School Ecoleaders as Institutional Activists: Research for the Sustainable Future of Schooling

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Environmental and Sustainability Education in Schools: Leadership and Partnership (Table 6)

Abstract

Across the country, school leaders are working to update school infrastructure to adapt to a changing climate (Center for Green Schools, 2023). While research exists on the consequences of climate change for schooling, this nascent body of literature has yet to examine the role of school leaders who advocate for sustainability efforts. I assert that these school leaders act as institutional activists by using bureaucratic structures and institutional channels to influence school policy around sustainability implementation (Pettinnichio, 2012; Santoro & McGuire, 1997). Approaching research on sustainability through this new lens of ecoleader institutional activism reveals a dearth of research on the mechanisms through which school sustainability policy is enacted, the roles community members take on, and how ecoleaders sustain their practice.

Author

• Natalie Spitzer, University of Texas at Austin