A Critical Discourse Analysis of Standards for School Administrators: Agency, Action, and Identity in Canadian Policy Documents

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Language of and Within Policies and Practices

Abstract

The adoption of standards of leadership practice for school administrators has become a widespread practice in many jurisdictions around the globe. Adding to the exploration of this global trend, we examined the language used in the formulation of leadership standards as policy documents. Using a Critical Discourse Analysis approach, this study identified five discursive strategies in the documents: Impersonalization, Collectivization, Suppression, Transitivity and Functionalization. The analysis centered on how these strategies informed the categories of Action, Agency, and Identity in relation to the work of administrators, teachers, and other school actors. The analysis focused on the leadership standards used in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.

Authors

• Gus Riveros, University of Western Ontario

• Wei Wei, University of Western Ontario

• Carolyne Verret, University of Western Ontario

• Ayman Massouti, The University of Western Ontario