The Interpersonal Dimensions of Justice-Centering Educational Leadership: Developing Loving, Liberatory Practice and Capacity

• In Event: Cases of Antiracism and Liberation in Educational Leadership

Abstract

Drawing from in-depth qualitative interviews and developmental assessments with fifty diverse leaders from across the United States, this paper foregrounds educational leaders’ reflections on growing for justice, and the internal capacities needed to center equity, healing, and repair in schools and classrooms. Specifically, we focus on the second domain of our new, research-based developmental model of justice-centering educational leadership—the interpersonal—and highlight (a) the internal capacities undergirding leaders’ relational effectiveness, (b) leadership practices foregrounding empathy and care, and (c) developmental supports and stretches that helped leaders further expand their impact. By mapping a developmental trajectory of social justice leadership, this paper provides actionable implications for leadership preparation and in-service professional learning.

Authors

• Eleanor E. Drago-Severson, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Jessica Blum-DeStefano, Bank Street College of Education

• Deborah Brooks Lawrence, Bank Street College of Education