Re-thinking school leadership: towards an ethic of education and care

Abstract

A global policy consensus asserts that school leaders should focus on improving teaching and learning. Previous studies of school principalship reveal processes of work intensification, with leaders working long hours and facing increased pressures. Meanwhile, in a context of global polycrisis, the needs of children and families are changing and growing, increasing demands on schools. Informed by evidence from a mixed methods study of school leadership across the UK, we explore how senior leaders experience these changes. We show that inclusion and care have now become a key driver of work intensification for school leaders, with instructional improvement commonly displaced as a result. This care work sometimes stretches beyond what might traditionally be considered ‘education’, encompassing issues of welfare and health. Drawing on feminist care theories, we argue that this wider work should not be seen as a distraction from the ‘core’ work of leaders, but as an essential feature of contemporary leadership, albeit one that involves critical challenges and dilemmas. We argue for a re-formulation of the global policy consensus to encompass an ethic of education and care - and suggest that school systems must be more care-full in how they support school leaders to do this important but demanding work.