Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction and overview
- 1 Contemporary leaders and leadership under the spotlight
- 2 Key challenges for educational leaders
- 3 Leadership challenges as tensions
- 4 A framework for analysing tensions
- 5 Values and ethics in decision-making
- 6 A method for ethical decision-making
- 7 Shared and distributed leadership in schools
- 8 Why we need capable educational leaders
- 9 Why we need authentic educational leaders
- 10 Forming capable and authentic educational leaders
- References
- Index
3 - Leadership challenges as tensions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction and overview
- 1 Contemporary leaders and leadership under the spotlight
- 2 Key challenges for educational leaders
- 3 Leadership challenges as tensions
- 4 A framework for analysing tensions
- 5 Values and ethics in decision-making
- 6 A method for ethical decision-making
- 7 Shared and distributed leadership in schools
- 8 Why we need capable educational leaders
- 9 Why we need authentic educational leaders
- 10 Forming capable and authentic educational leaders
- References
- Index
Summary
Many of the major challenges facing educational leaders involve leadership in situations where values and ethics are contested (Duignan & Collins, 2003). Some of these challenges constitute what Wildy et al. (2001) call ‘contestable values dualities’, or ‘ethical dilemmas’ (Dempster, 2001).
‘Dilemma’ usually indicates a difficult and challenging situation that, according to the Concise Oxford dictionary (1984, p. 268) ‘leaves only a choice between equally unwelcome possibilities’, and the example they provide is ‘on the horns of the dilemma’. However, the majority of the challenges discussed in this chapter represent situations where there are more than two alternative possibilities; in fact most of the challenges are multidimensional in nature. In this book, the word ‘tension’ is preferred to ‘dilemma’ to describe these situations, because it denotes that relationships exist between a number of ‘contestable values dualities’ and that the different possible solutions for each situation will reflect how these relationships are balanced. This approach has profound implications for the ways in which educational leaders respond to difficult and challenging situations. A more complete explanation of why it is best to treat a difficult and challenging situation as a tension is discussed in chapter 4.
The ‘real challenges’ of educational leadership – the ones that keep educational leaders awake at night, cause them to take stress leave or retire before their time – are tensions between and among people, especially those based on philosophies, values, interests and preferences.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Educational LeadershipKey Challenges and Ethical Tensions, pp. 42 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007