Developing Educational Organizations With Queer and Gender-Inclusive Cultures

• In Event: Critical Leadership Praxis Is Not a Luxury

Abstract

Objectives

We ask, how can educational leaders decolonize the culture of an organization with a focus on the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and education? Schools often reinforce white supremacist and patriarchal cultures and we argue that educational leaders must decolonize these cultures in order to promote social justice within their communities.

Overview of Framework

Our CLP model for decolonizing the culture in the education organization is situated at the intersection of theory, practice, and reflection.

The theories undergirding our work with schools contribute to the “espoused beliefs and values” of an organizational culture (Schein & Schein, 2016). We teach educators how inclusive organizational cultures are informed by the theory of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991), which examines how different social identifiers that individuals possess are tied to structures of power within U.S. society. These cultures are additionally informed by critical race feminisim (Wing, 1997), which helps highlight how district and school-wide policies such as dress codes and zero-tolerance discipline disproportionately penalize trans, femme, and cis-girls of color.

The practice component highlights the “artifacts” element of organizational culture (Schein & Schein, 2016). We equip leaders with readings and activities that build their skills for including and affirming the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. For example, we introduce educators to research that shows how these intersections influence how educators read youth as either child-like and in need of protection, or adult-like, and therefore not deserving of the same attention as their White counterparts (Epstein et al., 2017). We then engage educators in using their intersectional lens to imagine how to create gender diverse and LGBTQ+ inclusive schools through focusing on environment, curriculum, and pedagogy.

We hold that the practice of reflection is central to creating a decolonized culture within an educational organization. Through reflection educators are able to uncover and examine their own basic underlying assumptions and biases about race, gender, and sexuality, and those of the U.S. education system-- the third level of Schein and Schein’s (2016) model of organizational culture.

Significance

Historically, there has been a lack of focus on gender and sexuality as inequities in educator preparation programs, which can endanger the psychological safety of youth who are marginalized by these identities in schools, especially those who face the intersections of this marginalization with racism. We argue that it is critical for leaders within educational contexts to be equipped with perspectives that allow them to work against the violence of norms related to race, gender, and sexuality, and to create a culture of intersectional inclusivity.

References

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Identity politics, intersectionality, and violence against women. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299.
Epstein, R., Blake, J., & González, T. (2017). Girlhood interrupted: The erasure of Black girls’ childhood. Available at SSRN 3000695.
Schein, E.H. & Schein, P. (2016). Organizational culture and leadership. NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Wing, A.K. 1997). Brief reflections toward a multiplicative theory and praxis of being. In A.K.Wing (Ed.), Critical race feminism: A reader, pp. 27-34. New York: New York University Press.

Authors

• Charlotte E Jacobs, University of Pennsylvania

• Katherine Clonan-Roy, Cleveland State University