Leadership and Diversity

Challenging Theory and Practice in Education

Jacky Lumby, Marianne Coleman

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781412921831, 9781412921824
• eBook ISBN: 9781446231074
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Leadership nella didattica

?What makes this book stand out in the crowd is the engaging approach the authors have taken to present their argument and the novel treatment they offer of diversity and diversity management…a must-read for anyone in a leadership position or interested in investigating education leadership and diversity? - Gender and Education

?The authors should be congratulated for tackling the crucial topic of diversity within educational leadership….the book makes a major contribution to the small but emergent body of studies in this area? - Journal of Educational Administration & History

?This book sets out a central aim of stimulating reflection on diversity and implications for leaders in education. It also aims to support the development of practice. It is a useful book for those involved in educational management and for policy makers at all levels? - ESCalate

?The authors challenge the reader to reconsider leadership theory in light of notions of social justice and diversity, and to put into place newly articulated frameworks for action...The text is richly supported by strong empirical research and a sometimes-intricate philosophical approach in making its case for justice and fairness in education and beyond? - Choice Magazine

What do we mean by diversity? Why is it an important issue for leaders of schools, colleges and universities?

As society becomes increasingly diverse, there is significant international awareness in education about how this impacts on leaders and leadership. For decades the emphasis has been placed on increasing the number of leaders with specific attributes, such as women or those from ethnic minorities, to encourage a true representation of society. This far-reaching book takes a wider view, challenging the reader to recognise the importance of diversity issues and to embed diversity as central within leadership theory and practice.

Drawing on their extensive research the authors establish a clear understanding of what diversity means and use this to develop a distinct approach to conceiving leadership, preparing leaders and acting as leaders. They explain how diversity should be a holistic issue which touches every aspect of leadership and is vital to ensuring effective and appropriate leadership for education in pluralist societies. The authors explore the history of approaches to addressing inequities in access to leadership positions and the experience of leadership, from equal opportunities, to diversity and inclusion, to capabilities approaches.

The book also proposes fundamental and concrete changes that leaders can undertake both in their own and their organisation?s practice, to reflect a real commitment to social justice in a diverse society.

1

Introduction: Diversity, leadership
and education

I’m tending to be a bit dismissive about this issue to be frank, saying well really all these diversity issues … I personally don’t feel very switched on to the idea of diversity … I just feel a little bit amused about it.

(Senior leader in education, 2004)

Key terms and definitions

The first section of this introductory chapter is designed to orientate the reader to the broad purpose and thrust of the book. It gives working definitions of key terms and allows the reader a brief glimpse of the ideas that are core to the book, and which are developed in more depth in the rest of the chapter.

The book focuses on leadership and diversity in education. The term diversity is chameleon-like, taking on different meanings for people over time. At the period of writing the term is used variously, but the current prevalent use is as synonymous with minority ethnicity. Our understanding of diversity is much wider, reflecting the reality of leading in education where staff have a large range of characteristics which may matter to themselves and to those with whom they work. The everyday usage is indicated by Wikipedia (2006), which defines diversity as ‘the presence in one population of a (wide) variety of cultures, ethnic groups, languages, physical features, socio-economic backgrounds, opinions, religious beliefs, sexuality, gender identity, neurology’. Even this extensive list omits aspects of difference which contribute to the diversity of staff, for example, their educational background or age. Diversity is the range of characteristics which not only result in perceptions of difference between humans, but which can also meet a response in others which may advantage or disadvantage the individual in question. This book considers how educational leaders respond to diversity so defined; how they work both for and with diversity; for diversity to increase the range of characteristics of people included in leadership, and with diversity to ensure that the leadership of all, whatever their characteristics, is productive to the organisation and satisfying to the individual.

Leadership is a second contested concept. We take it to be the conduct of emotions, thought and actions which are designed to influence others in a chosen direction. Leadership is evident when the influence is effective to the extent of being discernible by others (Drucker, 1997; Pitt, 1987; Russell, 2003). All educators are potentially leaders, in that all may create followers by influencing those around them, whether as teacher leaders, heads of department, faculty or service support team, bursars, members of a senior leadership team, principal, vice chancellor. We believe all have a role to play in relation to diversity.

Leaders are, of course, concerned with responding to diversity amongst learners. There is a substantial literature concerning the effects of characteristics in learners such as socio-economic background, gender, ethnicity, disability. There is considerable support for reflection on how to support learners so that, whatever their characteristics, they have equal chances to learn. We acknowledge that such endeavours are central to the purpose of educational leaders but the focus of this book is different. It explores the much less considered aspect of leadership relating to equal chances amongst staff, specifically those who are leaders or who aspire to leadership. Its rationale reflects the fact that while there is considerable research on equity for learners there is relatively little on equity for staff. Equity amongst the leadership of an educational organisation is in any case as vital a part of learners’ experience as teaching and learning as it models expectations of equality.

The perspective adopted to examine the interplay of leadership and diversity in education is international, drawing on research, issues and practice from a variety of locations. However, the book does not attempt to examine diversity and leadership globally. The context within each country, region and organisation is so varied and distinctive that it would be beyond the scope of one volume to consider leadership and diversity in the education systems in all parts of the world. We recognise also that there are areas, particuarly in developing economies, where a specific characteristic such as gender may raise such complex and intransigent issues as to justify a volume in itself. Consequently, rather than attempting to cover leadership and diversity throughout the globe, we have referred internationally to a range of available research. Each reader, wherever they are located, may adopt a critical stance and challenge or take from the volume what appears to them to be stimulating and relevant to their own specifc context.

All educational organisations are within our scope. Diversity is an issue for schools, further/technical/community colleges, higher education, and district and regional admistrations, such as local educational authorities. However, in condsidering leadership for and with diversity in education there is a difficulty in that relatively little relevant research has been undertaken specifically in educational contexts. Consequently, while our focus remains firmly on education, much of the research on which we have drawn is from the wider public and private sectors. This continues longstanding practice. Educational leadership has always been eclectic in adapting research and practice from a range of discplines and contexts for its own different purposes. Additionally, the boundaries between education and the public and private sectors are weakening in some contexts, with schools particularly drawing closer to other pubic sectors, for example, as children’s services merge in the UK. Many educational organisations, particularly colleges and universities, consider themselves to be businesses. Drawing on a wider generic literature and relating it to educational contexts is therefore appropriate.

Having briefly highlighted some of the key definitions, the remainder of the chapter delves more deeply into what we intend and why.

The international context

Internationally diversity has become of increasing interest to corporations, the public sector (including education) and other not-for-profit organisations. Exhortations abound to consider diversity and to act variously to conform to the requirements of national and international legislation, to respond to business pressures and to ethical obligations. Leaders have ready access to codes of practice, training programmes, formulae for action. Despite all this, there is a sense that attitudes have not changed fundamentally and shifts in practice have proved relatively superficial in their effects. Dass and Parker (1999, p. 68) suggest that despite the ubiquitous and essentially similar official public statements of organisations committing to equality of opportunity, there is in fact a range of attitudes evident beneath the rhetoric. ‘An increasingly diverse workforce is viewed as opportunity, threat, problem, fad or even non-issue.’ The failure of even committed employers to generate equality and the gulf between the rhetoric of ‘managing diversity’ and employees’ lived experience is reported repeatedly in the generic literature, for example from the United States of America (USA), Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) (DiTomaso and Hooijberg, 1996; Gagnon and Cornelius, 2000; Maxwell et al., 2001; Sanglin-Grant and Schneider, 2000). In education numerous commentators paint a similar picture (Cochrane-Smith, 1995; Lumby et al., 2005; Mabokela and Madsen, 2003). Rusch (2004, p. 19) suggests that ‘silence, blindness, and fear frequently mediate the discourse about diversity and equity among educators’. It would appear that, rather than significant strides being made in relation to diversity and inclusion, formidable ‘forces for sameness’ (Walker and Walker, 1998, p. 10) prevail. ‘White men still hold the best jobs, make the most money, are preferred for promotions, and have the best prospects for future success’ (DiTomaso and Hooijberg, 1996, p. 173).

Within this context, this book is driven by various imperatives. It grows out of the commitment of both authors, who have engaged with issues of diversity in educational leadership over two decades. It reflects not only personal commitment, but also more widely, in our view, the increasing urgency with which issues of diversity demand attention. This view is shared by some but is by no means universal. As long ago as 1994, commentators were concluding, ‘the types and degree of diversity in organizations have increased greatly to a point where their effects cannot be ignored’ (Maznevski, 1994, p. 2). The quotation from a senior leader in education which opens this chapter is drawn from research undertaken by one of the authors in 2004. The words challenge Maznevski’s assertion. It would seem that ten years on, leaders in education can and do ignore diversity. Clearly there is variability in the experience of pressure to consider and react to its effects.

Governments and broader groupings of nations have enacted increasingly complex and wide-ranging legislation. European anti-discrimination policy relates to sex, racial and ethnic origin, religion and belief, disability, age and sexual orientation, both within and beyond the labour market. The Human Rights Act 1998, implemented in October 2000, with the UK to be fully compliant by 2007, also has far-reaching implications. Member countries, including the UK, have embedded the European legislation and directives in national laws. In the UK, longstanding legislation, such as the Disabled Persons Acts 1944, 1958, 1986, the Equal Pay Act 1970 (amended 1983), the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and 1986, the Race Relations Act 1976, have been strenghtend by the addition of a raft of further acts, regulations and codes, including the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999, the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Employment Act 2002, the Flexible Working Regulations 2002, the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 has been held to cover lesbians and gay men. The government published a voluntary Code of Practice on Age Diversity in 1999. Legislation on age and disability discrimination was effected in 2006. There is a duty on organisations to promote equality for disabled and black and minority ethnic people and this is being extended to gender in April 2007.

This is not meant to be an inclusive list, but merely uses the UK as an example to indicate the notable rise in legislation in the UK and elsewhere. It is designed to eradicate discrimination and impel people to offer equal opportunities. The range of characteristics which it is assumed may be subject to discrimination grows ever wider; the mandatory arrangements to ensure paid work is feasible for those with children and/or care responsibilities grows ever more complex. The pressure for employers to consider diversity issues is therefore strong and growing. Legislation is a considerable compulsion to address diversity. This book, however, is not about how to comply with legislation or to avoid litigation. Its focus and value base are quite different.

The values of the book

Our intention is to contribute to increasing social justice. This of course can be variously understood. Hayek (1976) suggests that generally those who use the term do not know what they mean by it and therefore its chief purpose is to provide rather vacuous justification for a wide variety of policies and actions. The book is in part an exploration of how we might understand social justice in relation to diversity more exactly, and what action might follow such understanding. Definitions which include terms such as equality or inclusion immediately demand further definition: providing such definition is a major task of the chapters that follow. At the start of the journey, our intention originates in a perception that social justice is not evident in educational leaders and leadership; that is, unjustified benefits and detriment accrue to individuals and groups by virtue of their characteristics. The book explores the mechanisms of such unfairness and considers the different ways in which reduction of detriment might be achieved. How could fairness be understood? Is it a question of equal chances or equal treatment or equal outcomes, for example, or might it be conceived quite differently? Educational leaders should be enabled to live lives they value, in dignity, while contributing productively to their organisation. An increase in social justice is one development that moves us closer to this goal. The remainder of this book will stimulate further reflection on the goal itself and the means to achieve it.

Simons and Pelled (1999, p. 51) suggest ‘Diversity is a tricky business which can help you or hurt you.’ Navigating amongst the competing conceptions of who is oppressed or disadvantaged and how, amongst people’s differing notions of who has a legitimate right to research, to write and to speak reflecting the concerns of varying groups, is indeed a tricky business. The book runs a number of risks. It may be that by exploring various aspects of diversity we risk embedding further perceptions of ‘difference’ from a norm, or of alienating those who disagree strongly with our analysis. We risk a backlash from those who will see this book as part of an unwarranted attention given to diversity, by those who, according to Dass and Parker (1999), see diversity as a fad or non-issue. We are likely to provoke strong emotions in readers. The literature repeatedly attests an emotional reaction to diversity issues or even the term diversity, such as denial, anger and rage (Dass and Parker, 1999; Milliken and Martins, 1996; Osler, 1997). As white women, our right to consider issues affecting those from minority ethnic and other groups to which we do not belong may be questioned, and we acknowledge that there is no way that we can fully understand the alternate realities which grow out of experience very different from our own (Bush et al., 2005). The book will therefore reflect various limitations and – the most significant risk of all – may inadvertently result in perpetuating rather than combating inequities (Lorbiecki and Jack, 2000). The latter assert that the idea that diversity issues can be addressed is a fantasy which rests on absurdly naïve apolitical analyses or simplifications of complex political and social phenomena. While we recognise much truth in this, we reject a pessimistic determinism which refuses to act because action is futile.

Failing to act can only serve the interests of the dominant in organisations and society (Reynolds and Trehan, 2003; Rusch, 2004). While the risks outlined above are real, our assumption is that increasing knowledge and deepening reflection may, over time, bring about positive change. We are in agreement with Reynolds and Trehan’s (2003, p. 167) belief in ‘the importance of difference being deconstructed, understood and confronted’. We wish to contribute to the exposure of the mechanisms of inequity, on the grounds that mere goodwill is insufficient. As many corporations and public sector organisations have found, those with a genuine commitment to responding positively to diversity may still be confounded by the chasm between intended and actual effect. Research reports outline the frequent gulf between how senior managers believe the company acts in relation to diversity and employees’ very different perspective (Gagnon and Cornelius, 2000). International companies which believe themselves to be at the forefront of diversity policy and practice are shaken by litigation instigated by employees who consider they have been treated unfairly (Dass and Parker, 1999). In schools and colleges, the same gulf appears between the intention of leaders and the experience of staff (Bush et al., 2005; Lumby et al., 2005). Training on disability or diversity, instead of achieving the intended effect of greater awareness and support, can result in antagonism and resentment (Stone and Colella, 1996). Greater understanding of cause and effect is needed to support effective action.

We believe that education, while it reflects society, may also have a role in leading society. Schools, colleges and universities are not only employers with the responsibility to facilitate ways of working that allow all staff to live in dignity and to work productively; they also thereby act as models to their learners and to their communities. They have a double obligation reflecting their cultural and social centrality. We reject means–ends attitudes to human beings and believe that, in any case, ultimately, paradoxically, such attitudes may not serve the efficiency needs of organisations, though they may appear to do so in the short term. The book rests on the assumption that many in education will value humans for themselves and not just for their usefulness to the organisation, and therefore welcome a stimulus for reflection. A second assumption is that leaders at all levels in education in the model they present are key to addressing diversity, not only in their own organisation but also in their community and thereby, ultimately, in wider society.

The centrality of leadership

As the changes described in the first part of this chapter unfold, the role of leadership in relation to diversity is progressively more under scrutiny in a number of ways. Analyses increasingly stress that diversity is related to inequity because of differences in the distribution of power and resource (Lorbiecki and Jack, 2000). Leaders, while they may not be the only people with power in an organisation, by virtue of their formal role of authority, and potentially through other sources of power which have led to them becoming leaders, have the possibility to disturb power relations in ways that may not be open to others. Their validation of the concerns and emotions of those who may feel disempowered or disadvantaged is of importance to such groups (Dreaschlin et al., 2000; Osler, 2004). Their commitment may buffer those who experience a backlash against initiatives related to diversity and inclusion. Their stance, while it may not be decisive, has the potential to orientate the organisation to means–ends attitudes to human beings or to ethical and community-based values. The position of leaders in relation to diversity is therefore of central concern. Secondly, as organisations change in their nature, with many more diverse and fluid ways of working, it may be that leaders are required to lead in different ways. Maznevski (1994) suggests that the skills and techniques that worked in relatively homogeneous institutions are no longer appropriate or effective in organisations that are more diverse. The act of leadership may...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Notes on the authors
• Series Editor’s Foreword
• Preface
• 1 Introduction: Diversity, leadership and education
• 2 Equality approaches: What’s in a name?
• 3 In-groups and out-groups: The ‘outsider’ experience
• 4 Focusing on gender
• 5 Focusing on ethnicity
• 6 Leadership Theory and Diversity
• 7 What to do? Theorising aims and practice
• 8 Taking action
• 9 Diversity as a positive within leadership
• References
• Statutes and Regulations
• Author index
• Subject index