The radical critique of culture and social justice educational leadership

For over two decades the radical critique of society and culture has had an important impact on educational-pedagogical thought and has had a central role in promoting the discussion of ‘social justice’ in educational leadership literature. This paper aims to present the principle tenets of the radical critique of society and culture in social justice educational leadership discourse and to consider whether radical critique is consistent with social justice advocacy and application. The paper argues that radical critique, particularly given its rejection of a neutral school culture and its adherence mainly to the value of cultural diversity, confounds coherent application of social justice policies and neglects the complexities inherent to the notion of social justice educational leadership. Social justice requires constant examination of the tensions and dilemmas that characterize social justice advocacy and policymaking. Promoting social justice demands two enabling conditions: (1) a neutral school culture that guarantees fair treatment of all and a communicative environment in which each voice can be heard; and (2), a local and contextual determination of the specific social justice dimensions that are needed to be applied in a given educational context.