Ethical Leadership a prerequisite for School Leadership today or just another leadership construct

Ethical Leadership: a prerequisite for School Leadership today or just another leadership construct? Dr Eleftheria Argyropoulou, University of Crete, Greece Introduction The world is amidst a turbulent era which has impacts on all aspects of social life and social systems, including that of education Turbulence is usually expressed as an economic turmoil buffeting every aspect of life; however, the economic crisis is just the summit of the iceberg; deep inside there is a deficit of culture, values, principles and a consequent [un]ethical decision making The superficial economic and financial imbalance between developed and undeveloped countries puts forward –once again- all the problems that torture the society of the 21st century: lack of ethos, lack of democratic and equalitarian values, lack of respect for each other Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a solid background of what ethical leadership in education is, as well as to present some cases of common dilemmas school leaders encounter in their daily routine and the possible ways to tackle theses dilemmas ethically This background is meant to help “Ethical Leadership” workshop participants to meet the theoretical requirements of the workshop This workshop takes place within the “Leading Ahead 2011” Comenius Network Conference, Léon, Spain and is addressed to school leaders from all represented countries [N.B.] The Ethical Leadership workshop proposed in the framework of the Léon Conference 2011 is based on “learning by doing” During the seminar/ workshop attention has been paid on how we could apply the proposed methodology on two given case-studies Research Methodology There will be a short literature review based on major masterpieces in the education field The discussion to follow will explore various aspects of Ethical/ Moral Leadership, as these emerge from the works of R Starratt, M Fullan, K Strike, J Poliner Shapiro and J A Stefkovich, and K Strike, E Haller and J Soltis A short historical review Although Ethical Leadership seems to be an innovation of the first decade of the second millennium, its roots are extended back to the late 1980’s and 1990’s During those times some important writers and researchers included the idea of ethics and morality into the field of “managing” or “administering” a school Some prominent works were produced by Sola (1984), Lebacqz (1985), Foster (1986), Shapiro et Smith-Rosenberg (1989), Strike et al (1988/1998/2003, previous editions of the one discussed in this article), Sergiovanni (1992), Beck and Murphy (1994), Glazer (1994), Nash (1996), Starratt (1994), etc., as well as a number of articles in research journals by the same writers and /or colleagues Works that appear in 2000 and onward are either mature recapitulation on what has already been researched, analyzed and discussed in the previous decades, or some extensions on research proposed by that of the previous years What is striking in this second phase of literature body on Ethical Leadership is the appearance [or reappearance] of a number of books meant for the professional development of school leaders The constantly changing world and the new demands on the schooling systems made it an imperative to teach school leaders about Ethics and the learning of Ethical and Moral reasoning (Strike et al, 2005) Defining Ethical Leadership a General The notion of Ethical Leadership has its roots mainly in the business world; the importance of ethics emerged in the 1990’s, as a result of major business and politics scandals in the US and elsewhere The discussion about Ethical Leadership involves a wide perspective of researchers coming from various backgrounds: sociology, psychology, management, administration, law, education, etc As one may notice, however, all these backgrounds revolve around the human beings and their role, behavior, influence within their immediate or distant context, their micro-cosmos and macro-cosmos Ethical Leadership has been emphasized by prominent research work, especially by L Trevino and her colleagues (1986, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2003, etc) In one of these papers, Brown et al (2005) provided a concise definition of what this research work defined as Ethical Leadership: “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making” Further on, Brown and Trevino (2006), based on Bandura’s (1977, 1986) work, they clarified the three major “areas” where ethical leadership can be seen: the self, that is, personal traits and integrity, the contextual relations and influences, that is, the leaders’ relations and communication with their followers and the situations in which the leadership was realized, and, finally, the impact ethical leadership may have on followers, by stressing the idea of social learning through role modeling Moreover, Trevino and colleagues went on comparing the construct of Ethical Leadership with other leadership constructs, such as transformational, transactional, spiritual and authentic leadership They showed that there are certain aspects in which each of these constructs overlap with ethical leadership Specifically, transformational and ethical leadership overlap in their focus on personal characteristics, authentic and ethical leadership overlap in terms of individual characteristics while spiritual leadership is similar to ethical in terms of the concern for others, integrity and role modeling Similarities among all four constructs not exclude key differences However, all four stress of the importance of the leader being “good”, ethical, as a person himself/herself and striving for the “good” of others b Education “The current context of educational leadership presents a disturbing picture Whether one looks at schools within a national context of legislated learning and underfunded programs, an international context of demands of the global knowledge society, or an internal context of school systems responding to the imposed agenda of school reform, educational leaders are challenged as never before More is expected of schools without appreciably increased financial and other resource support Demographic changes have brought additional demands to balance the needs of communities of varied cultures with an educational program of common learnings and common political ideas High-stakes testing shrinks the vision of teachers to the technical dimensions of learning In the simplistic public interpretation, educational achievement is equated with standardized measurement” Starratt, R (2004: 1) In the beginning of his book “Ethical Leadership”, Starratt, quoting notable previous research work, depicts the context challenges a today school leader has to face Actually, the challenges appear to be the consequences of the social turbulence described in the introductive paragraph Furthermore, the dilemmas imposed by these challenges demand a special way of handling them and of making decisions Starratt, also points out that a school leader’s work is intellectual and moral at the same time (Starratt, 2004:3); which means that his/her decisions should be intellectual and moral, accordingly Issues of the type, as it is obvious, cannot be discussed and analyzed in isolation; that is, only from typical school management and leadership point of view They include ideas and approaches from a range of fields, such philosophy, philosophy of education, psychology, sociology, sociology of education, pedagogy, etc This means that the issue of Ethical School Leadership should be seen holistically through various discussion “lenses” This holistic stance generates a number of relevant questions regarding the preparation of school leaders: Are school leaders aware of what they are going to confront in their daily routines? How well are school leaders prepared to face moral and ethical dilemmas and take “correct” decisions? Why we talk about Ethics and Morality in Education? Fullan (2003:13) strongly believes that approaching leadership through the perspective of Ethics will offer the educational change we expect in terms of quality learning and humanistic culture, not in terms of curricula, indicators and statistically measured school achievement Starratt (2004: 9) argues that school leaders of today should “move beyond …notions of technical efficiency to seeing it [i.e.: leadership] as a moral activity that engages the full humanity of the school community” Ethical and moral There seems to be an interchangeable –and often confusing- use of the terms “moral” and “ethic/s” Starratt (2004:5-7) makes the following distinction “ethics…denotes a study of the underlying beliefs, assumptions, principles, and values that support a moral way of life, [while]… morality is the living, the acting out of ethical beliefs and commitments ” Revolving about the same duality [ethics and morality], Strike (2007: 6-11) supports that “Ethics, ultimately, is about the shape of human communities in which people can flourish and about the basis for social cooperation in such communities”; further on, addressing two “central questions”, what is good?, and, what is right?, he notes that morality is commonly associated with the second question, and, in this view, it “is the part of ethics that deals with questions of right and wrong, with rights and duties, but does not concern itself with what is good”; but, the emphasis of morality should be on the activities that promote the nature of what is good and fair in a free society Obviously, both stances are not very far apart They agree on the fact that ethics has to with the values and principles background while morality is the way the individual performs according to his/her background This simplistic definition, however, leads to two further, more complex, questions: what is good and for whom? Both Starratt and Strike point out on the community good and on all these values and principles that promote it, and make a community cooperate harmonically and, thus, blossom The Literature Review Starratt, R., (2004) Ethical Leadership The author employs the “Socratic” method to present an ethical leadership scenario which functions as “food for thought” The book is organized on a case of an imaginary U.S school principal who faces a common dilemma: how the SEN students of his school can deal with state high stake exams; these unprivileged students are threatened by low achievement in tests because their progress rate is different than other students Moreover, issues of possible racism and/or sexism may arise as the majority of students are immigrants He thinks that such testing puts SEN children at an unfair disadvantage compared to “regular” children, as they will be held back in the same grade or refused to be granted a diploma His concepts and practice are challenged as he thinks “there seems to be something immoral about punishing students who are failing state tests, but he can’t quite identify the nature of the problem” He decides to resort to the lights of his former MA professor to discuss his thoughts and feelings and to seek professional help The discussion, in the Socratic dialogic way, revolves around several “ethical” and “moral” issues, which come up through the professor’s probing enquiry: responsibility, authenticity, citizenship, equality of opportunities, fairness, the nature, quality and scope of testing in relation to achievement, etc The results of this discussion form the foundations of the concluding chapter The principal is led to reconsider his views on what is ethic and moral: “not only to avoid harm; but also be good and good” This means that he should a/ see things [and their consequences] from different perspectives, b/involve various stakeholders in the school processes c/ be actively good, imagine possible institutional changes The author epitomizes the main concepts of the discussion in a more practical way: a/ he offers a model of the educational leader’s virtues in order to be ethical (see, diagram 1) and a number of questions each educational leader should ask him/herself to check whether s/he has them, and b/ a second diagram (diagram 2) to show the dynamics (: the interaction) among the virtues of educational leadership Diagram 1: Foundational Ethics for Educational Leadership [adopted from Starratt, 2004, p.107] Diagram 2: The Dynamics among the Foundational Virtues of Educational Leadership [adopted from Starratt, 2004, p.110] Strike, K.,(2007) Ethical Leadership in Schools Strike also uses a major case-study as the starting point and the further basis for his discussion It is the story of a U.S school principal whose students, although poor and socially underprivileged, manage to well thanks to instructional strategies and a specially designed curriculum by the school teachers The problems start when the district authorities demand that the curriculum of all district schools should align with state tests, a fact that is believed to bring negative results in the school Both parents and teachers are happy with the status quo and the principal is indirectly urged to lie to the board of education in case his petition for exemption from the mandate is turned down So, major ethical issues and questions arise from the situation: what is good and what is right? Or, legitimate authority and decision making, equality of opportunities, a multi-level diversity, justified lying and its impact on a certain community, trust, etc The author discusses “lying” as a usual means of school leaders to achieve goals they think beneficial for their own schools He concludes that lying even for good purposes has tremendous impact on all involved parts and, thus, it disturbs trust and relations among all community members Using the initial scenario of “lying for good purpose” and adding appropriate details each time, Strike takes the discussion further by examining: a/ educational ideals and the central goals of education, human capital development, the capacity for an “examined life” [using the Platonic philosophy language and extracts from Socratic dialogues as the basis of his inquiry], citizenship [as it incorporates morality] and the development of those that “enhance experience”, b/ Constitutional essentials and the way they interact with each other (intellectual liberty, religious freedom, intellectual community, equal opportunity, multicultural community, democracy, accountability, etc) as the “core convictions of a political community” answering the question “How shall we live well together?” The author points out that the distinction between ethics and morality concern “the rules and principles that govern the interaction” of community members who pursue shared aims Sharing rules and principles, on one hand, and aims, on the other, is the characteristic of what he calls “good communities” Strike visualizes a good community as an orchestra; although consisted of different instruments [diversity] it should be tied by specific bonds/ rules, principles which permit it to work harmonically together However, the notion of the good community should be always viewed within the general societal and political thought; for example, there are different approaches to the meaning of the individual rights and decision making in a liberal, a democratic and a liberal democratic society This “societal diversity” should always be borne in mind when educators and educational leaders talk about the ways to pursue shared aims It also leads us to think that what is appropriate in a given national context does not necessarily mean that it can also apply and work properly in another Strike, K., Haller, E and Soltis, J (2005) The Ethics of School Administration This is the third edition of a book that firstly appeared in the nineties It is a collection of case-studies for instruction purposes aiming at helping a university student or a novice school leader “to learn how to engage in ethical reflection and justification” The two axes of the book are “the nature of ethical inquiry” and “learning moral reasoning”, indicating ways to tackle dilemmas The theoretical discussion is mostly based on Strike’s approach to Ethical Leadership, as it is shown in the previous paragraph The main themes are organized in seven chapters and include: administration and ethical thinking, intellectual liberty, individual freedom and the public interest, equal educational opportunity, educational evaluation, educational authority and accountability (community, democracy and professionalism), diversity (multiculturalism and religion The seven chapters have an identical structure: presentation of a case, dispute, the concept lying behind the case, analysis of the case, conclusion and some additional similar case examples for further discussion There is a supplementary chapter containing other themes of ethical-moral interest not mentioned or discussed in the main chapters [N.B The case example around which the workshop discussion takes places is borrowed from this book, p 149-150, and modified accordingly] Shapiro, P J and Stefkovich, J (2011) Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education This is the third edition of a book that first appeared in 2001; it is based on the two authors’ learning and teaching experience and research during the eighties and the nineties The authors present a model of “discussion and analysis of real-life moral dilemmas” by applying four different ethical paradigms: the ethic of justice, the ethic of critique, the ethic of care and the ethic of profession As these paradigms constitute the cornerstones of the authors’ course of thinking, they find necessary to clarify their content: a The ethic of justice focuses on rights and law and is part of a liberal democratic tradition; it is characterized by faith in the legal system and hope for progress (p.11) Other traditions may have different approaches to the ethics of justice, as “what is legal in some places may be considered illegal in others” A number of ethical questions arise from this point of view: Is there a law, right, or policy that relates to a particular case? If there is a law, right, or policy should it be enforced? And, if there is not a law, right, or policy, should there be one? b The ethic of critique is based on critical theory, which has, at his heart an analysis of social class and its inequities seen from perspectives originating in a modified Marxian analysis (p.14) As the ethic of critique is frequently lined to critical pedagogy ethical questions are put forward: Who makes the laws? Who benefits from the law, rule or policy? Who has the power? Who are the silenced voices? Do “silenced voices” if heard offer possibilities that “could enable all children to have opportunities to grow, learn and achieve?” c The ethic of care supports that students are at the center of the educational process, so they need to be nurtured and encouraged; in this aspect, “achievement” is not the top priority The ethic of care is associated with feminists and female researchers who argue that multiple voices should be considered in a decision –making process Some researchers raised question as to whether this is a rational or an emotional model The authors answer back: “it became clear that aspects of this ethic could be considered rational, such as providing discipline and attention to students; however, empathy and compassion toward others are also part of this paradigm and tend to demonstrate emotions” thus blending emotions and reason in an intricate way Questions to be considered through this ethical lens are: Who will benefit from what I decide? Who will be hurt by my actions? What are the long-term effects of a decision I make today? If I am helped by someone now, what should I in future about giving back to this individual or to society in general? d As we talk about children, their education and their later civic life, emphasis should be given to the fourth paradigm, the ethic of [teaching and leading] profession The ethic of profession had been proposed by Starratt [in 1994] who supported that it constitutes a combination of the three first paradigms, “interwoven much like a tapestry” (p.19) However, the two authors feel that something is missing from Starratt’s proposition So, Shapiro and Stefkovich provide a new paradigm for professional ethics [shown below, diagram 3] based on the four above-mentioned paradigms and further developed so as to meet the complex needs of today schools and help educational leaders to make ethical decisions Diagram 3: Representation of the Ethic of the Profession [adopted from Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2011, p 26] According to the proposed model, the educational leaders are expected “to formulate and examine their own professional codes of ethics in the light of individual personal codes of ethics, as well as standards set fourthly by the profession, and then calls on them to place students at the center of the ethical decision-making process It also asks them [the leaders] to take into account the wishes of the community” As a result, the professional paradigm proposed by the two researchers is “dynamic, not static, and multidimensional” It is the authors’ strong belief that school leaders of today should move away from a topdown hierarchical model for making decisions [p 18, quoting, Beck 1994] and, instead, turn to a leadership style that emphasizes relationships and connections So, being instructors themselves, they provide a wide range of carefully chosen cases showing common moral dilemmas facing school leaders The discussion questions following each case provide a reflection platform for alternative ethical thinking and a meaningful approach to analyze “paradoxical dilemmas” The book closes with a self-reflective, autobiographic, narrative of how each of the authors arrived at their own code of ethics which determined the pedagogy and the teaching methods they use in their classes of educational leaders [N.B The case example around which the workshop discussion takes places is borrowed from this book, p.105-108, and modified accordingly] Fullan, M (2003)The Moral Imperative of School Leadership Fullan’s proposition for the contemporary School Leadership is that it should change as the context is changing This change should incorporate moral stances and practices so as leaders reach Collin’s level “Highly Capable Individual” The book is organized in five chapters In Chapter the author revisits Collin’s 5-level Hierarchy of Leadership (2001) and applies it to School Leadership His main point in doing so is to show that school leaders should move from “good to great”; they will by “ igniting a transformation”, that is, transforming themselves and their school, involving students, parents, teachers and the community in the transformation process so as to achieve the best student results, not in means of test marking but in means of good learning practices and meaningful citizenship The moral imperative of leadership then is viewed under the prism of a necessary change Changing the context means that “the great leader what leaves [behind] is not so much bottom-line results but rather leaders, at many levels, who can continue or make better what s/he did” (p.10) Chapter deals with common barriers to school leadership, either self-imposed (i.e perceptions of the system limitations, loss of moral compass, etc) or System-imposed ([de]centralization, role overload and role ambiguity, neglect of leadership succession, etc) In Chapter 3, the author borrows case-studies by Bryk and Schneider (2002) to elaborate how the moral imperative is realized in School Leadership, while Chapter analyzes possible ways of “making a difference beyond school” by discussing change at each level of Collin’s Leadership Hierarchy The main argument put forward in Chapter is “the overall environment must improve for all schools to continually improve (changing the context is key)” (p.47) The concluding Chapter explores ways “to get there”, that is the great leadership, either on the individual level or the System level “There” means fulfill of the ultimate moral goal: students’ preparation for their societal well-being and a meaningful multi-aspect citizenship According to the author “half of [this] responsibility lies with the individual school leaders”; their moral obligation is articulated by their “efforts to reshape the composition of their schools” and build trust among all stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, community) Reshaping the System, however, demands more complicated strategies Fullan offers six “Strategic Dimensions for transforming Leadership in School Systems: re-conceptualize the role of School Leadership, recognize and work with the continuum of development, get school size right, invest in leaders developing leaders [that is school leadership succession], improve the teaching profession, improve the capacity of the infrastructure” (p 73) From all these dimensions Fullan stresses the “strengthening of the infrastructure for developing school leadership” as the key component for “transforming the system” (p 78) Results This short literature review offered some significant points for further thought Although all books regard the U.S.A educational system, which means that the ideological background, as the writers themselves point out, is liberal-democratic, most themes and ethical issues are common to other educational systems with a differentiated ideological background However, the scientific approach to analyze common themes presents remarkable similarities; policy design and decision making are the fields where special attention should be paid in order to avoid awkward duplication of imported and, thus, ineffective, practices The major results of the review are: o Ethical Leadership is put forward as –perhaps- the most meaningful way to approach School Leadership today o There is a distinction between “ethical” and “moral” Ethics is a set of concepts and values, while morality is the behavioral expression of the concepts and values (personal traits and integrity) o Ethics is closely interwoven with community concepts and values and/or political thought What is ethical for one community may not be ethical for another o Ethical Leadership has a tremendous impact on followers Under this prism, it is the key to change and reform not only to schools but to the System, in general o Ethical Leadership has similarities with Authentic Leadership as they both accentuate the importance of “being yourself” and build trust o Being in the academic teaching profession for years, all authors agree that it is imperative for school leaders to get training for Ethical Leadership; they should discover “the nature of ethical inquiry” and “learn moral reasoning” so as to tackle real-life dilemmas in their schools o More or less, all authors offer ways and/or models for self-reflection and ethical thinking as an approach to dilemma analysis and decision making o Certain themes appear to result in common contemporary dilemmas is schools: a SEN students and their achievement in nationwide exams b Immigrant students with language difficulties c Immigrant SEN students, combining problems from both cases above d Diversity in general e Individual rights versus community standards f Conflict areas between the school inner and outer environment stakeholders [contextual forces and constraints] g Religious issues h Cultural issues i Safety j Discipline k Privacy l Professional codes versus personal codes m Equality and opportunities n Equity o Accountability p Citizenship q Responsibility r Constitutional and law issues Epilogue Researchers view Ethics as the most important element of School Leadership in the turbulent times we live in Courses on Ethical Leadership, thus, should be included in every Leadership Training Program In a demographically diverse society “educational leaders of tomorrow will be better prepared to recognize, reflect on and appreciate differences” (Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2011:4) In this paper we have tried to include important theoretic axes of Ethical Leadership as well as practical hints on how someone can proceed with analyzing ethical dilemmas in a contemporary school by reviewing a small number of relevant books by experts on the field REFERENCES Bandura, A (1977) Social Learning Theory, Englewood CliVs, NJ, Prentice Hall Bandura, A (1986) Social foundations of thought and action, Englewood CliVs, NJ, Prentice Hall Beck, L and Murphy, J (1994) Ethics in Educational Leadership Programs: an expanding role, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA Brown, M and Trevino, L (2006) Ethical Leadership: A review and future directions, The Leadership Quarterly, no 17, pp.595-616 Brown, M., Trevino, L and Harrison, D (2005) Ethical Leadership: a social learning perspective for construct development and testing, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97, pp 117-134 Bryk, A and Schneider, B (2002) Trust in Schools, Russell Sage, NY Collins, J (2001) Good to Great, Harper Collins, NY Foster, W (1986) Paradigms and Promises: New approaches to educational administration, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY Fullan, M (2003) The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, Corwin Press, CA Glazer, J (1994) Three realms of Ethics: Individual, institutional, societal, Sheed and Ward, Kansas City, MO Lebacqz, K (1985) Professional Ethics: Power and Paradox, Abingdon, Nashville, TN Nash, R (1996) “Real World” Ethics: Frameworks for educators and human service professionals, Teachers College Press, NY Sergiovanni, T (1992) Moral Leadership: Getting to the heart of school improvement, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA Shapiro, J P and Stefkovich, J (2011) Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education, 3rd edition, Routledge, NY Shapiro, J.P and Smith-Rosenberg, C (1989) The “other voices” in contemporary ethical dilemmas: The value of the new scholarship of women in the teaching of ethics, Women’s studies International Forum, 12 (2), pp 199-211 Sola, P (1984) [ed.] Ethics, Education and Administrative Decisions: A book of readings, Peter Lang, NY Starratt, R (1994) Building an Ethical School: A practical response to moral crisis in schools, Falmer Press, London Starratt, R., (2004) Ethical Leadership, Jossey Bass, S Francisco Strike, K., Haller, E and Soltis, J (2005) The Ethics of School Administration, rd edition, Teachers College Press, NY Strike, K., (2007) Ethical Leadership in Schools, Corwin Press, CA Trevino, L (1986) Ethical Decision making in Organizations: a person situation interactionist model, Academy of Management Review, 11, pp 601-617 Trevino, L and Youngblood, S (1990) Bad apples in bad barrels: a causal analysis of ethical decision making behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, pp378-385 Trevino, L., Butterfield, K and Mcabe, D, (1998) The ethical context in organizations: influence on employee attitudes and behaviors, California Management Review, 41, pp128142 Trevino, L., Weaver, G., Gibson, D and Toffler, B (1999) Managing Ethics and legal compliance: what hurts and what works, California Management Review, 42, pp 131-151 Trevino, L., Brown, M and Hartman, L (2003) A qualitative investigation of perceived executive ethical leadership: perceptions from inside and outside the executive suite, Human Relations, 55, pp 5-37 Trevino, L and Brown, M (2004) Managing to be ethical: debunking five business ethics myths, Academy of Management Executive, 18, pp69-81 ... which each of these constructs overlap with ethical leadership Specifically, transformational and ethical leadership overlap in their focus on personal characteristics, authentic and ethical leadership. .. comparing the construct of Ethical Leadership with other leadership constructs, such as transformational, transactional, spiritual and authentic leadership They showed that there are certain aspects... inquiry” and “learn moral reasoning” so as to tackle real-life dilemmas in their schools o More or less, all authors offer ways and /or models for self-reflection and ethical thinking as an approach