Intellectual Leadership for Social Justice

In this essay we explore how pernicious social narratives affect schooling and suggest rethinking leadership may ameliorate issues of injustice in education. We reject the idea that school leaders must necessarily be politicians who serve as bureaucratic management-oriented functionaries. We claim instead they are intellectual leaders who might facilitate complex learning possibilities through which students and teachers work toward justice in and beyond the classroom. Moreover, leaders may support justice work with and for students, teachers, and communities by providing vision, materials, relationships, and contexts through which community-oriented partnerships may be formed.