Educational Leadership and Social Justice: Practice into Theory

Abstract

In this article Dewey's conceptions of theory and practice provide a conceptual framework for understanding the moral and political possibilities of educational leadership. Specifically, the differences among craft knowledge, professional reflective practice, and intellectual activities are discussed. Through the use of historical illustrations, two educational leadership paths demonstrate connections between educational leadership and social justice. The first path illustrates how an educational leader continuously builds a just school community under changing demographic and political conditions. The leadership challenge is ongoing in terms of building a new educational community rather than replicating a community of the past. The second path illustrates how single-minded visions for a just school society emerge through the heroic efforts of individual educational leaders. The leadership challenge here is to intellectually construct a meaningful consensus rather than to assume or assert it apart from experience. The article concludes with a critique of the theory-practice consequences of each leadership path.