Embodiment for Praxis: Social Justice Leaders Preparing for "Good Trouble"

• In Event: Stories of Arts, Embodiment, and Praxis in Pre-K–20 Leader Preparation

Abstract

Einstein is quoted to have said, “The significant problems we face today cannot be solved with the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Given the need for such new and novel thinking, it’s unsurprising that a full 44% of superintendents have doctoral degrees (Tienken & Domenech, 2021), a statistic that has remained true for decades (Glass, et. al, 2000; Kowalski, et. al, 2010). After all, educational systems are complex, as is the work of leading them (Corcoran, et. al, 2001; Datnow, 2005; Honig, et. al, 2010).
While high numbers of aspiring educational system leaders recognize a need for continued growth, the education system itself is growing in unfamiliar ways. School systems and leaders must now negotiate everything from book bans and laws meant to censor teachers, to the climate catastrophe and the need to prepare youth for a future we cannot yet envision. Education is changing, and leadership preparation must stretch to meet these new needs. Returning to Einstein, this study shares one EdD program’s attempt at providing learning experiences capable of eliciting the sort of thinking necessary to solve our most significant problems.

Context:
As a cohort of students (practicing educational leaders, PreK-20) in an EdD with an explicit focus on equity and democracy, students spend 3-4 weeks together each summer. Whereas their school-year coursework attends either to their research or to learning about doing important leader things (personnel, board, finance, strategic planning), the summer intensive focuses on ways of being as leaders. Cotaught by a visiting professor with expertise in embodied practices including Boal's (2014) Theatre of the oppressed (TO), summer session meaningfully integrates content with experiential learning and embodiment. As the syllabus says, “This means that you will be learning with and through your experiences in and around (and between and in spite of) the class.”

Research Questions:
How do leadership students experience the addition of TO (an embodiment practice) as a core learning modality?
How does exposure to embodiment work transform students’ identities as leaders for justice?

Theoretical Framework and Method:
This work stands on the shoulders of radical social justice changemakers, including Freire and Boal, alongside others whose discernment and courage show us embodied leadership in practice. More directly, we utilize Lowery’s (2019) dimensions of courage development for social justice leaders (Figure 1) as a construct against which questions for semi-structured interviews were drafted. Two pilot interviews were recorded, analyzed, and coded into emerging generative themes, resulting in a final interview protocol. A second phase of research activity using the new protocol is planned for Fall 2022. A review of student work and other artifacts from the course add further texture to this case study.

Significance
The holistic case-study methodological approach aims to explore the potential of embodied practices as a primary pedagogical tool for developing leaders. There is a rich knowledge base of embodiment theory, yet a pressing need for experience-near qualitative research, such as this study, that can help academic leaders envision the how and not just the why.

Authors

• Lihi Rosenthal, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• John Scott, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author