Australian School Leadership Today

Citation

Ross Thomas, A. (2010), "Australian School Leadership Today", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp. 540-543. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231011054752

According to Bates and Eacott (2008) in their comprehensive study of the content of educational administration and leadership programs in Australian universities, (p. 150), “[…] the prescription of textbooks seems to have gone out of fashion”. Furthermore, of the relatively few prescribed textbooks identified by the authors, fewer than 30 percent were published in Australia. Nevertheless, Bates and Eacott noted that, notwithstanding this apparent trend, (p. 151) “[…] readings taken from single and multiple authored books have become very fashionable”. So it was with this in mind that I read the draft manuscript of Australian School Leadership Today realising the extent of the challenge that lay ahead if Australian Academic Press were to proceed to publication. I was delighted at a later date to see the appearance of Cranston and Ehrich's (2009) book. Perhaps, in some small degree, my firm support for the manuscript's impressive contents encouraged the publishers to proceed to print.

Reading Australian School Leadership Today has been a highly informative experience for me. The variety of valuable and relevant themes addressed by the authors and, especially, the insightfulness displayed therein have educed this reaction. Cranston and Ehrich, in addition to including work from an array of excellent scholars, have themselves contributed four stimulating chapters to this compendium of all‐Australian scholarship. The themes addressed are numerous and diverse but all are closely related to leadership in today's schools – a role which can only be described as demanding and challenging. Interwoven throughout all of these themes is the constant of change and, implicitly, the accompanying demand for leaders continuously to identify, balance and establish priorities for addressing the multitude of activities that constitute life in schools.

Prior to my reading I was somewhat despondent about the future as, seemingly, one‐by‐one, the established scholars left our field. However, the book has provided me with encouraging evidence that the study of educational leadership in Australia is in good hands. A total of 29 authors have contributed to this book and for me (very soon to be declared a relic of ages past) it is particularly gratifying to identify a dozen or so who are relatively new to our field – “new kids on the block” if you will – and also to realise that more than half of the contributors are women. That nowadays, of course, should no longer come as a surprise but, nevertheless, it is worthy of note because it provides more nice evidence of the change that has taken place in the “composition” of leadership scholars and researchers. This, one may assume, is a reflection (at least in part) of the emerging (but long overdue) gender balance among school leaders. Also worthy of acknowledgement are the locations of the authors – almost all Australian states are represented and several of the contributors are “practitioners” without any particular university affiliation. Those from the university sector are associated in most cases with centres specialising in the study and dissemination of improved school leadership practice. A combination of conceptual and research‐based chapters makes for an instructive mix of material. Case studies provide bases for several of the latter‐mentioned presentations.

In the introduction to the book Mulford (arguably Australia's most prolific author in the field) quite rightly expresses his concern about the shortcomings in both quantity and, especially, quality of research publication in this country. In an observation similar to that of Bates and Eacott, Mulford sees herein an “aversion” to using Australian scholarship as building blocks for research in educational leadership and (as I too have bemoaned) a propensity to cite “material of questionable relevance from other countries”. Cranston and Ehrich are clearly aware of this criticism – Australian School Leadership Today is a determined attempt to address this inadequacy. With this in mind (and as a long‐serving journal editor) I have examined quite closely the type and source of references cited in each of the chapters. I find it pleasing to note the extensive use of Australian sources and, it must be said, a seemingly reduced reliance on American material. Certainly this is so with regard to journal citations – the American Educational Administration Quarterly, for example, receives modest citation when compared with Australian journals such as Leading & Managing and also when compared with two or three UK‐published periodicals which, by the way, appear to be gaining influence in Australian scholarship. This is an encouraging development. Pleasingly, to the eye of this editor, the Journal of Educational Administration is also extensively cited.

The limitations of space sadly make it impossible for me to address each chapter of the book – sadly because each deserves mention and commendation. Instead I must limit further remarks to just some of the chapters that I found particularly impressive and appealing.

The opening chapter by Starr points to several current concerns not the least of which are the actual practices of and influences upon school leaders when confronted with the realities of the Australian centralised systems of education. The author identifies major imperatives for changing Australian education and thereby provides an excellent platform for subsequent chapters. In Chapter 2, Ehrich, Kimber and Cranston focus on matters of ethics and values and beliefs and I commend them for doing so early in the book. These are crucial elements of school leadership (or leadership in any location for that matter) and school principals, for example, can only gain by being sensitive to these realities of behaviour. This is a strong chapter with case studies underpinning its content and a valuable model displaying the dynamics (and forces) in ethical dilemmas where, unfortunately, there is not necessarily always a “right” and a “wrong” determination of a problem.

The location of school leadership serves as a key point in Chapter 4 by White, Ober, Frawley and Bat. As with Wildy and Clarke's later chapter, White et al. remind the reader that there is not one model or setting into which the study of school leadership can neatly be fitted. It is not unusual for textbooks to make the error of assuming a single model and address (for example) the principalship accordingly. “Awareness” emerges as a key word, particularly in describing leadership in indigenous settings. Accordingly, preparation for leadership in these (and other multicultural schools) should make provision for the development of these sensitivities.

That there is no single definition of leadership is well known. As I have argued elsewhere (Thomas, 2006), the proliferation of “types” of leadership and leadership behaviours may be seen as cause for both concern and confusion. Contributions herein seek to add clarity to some of these descriptors. For example, in Chapter 5, Neidhart and Carlin, for example, conceptually elaborate spiritual leadership and thus bring added emphasis to the realm of values in school leadership. Lewis and Andrews further elaborate the concept and relevance of parallel leadership via an appropriate case study in Chapter 7. Dinham, in Chapter 18, describes a rather unique approach to the understanding of leadership wherein schools' students' achievements in particular were taken as “starting point”. Using several exceptional schools as his sample, Dinham “traced back” the characteristics of leadership that were associated with their consistently outstanding achievements. In Chapter 16, Cranston and Ehrich address the concepts of yet another leadership style, namely, distributed leadership as well as leadership “density”. The latter term, although relatively new in educational settings, is of potential value. A particular strength of their chapter is the inclusion of an instrument that may readily be adopted by readers/practitioners to assist in diagnosing leadership functions in their schools.

The emotional aspect of leadership – until very recently a largely overlooked (if not embarrassing) subject – is the focus of two excellent chapters. In the first of these, Chapter 8, Sytsma contributes to a better understanding of the emotional “frame” of leadership. The author stresses the advantage of viewing emotion as strength rather than weakness (as, sadly, conventional wisdom seems to dictate). In the following chapter, Beatty adds to this theme and incorporates such into a case study of leader preparation.

Chapter 10 is presented by Cranston. The author touches on yet another important theme, namely the hopes of those who aspire to lead schools. As one who has been involved in several observational studies of principals at work I cannot help but empathise with those who harbour doubts about the actual nature of the job to which they aspire. So much of what often appears in the literature seems detached from the reality of day‐in‐day‐out administrative action in schools. As Cranston emphasises, future preparation programs for such aspirants must be planned with great care and attention. One such program is described by d'Arbon, Cunliffe, Canavan and Jericho in Chapter 13. These authors use a case study as basis for commentary on talent development for prospective school leaders in two “faith‐based” school systems. The program appears to offer most encouraging guidelines for overcoming reluctance to seek leadership positions.

Wildy and Clarke present a powerful argument for more highly specialised preparation programs for school leadership in Chapter 12. The tendency to perceive school leadership as a “big school” vocation wherein the principal has no teaching responsibilities is long overdue for very critical rejection. As the authors indicate, a quarter of Australian schools has enrolments of fewer than 100 students and should, therefore, be studied in tandem with their context (usually geographically isolated), their typically inexperienced principals and, importantly, the “double load” principals must carry. This is an important contribution.

Chapter 17, contributed by Gurr, serves in several ways as an overview of Australian School Leadership Today. In my reading of the initial draft of the manuscript I formed the opinion that this chapter would be better placed in the introductory section of the book. Such was not to be but, notwithstanding the authors' decision, I still hold to the belief that the chapter will be most profitably read ahead of all others. It states much of what should be said about Australian scholarship in the field and contributes to an extended appreciation of the contents of Cranston and Ehrich's book.

In conclusion I return to my earlier reference to Bates and Eacott's observations on the use of textbooks and selected sections of such in Australian preparation programs. Australian School Leadership Today deserves to be a widely‐prescribed text book. Yes, it contains many excellent chapters each of which may justifiably be “extracted” where suited to a particular theme of a preparation program but, in total, it is worth much more than the sum of its parts. Its real strength may be seen in its sensitivity to and its comprehensive view of leadership in schools “down under” and the perceptiveness of all of its authors as they contribute to a far better understanding of educational leadership.