliminary findings suggest a more complex picture compared with previous research. Our participants’ views of communication and problem solving coincided with results of previous studies. However, we gained more insight into the contested trait of kindness. This implicates a need to rethink the ways in which we involve children in research studies about concepts like leadership.

Authors

• Maya Claire Longtin, University of California - Berkeley

• Aynsley Lemon

• Jasmine Kyle McBeath, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Diana J. Arya, University of California - Santa Barbara