Empowering the school leaders of tomorrow: what lessons can we learn from the decision-making of today’s school leaders?

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how school leaders understand their decision-making, its impact on their school community and whether there is evidence of ‘wise’ decision-making derived from Aristotle’s concept of phronesis. A questionnaire was completed by 13 school leaders with between 2 and 25 years of experience. The first section examined patterns of decision-making related to three areas: the categories of decisions made; staff involvement and factors that influenced decision-making. The second section presents a thematic analysis of open questions related to individual experiences of ‘wise’ decision-making. Three personal attributes have been identified together with five emergent themes. The three personal attributes of a flexibility of mind, the capacity for reflexivity and the adoption of an ethical standpoint which is focused on the common good, underpin the themes providing a basis for decision-making. The themes comprise clarity and confidence in what constitutes a wise decision, acknowledging the impact of poor decision-making, values-driven leadership, time as a factor, and finally, the relationship between intuition versus experience. The personal attributes and themes offer a valuable insight into school leaders’ decision-making, of interest to both aspirant and experienced school leaders, enabling them to reflect on, and interrogate the decisions they make in leading their school.

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Notes on contributors

Francia Kinchington

Francia Kinchington is an education consultant and editor with expertise in leadership, change and development in both Higher Education and schools. She was a principal lecturer at the University of Greenwich for 25 years, leading Doctoral and Master’s programmes in education and health and has been involved in a range of European and international leadership and education projects, involving The Netherlands, Norway, the Middle East, Sweden, and Ukraine. She is an experienced doctoral examiner and supervisor with 25 completions in the fields of leadership, education, psychology, and health. She is a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.