The Moral Agency of the Educational Leader in Times of National Crisis and Conflict

Many researchers have called for educational leaders to develop a moral grounding for their work. This essay begins a discussion of how Starratt's (2005) spiraling framework of moral responsibility represents a process through which educational leaders can evolve from taking a transactional approach to problem solving, to using moral and transformational means of resolving controversial issues. In pursuit of a special ethics of the education profession, Starratt poses five domains of moral responsibility: as human being, citizen and public servant, educator, educational administrator, and educational leader. In this essay, the authors apply each domain to the ethical analysis of dilemmas of educational leadership, specifically those brought forth by current national crises and conflict (i.e., Hurricane Katrina, war in Iraq, and September 11 terrorist attacks), in order to reveal archetypal behaviors of educational leaders as proactive moral agents.