Leadership learning for transitions to
unfamiliar cultural contexts
Susan Lovett, University of Canterbury, Christchurch,
New Zealand
Bev Flückiger, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Neil Dempster, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
European Council for Educational Research (ECER) Conference, Budapest, Hungary, September 2015
Objectives for the presentation
• Examine the continuing significance of the influence of
context on leadership work;
• Show that when the cultural context is one with which
leaders are unfamiliar, new dimensions are added to
their leadership learning needs; and
• Discuss the knowledge needs and types of concerns
which must be addressed if leaders are to move fluidly
into unfamiliar contexts
European Council for Educational Research (ECER) Conference, Budapest, Hungary, September 2015
Our study
Principals as Literacy Leaders with Indigenous
Communities (PALLIC) illustrates leadership transitions
into unfamiliar cultural contexts
Features of PALLIC:
• Funded by Australian Government 2011-2012 under its
“Closing the gap” initiative;
• 48 schools in remote, rural and regional communities;
• More than half in very remote Indigenous communities;
• Leadership Development with task implementation in
local contexts supported by mentors
Our study: Five leadership development
modules with follow-up tasks
1. Leadership for Literacy Learning
2. Learning to Read
3. Analysing Data
4. Planning for Reading Improvement
5. Evaluating Reading Action Plans
Importance of context (1)
McLaughlin (1998) suggests:
To ignore context is to ignore the very elements
that make policy implementation a "problem,"
and contribute to the highly variable local
responses that trouble policymakers (p. 79).
ECER conference, Budapest, Hungary, September 2015
Importance of context (2)
Hallinger (2012) argues that schools are not static
organisations able to be led with a single set of
dispositions, strategies or behaviours.
“no such list could fully account for the contextually
contingent nature of successful leadership practice” (p.
135)
Because
“the impact of the principal’s leadership is mediated by
the culture, work processes and people” (p.137).
Importance of context (3)
The Cambridge University led Carpe Vitam
project in 8 countries reinforced the premise that:
“context and culture matter and that school
leadership is intrinsically bound in time and
place” (MacBeath & Dempster, 2009, p.1).
Importance of context (4)
There is a special complexity in leading in an
unfamiliar context which is located in a different
culture (Bishop et al., 2011)
We focus on four of the concepts that helped us
with that complexity in our work with Indigenous
communities in Australia.
The Four Concepts
1. Intercultural Space
2. ‘Both Ways’ Leadership
3. Shared Leadership and Partnerships
4. Culturally Responsive Conversations
(‘Yarning’)
European Council for Educational Research (ECER) Conference, Budapest, Hungary, September 2015
The concept of intercultural space
Taylor (2003) explains intercultural space as:
“The meeting of two distinct cultures through processes
& interactions which retain the distinctive integrity &
difference of both cultures and which may involve a
blending of elements of both cultures but never the
domination of one over another” (p.45)
Priest et al., (2008) argue:
“there is a gap in the mainstream knowledge base [about
an unfamiliar culture] and this creates an environment
where genuine collaboration & shared leadership can
occur” (p.121)
Leadership ‘both ways’: ‘Warrki Jarrinjaku’
(working together everyone listening)
Consistent with the ‘both ways’ leadership literature
Priest et al., (2008) illustrate the need for intercultural
space by documenting differences between conventional
leadership practice & Warrki Jarrinjaku leadership
practice.
Fundamental to the effective use of intercultural space “is
the development of relationships [partnerships] through
which mutual understanding can occur” (Frawley et al.,
2010, p.10)
Shared Leadership and Partnerships
There is need for the re-theorising of leadership as a
collective or shared responsibility requiring active
participation by school and community personnel in
partnerships, the identification and involvement of
‘boundary crossers’, and the pursuit of multi-vocal
approaches to gathering understandings of leadership
and community needs.
Frawley et al. (2010); Fitzgerald (2003); Kilpatrick & Johns (2004); Anderson-Smith
(2008); Schwab & Sutherland (2001); Johnson et al. (2014) and Yohani (2013)
Creating partnerships with Indigenous
communities
• You can’t have a partnership without a relationship
and you can’t have a relationship without a
conversation
• You’ve got to have the conversation
• Everything starts here.
What Works (2011)
Culturally responsive
conversations
McNaughton and Lai (2009) talk of the need to create
spaces for regular dialogue, sharing, reflection, collective
sense-making, and planning, never assuming that
dialogue in intercultural settings is automatic.
They go further to argue that a clear, local, evidencebased focus on student engagement and learning should
be the core of these kinds of conversations.
Conversations as yarning space
A space that is “ not so much a physical location as a
positioning or socio-cultural strategy for communicating
across linguistic & cultural boundaries” (Flückiger, Diamond
& Jones, 2012, p.53)
Yarning space allows people to ‘yarn up’ so all voices are
heard (Burchill & Higgins, 2005)
Explaining conceptual differences
between cultures
We illustrate two of the concepts (refer to handout) with
extracts from the work of Priest et al., (2008, pp.123-124) on
the differences between conventional leadership practice
& Warraki Jarrinjaku leadership practice
followed by
the examination of a two-part strategy designed to open
up discussion of the knowledge needed to understand
cultural differences in leadership practice (questionnaire and
disciplined dialogue).
Simulated data
Accepted or
Conventional
Leadership Practice
A O S N Intercultural A O S N
Leadership
Practice
1. Reading improvement
90 10 practices are designed,
planned and prepared by
non-Indigenous educational
professionals
-
16. Reading
improvement
practices are
designed in
genuine
partnership
with
Indigenous
people
-
-
10 90
Disciplined dialogue discussion (Swaffield &
Dempster, 2009)
1. What do we see in these data?
2. Why are we seeing what we are?
3. What, if anything, should we be doing about it?
NB: We now apply these questions in a demonstration
discussion using simulated data to highlight some of the
knowledge needs of leaders and teachers transitioning
into unfamiliar cultural contexts
Gaining necessary knowledge
Conducting a strategy such as this with teachers inside
the school is not enough.
Leaders must gain knowledge about how Indigenous
people feel about both conventional and intercultural
leadership practice.
Therefore, leaders need to take their knowledge
concerns with them deliberately into unfamiliar cultural
contexts.
Hall & Loucks (1978) knowledge concerns (1)
Q1: When I make this transition what will I have to learn
myself ? (self knowledge)
• What do I need to learn about the creation of
intercultural space?
• What do I need to know about leadership in this cultural
context?
• What do I need to understand about partnerships with
local people?
• What do I need to learn about ‘yarning’?
Knowledge concerns (2)
Q2: What tasks will I have to understand and take on to
manage this transition? (task knowledge)
• What strategies do I need to open up intercultural
space?
• What do I need to know about the actions which will
ensure leadership occurs ‘both ways’?
• What relationship knowledge will be essential for
establishing partnerships and gaining commitment?
• How is yarning best undertaken in this community?
Knowledge concerns (3)
What do I know about the impact and effect of what I am
doing in this cultural setting? (impact knowledge)
• How will I know when intercultural space is an accepted
medium for our work here?
• When will I be able to tell that leadership ‘both ways’ is
occurring authentically?
• What evidence about the effects of our partnerships is
important to all of us?
• Why would I be able to say that our yarning has created
successful relationships?
Conclusion
These 4 concepts are indicative of the kind of
knowledge needs principals moving to unfamiliar
contexts face. We suggest they have generic
qualities with valuable applications to a wider
range of contexts than that which we have used
in this illustration from particular aspects of
Indigenous Australia.