Educational Leadership at the Edge of Chaos

• In Event: Complexity Theory, Educational Leadership, and Policy: Principles and Applications

Abstract

Objectives.

This presentation reviews some basic concepts of complex dynamical systems theory and evaluates their applicability to transformative educational leadership, an area fraught with challenges that come with the interface between global policy and the local dynamics of school buildings and districts.

Perspective

Our approach to educational leadership research tends to be linear and oriented toward outcomes instead of taking an interest in underlying dynamical processes. This can be seen in many educational policy journals, as well as in discussions around educational reform over the past two decades, which, in response to such outcomes, have retreated from the idea that wholesale reform of the educational system is at all possible. To the extent that complexity theory was consulted in these discussions, its use was typically informal and metaphorical, without the terminological consistency and cohesion required for an effective application of the theory. Consequently, the theory has had a limited impact in this field. This presentation seeks to address this situation.

Method

We start with the early complexity view of education as a loosely coupled system: a system in which the components (e.g., classrooms, school buildings) function relatively autonomously from each other. We discuss the limits of that model in appreciating the potential for transformation in the system and present a systematic overview of a contemporary terminological framework to describe complex systems processes. Arguably, educational systems are inherently complex: classrooms are nested within school buildings, which, in turn are nested within districts, and in each of these instances, the system in its entirety is more than aggregate behaviors of its component parts. This tension between the whole and its parts defines the zone in which effective leadership occurs, and it is in that area that we will look for the facilitators and inhibitors of transformation in this talk.

Evidence Sources

To better understand the complexity view of educational leadership, we review how the most basic recent theoretical insights are defined in the literature: the edge of chaos, self-organized criticality, emergence, self-transcending constructions, and uncomputability (Bak, 1996; Goldstein, 1999; Waldrop, 1992). We use those constructs to address the question how educational leaders can encourage and facilitate change for the better in classrooms, buildings, and districts.

Substantiated Conclusions

The ‘edge of chaos’ describes a system in which asynchronies in relationships between component parts (e.g., professional disagreements) result in a propensity toward transformation that can be exploited by educational leaders. ‘Self-transcending constructions’ refer to the possibilities for novelty in systems that are traditionally seen as static. To be proactive, leaders need to create such constructions (e.g., distributed leadership). Similarly, ‘self-organized criticality’ describes how an ongoing assertion of the status quo in a system can result in tension leading to sudden shifts.

Significance

Educational leaders need to evaluate tensions in their systems in order to anticipate systemic shifts and act accordingly. Complexity theory can help support educational leaders understand transformative processes that are ignored by more conventional theories of educational policy.

Author

• Matthijs Koopmans, Mercy College
  Presenting Author