School-to-Leadership Pipeline and the Representation of Male African Caribbean Leaders in London Secondary Schools

• In Event: 66.066 - Justice in Educational Leadership: The Normality of Praxis Exercised by Global Leaders of African Heritage

Abstract

Despite the growing racial, cultural and ethnic diversity of the school and student population the senior secondary school leadership profession of principals and other senior administrators remains ostensibly white, mono-cultural, Eurocentric and male (Tillman, 2003). Black and ethnically minoritized people are seriously under-represented in school leadership positions, and as such the education system is unable to fully benefit from the strengths and advantages of a diverse leadership workforce (NCSL, 2010; Bush, 2011, Ross, 2002). Within the English education system for example, the trajectory of the number of headteacher or principal appointments of African-Caribbean men in English schools is poor, both in terms of comparison with the wider schools workforce and also as compared with the number of African-Caribbean heritage pupils within the British education system (Howson & Sprigade, 2011).

There has been increasing scholarship, research, and public policy on both sides of the Atlantic that has explored possible strategies and initiatives to improve the career pathways for individuals from Black and minoritized ethnic backgrounds into senior school administration roles. Previous research and studies have ostensibly examined a wide range of structural inhibitors, racial micro-aggressions, and invisible selection criteria that inhibit progression to these most senior school leadership positions. However, there has been no significant examination of the potential role of the school institution, and education system more broadly, in the education and “preparation” of children from Black and other minoritized backgrounds to become future leaders.

This paper explores the extent to which schools as Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) (Althusser, 1977) or Racial State Apparatus (RSA) (Leonardo, 2005) perpetuate a social formation and reproduction of social conditions that contribute to a deficit “school to leadership pipeline” where men of African-Caribbean heritage are significantly underrepresented in school principalship positions in English schools.

The paper draws on substantive research, conducted in a life history study within the qualitative tradition, focused on the experiences of eight male senior secondary school leaders of African-Caribbean heritage in London, England and examines how a history of inequitable education policies and pedagogical practices negatively impacts on the career trajectory and number of men of African-Caribbean heritage who progress to these senior leadership positions. The research and paper adopts a race based epistemological perspective. Three central and related conceptual frameworks inform the line of inquiry: (i) ideology and race; (ii) the role of schools as an ISA/RSA; and (iii) a critical race theory (CRT) perspective as applicable to an examination of the racialized aspects of schools, leadership and education public policy.

The research findings suggest that negative childhood experiences of the English education system are a significant contributory factor that results in the racial under-representation of African-Caribbean men who are deemed suitably “qualified” to embark on a school leadership career and to subsequently successfully secure senior secondary school leadership positions. The paper concludes that the examples of African-Caribbean school leaders who have largely succeeded within the educational leadership profession disrupt the continuation of social reproduction and racial stratification within schools and wider society.

Author

• Phillip A Smith, Teachers College, Columbia University