From Paradigm Wars to Transformative Leadership

Given the increasingly hostile and contested nature of education today, it is important to examine the development of the field of educational administration in order to understand how historic perspectives have held the field firmly anchored in some of the technical and scientific traditions of the past and how difficult it has been to introduce social-justice goals to the field of educational leadership. Following a brief historical overview of some of the tensions that have inhibited an emphasis on equity, this essay will describe the emergence of some new approaches to educational leadership, and finally will articulate the potential of the theory of transformative leadership to level the playing field for marginalized children and youth as well as to foster more socially just learning environments.