Beyond Tokenism: How Do Racialized School Leaders Respond to Ethnocultural Diversities in Their Schools?

The increasing presence of racialized and immigrant students and educators challenges school institutions to critically examine whose knowledge, leadership, and practices are recognized, legitimized, and valued. Within this context, the integration of immigrant and racialized professionals becomes critical and raises questions about equity, representation, and the reproduction—or disruption—of racial hierarchies. Institutional ethnography is used to analyze how ethnocultural diversity is addressed by three school principals of immigrant origin as well as on a systemic level. The findings highlight how these leaders navigate, negotiate, and reshape leadership practices within normatively white Francophone minority institutions, illuminating both the constraints imposed by institutional norms and the varied ways leaders mobilize their positionality to enact change. As such, the study reveals contrasting conceptions of leadership as modeling. Hélène leads by example, seeking to inspire teachers and students by embodying an alternative leadership, which might be labeled as “quiet leadership”. By contrast, Sylvain and Armand lead primarily through rules, structures, and institutional alignment. As such, their leadership may be labeled legitimate and uncontestable. The study suggests that transformation is negotiated differently depending on leaders’ socialization, institutional positioning, and perceived freedom to act.