Social justice and leadership development

Abstract

The revised professional standards for the teaching profession in Scotland are underpinned by a set of values which includes a detailed articulation of social justice for education covering rights, diversity and sustainability. There is a future orientation in these standards that privileges the contribution of teachers and leaders to realizing a wider social aspiration for social justice. This expectation on leaders to contribute to this wider aspiration for social justice raises questions about the practice of leaders and their development. This article considers the implications of the articulation of social justice in the professional standards for career-long leadership development. The article explores some of the issues related to social justice and the role of leadership in school. The article then focuses on the context of Scottish education, looking firstly at the professional standards and secondly at the issues related to social justice leadership. From this discussion the implications for career-long leadership development are considered. The article concludes with a framework for social justice leadership development identifying key aspects of values, knowledge and understanding, inclusive practice, policy, issues of equity and equality that can be developed progressively across a leadership development continuum.

Keywords:

• leadership development
• social justice leadership
• professional standards
• professional values
• career-long leadership development
• educational leadership

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank the members of the Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL) Strategic Headship Development Group – Dr Margery McMahon (Convenor), Gillian Hamilton, Roger Hill and Louise Turnbull – for their contribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.