A New Beginning: Reimagining Program Goals, Design, and Content of an Educational Leadership Program

• In Event: Pedagogies of Re: Toward a Decolonial, Emancipatory Framework of Educational Leadership

Abstract

What role should educational leadership programs play in preparing school and community leaders in urban spaces to respond to a social context that normalizes immense levels of social toxicity and structural violence (Ginwright 2015)? Furthermore, given the explicit and implicit attacks to communities of color and other marginalized groups historically and in the present political moment, how are we preparing educational leaders in our Educational Leadership programs to not only have robust critiques of societal structures (Patel, 2016), but more importantly, offer clear articulations of a theory of change (Tuck, 2009) and engage in praxis (Freire, 1972) in hopes of bringing about societal change and transformation? This research study is an examination of an educational leadership program at a critical juncture in the process of reexamining program goals, mission, and vision as it seeks to expand and add an educational leadership doctorate.

As such, this study explores the following research questions: What common understanding of principle and practice is guiding the trajectory of our educational leadership program? And, how might course offerings and co curricular experiences offer our students (and faculty) the tools and opportunity to not only socially critique but move to imagine transformative possibilities? Answering these questions allows for deep critical introspection and for the production of rich data in the process of rearticulating the purposes and goals of masters programs in Educational Leadership and informing the creation of a new doctoral program.

Given that I am interested in exploring my lived experience and the “experiences of cultural familiars” I collaborate with, I utilize an autoethnographic approach (Alexander, 2009) as a form of critical race counterstory telling method (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002). This particular theory/method is appropriate for this study because autoethnographies in essence are “cultural narratives embedded with critical reflection on the interconnected set of conditions” (Camangian, 2011; 183), and when these conditions are interrogated as it can lead to a more critical understanding of self and work with others. These new understandings of self within program structures and practices create opportunities to engage in praxis oriented action towards change.

Preliminary data reveals an eagerness to engage in a rearticulation of the guiding principles of the program and a revision and transformation of course offerings. As a relatively new member to an educational leadership program, special attention has been paid towards community building and addressing past challenges experienced by colleagues within the department. This study offers important insights for Educational Leadership programs undergoing disequilibrium to unpack and wrestle with, what engaging in difficult introspection towards transformative change can look like.

Author

• Pedro E. Nava, Santa Clara University