Hands-on, Practical Guidance for Educators

From math, literacy, equity, multilingual learners, and SEL, to assessment, school counseling, and education leadership, our books are research-based and authored by experts on topics most relevant to what educators are facing today.

Virtuous Educational Leadership

Doing the Right Work the Right Way

First Edition
By: Viviane Robinson

This integrated, holistic resource explores the virtues integral to excellent educational leadership, with practical, research-based applications, examples, and detailed analysis showing theoretical concepts in practice.

Full description

Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781071803721
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2022
Page Count: 288
Publication date: October 12, 2022

Price: $39.95

Select Format:

For Instructors

Request Review Copy

When you select 'request review copy', you will be redirected to Sage Publishing (our parent site) to process your request.

Description

Excellent leadership matters

Without excellent leadership, school improvement is impossible, or at least impossible to sustain. But what are the characteristics of an excellent leader? Is general leadership experience and knowledge enough? And how do you practically grow and develop leadership in yourself and others so you can all have a bigger impact on student outcomes?

This integrated, holistic resource explores the virtues that are integral to achieving excellence in educational leadership, while offering practical guidance on how to do the right work in the right way—no matter what challenges you face or student inequities you’re trying to overcome. Features include:

Practical, research-based applications of virtue theory
Examples of school leaders’ thinking and actions
In-depth yet accessible theoretical analysis
Detailed analysis showing theoretical concepts in practice
Summaries and reflection questions

The success of your students and teachers is directly linked to your influence, your knowledge and ideas, your personal character, and your ability to focus on the proper purposes of education.

Author(s)

Viviane Robinson

Viviane is a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and Academic Director of its Centre for Educational Leadership. Her research identifying the impact of different types of leadership on student outcomes (Student- Centered Leadership) has been used to shape leadership policy and practice in Scandinavia, England, Singapore, Chile, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

She has received numerous awards from national and international professional and academic organisations including the Australian Council for Educational Leaders, the New Zealand Secondary Principals Association and the US-based University Council on Educational Administration. In 2011, she was made a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association for sustained excellence in educational research. In 2016 the Royal Society of New Zealand awarded her the Mason Durie Medal for her international contributions to educational leadership research and practice. She currently leads a research and development programme on the leadership knowledge and skills involved in school improvement.

To learn more visit her website at www.education.auckland.ac.nz/vmj-robinson

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Part A: Identifying the Proper Purpose of Leadership Work

Chapter 1: Three Proper Purposes of Education

The Proper Purposes of Educational Institutions

Less Satisfactory Approaches to Identifying the Right Work

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 2: Linking the Purposes to the Science of Learning and Teaching

How Students Learn

Implications for Classroom Teaching

Summary

Reflection and Action

Part B: Doing the Right Leadership Work

Chapter 3: Implications of the Science of Learning and Teaching for Leadership

Dimension 1: Setting Goals and Expectations for Deep Learning

Dimension 2: Resourcing Strategically for Deep Learning

Dimension 3: Ensuring Quality Teaching for Deep Learning

Dimension 4: Leading Teacher Professional Learning for Deep Learning

Dimension 5: Ensuring a Safe and Orderly Environment for Deep Learning

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 4: Taking Context Seriously

Traditional Concepts of Context

Proposed Concept of Context

Summary

Reflection and Action

Part C: Doing the Right Work the Right Way

Chapter 5: Virtues for Doing the Right Work the Right Way

Virtues Explained

Virtues as Inclusive of Motives, Knowledge, and Skills

The Place of Virtues in Leadership Frameworks

A Taxonomy of Virtues for Doing the Right Work the Right Way

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 6: Leadership Virtues

Sources of Leadership Influence

Virtuous Leadership Motivations

Identifying and Nurturing a Virtuous Disposition to Lead

Recruiting and Retaining Virtuous Leaders

Reluctance to Lead

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 7: Problem-Solving Virtues: Strategic

The Role of Knowledge and Skill in Virtuous Strategic Leadership

The Role of Motivation in Virtuous Strategic Leadership

Connecting the Details With the Big Picture

Finding the Strategic Focus

Enacting the Strategic Focus

Maintaining the Strategic Focus

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 8: Problem-Solving Virtues: Analytic

Analytic Virtues and Theories of Action

Analytic Virtues and Truth-Seeking

Motivational Aspects of Analytic Virtues

The Ladder of Inference: A Tool for Truth-Seeking Leaders

Strategic and Analytic Virtues in Action

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 9: Problem-Solving Virtues: Imaginative

Imaginative Virtues and the Integration of Solution Requirements

Imaginative Virtues, Creativity, and Problem-Solving

Strategic, Analytic, and Imaginative Virtues in Action

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 10: Interpersonal Virtues

Relational Trust: A Guide for Deriving Interpersonal Virtues

Four Interpersonal Virtues

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 11: Integrating Leadership, Problem-Solving, and Interpersonal Virtues

The Task-Relationship Dilemma

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 12: Being Virtuous in Tough Spots

Fostering Accurate Reporting

Building Collegial Accountability

Providing Critical Evaluation

Summary

Reflection and Action

Chapter 13: Virtuous Leadership of Educational Improvement: A Case Study

The Problem: Attendance at Vauxhall Secondary College

The Leaders: Roles and Contributions

The Method: Using CCPS to Improve Attendance

The New Challenge: Addressing an Unanticipated Obstacle

Reflections on the Success of CCPS at Vauxhall Secondary College

Reflections on the Contributions of Leaders’ Virtues to the Success of CCPS at VSC

Summary

Reflection and Action

Conclusion

Chapter 14: Conclusion

References

Index

Reviews

No one combines novel insights and precise ideas like Viviane Robinson. Robinson is as comfortable around the details of the trees as she is in stepping back to take in the forest. You won’t find a more unique and powerful book on leadership—one suited exactly for our times—than Virtuous Educational Leadership.

Michael Fullan
University of Toronto

In Virtuous Educational Leadership, Viviane Robinson has made explicit what I have often described as an X factor in leadership—something that distinguishes excellent leaders from the rest. Her description and portrayal of virtuous leadership provides insights into the dispositions that underpin wise leadership.

Anne Berit Emstad
Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Viviane Robinson is one of my favorite educational leadership researchers and writers, and this book illustrates so well why that is so. The school leader plays an essential role in engaging students in deep learning. Robinson offers invaluable insights for how to foster this type of learning through virtuous leadership.

Peter DeWitt

Virtuous Educational Leadership is a gift for all of us searching for guidance in school leadership development. It is both inspiring and practical. Viviane Robinson promotes leadership excellence by showing how virtues are at the very core of leadership and how crucial they are in the face of today’s educational challenges.

Anna Jolonch
LID Barcelona, Educational Leadership Centre

Making a positive change in any role, from teacher to principal, requires both a ‘what’ and a ‘how.’ Virtuous Educational Leadership provides a framework for identifying the ‘what’ (collaborative complex problem-solving) and approaching the ‘how’ (virtuous leadership). With Viviane Robinson’s characteristic depth and rigor, the ideas hidden in these pages will empower leaders worldwide.”

Oliver Lovell

Virtuous Educational Leadership is a comprehensive examination of the complex world of school leadership. It draws upon research from a wide range of disciplines, supported by rich analysis, of examples of the work of leaders. Voices from the front lines are expertly interwoven throughout. I highly recommend it.

Tom Rees
Programmes, Ambition Institute

Educational leaders inhabit a world that expects simplicity to be curated from complexity, certainty from unpredictability, coherence from chaos. And, while the existing literature on educational leadership contains plenty of advice and its recommendations seem intuitively compelling, it is, ultimately, lacking in actionable specificity. Thankfully, Virtuous Educational Leadership is a work of deep practical wisdom that is anchored in theory, acknowledges the critical importance of context, and illustrates clearly how educational leadership is not simply about doing the right work of leadership but also about doing it in the right way.

Stuart Kime
Evidence Based Education

Other Titles in: Administration & Leadership | Principalship | Leadership

Select Format:

For Instructors

Request Review Copy

When you select 'request review copy', you will be redirected to Sage Publishing (our parent site) to process your request.

Related Resources

Leadership Inquiry About the Quality of Teaching [Checklist or assessment]
Preface: Education Leadership Matters [Book excerpt]
Three Proper Purposes of Education [Book excerpt]