Dilemmas of leadership: sexuality and schools

Abstract

This paper discusses dilemmas that face all leaders when attitudes towards sensitive and controversial issues dealing with sex and sexuality start to change, and when their own personal beliefs may or may not coincide with these changes. At what point do private matters become public ones? At what point do these matters become issues that should concern leaders? Are there absolute answers to these questions or do the answers change over time and from one culture to another? Leadership training does not usually include exposure to issues involving sexuality and sexual harassment, but in the current climate many school leaders have no choice but to deal with these issues. In this paper I discuss some of the issues that could/should concern leaders and explore ways that sexuality may be manifested in schools. My focus is sexual relations that may occur between adults working in and connected to the school, and teacher/pupil relations initiated both by teachers and by pupils.