If educational leadership were to be inspired by the concern for public responsibility and social justice, it will allow educational discourses to focus on respect for others and difference, critical imagination, and deliberative engagement.

This is one of the important insights of a new book by Dr Nuraan Davids and Prof Yusef Waghid of the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University.

Their book Educational Leadership in Becoming: On the potential of leadership in action was published recently by Routledge in the United Kingdom.

The authors say their main concerns in this work are to rethink educational leadership in its current forms, to revisit some of the dominant understandings of educational leadership and to offer an extended view of the practice along the lines of postmodern ideas of potentiality (yet to occur) and becoming (in the making).

As a rethinking of educational leadership in its current forms, the book "seeks to address the issue of educational leadership as an opening up of spaces for critique and deliberative engagement".

"It also extends existing understandings of transformational educational leadership and considers practices such as engagement, critique, deep learning, presence of self, and the cultivation of dignity, trust, integrity and responsibility."

According to the authors, the book wants to show that the numerous theories and models on educational leadership fail to enact responsible human action and to address the combined issues of globalisation (and democratisation) and equitable redress and transformation in relation to leading schools and universities.

They say the book was written because of a growing discontent with universities and schools in South Africa succumbing to the neo-liberalist inspired marketisation of education.

"Such a view considers universities and schools as sources of profit and students as consumers of 'commodified' knowledge who should be trained and socialised as technicians of learning to fit into the market-driven work culture."

The authors argue that educational leadership ought to be enacted as leadership in becoming in order to enhance the potential of leadership in action. In other words, the quest by educational leadership to contend with the complexities and challenges in universities and schools lies in a more nuanced notion of becoming.   

They say that, in this regard, the book highlights the ethical realm of education and educational leadership.

"It will hopefully also stimulate educational leaders to take more responsibility for their actions and to take intellectual risks to rethink their educational offerings commensurate with a deep concern for social justice."

The authors say the book would appeal to anyone interested in education and educational leadership, as well as the impact of neoliberal agendas on education and society.

They add that prospective teachers embarking on a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and those in BEd Honours and M.Ed classes in which educational leadership and management are being taught, stand to benefit from the book.

• Educational Leadership in Becoming: On the potential of leadership in action can be ordered from Routledge. It is also available online at https://www.amazon.com/.

Photo 1: Pixabay

Photo 2: Cover of Educational Leadership in Becoming: On the potential of leadership in action.