Nera 2019 Fads fashions and gurus in school

Nera 2019 Fads, fashions, and gurus in school leadership – interrelations between gurus and followers Lars Frode Frederiksen Jakob Ditlev Bøje University of Southern Denmark 1

Context • Many and varying expectations of today’s school leaders (Robinson, 2015; Courtney & Gunter, 2015) • In the latest reform of the Danish primary school (Folkeskole), one can find expressions stating that the school leader must: ‘perform’, ‘compose’, ‘involve’, ‘decide’ ‘offer’, ‘initiate’, ‘evaluate’, ‘permit’, etc. (Ministry of Education, 2018) • As such, the school leader has become responsible/made accountable of the individual school’s performance and general well-being 2

Research question • Which expectations of educational leadership does the guru-industry constitute, and how is the guruindustry itself constituted by such expectations? 3

Structure 1. Research and literature on fads, fashions, and gurus in school leadership 2. Guru theory 3. Analysis of Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) 4. Conclusion and discussion 4

Guru, fashion og fads Management fashion: ”a relatively transitory collective belief, disseminated by management fashion setters, that a management technique leads to rational management progress” (Abrahamson 1996) 5

Guru industry • A two-headed phenomenon – The one consists of the consultants industry and other management gurus – The other consists of the journalistic and academic commentators • Another approach is to study the tendency as a relationship between the suppliers of management concepts, fashions, and fads and managers as users with needs for managerial support – Managers are not passive receivers 6

The guru-follower relationship • Theoretical approaches to understanding the guru-follower relationship A. Symbolic interactionism: A play/performance in everyday life Ø The audience creates the guru as much as the guru creates the audience Ø Front stage/backstage performance: involves risk if back stage is exposed; the show may break down B. Anthropological perspectives: witchdoctor-client relationship Ø A way of organizing hope/faith in a dangerous world C. Guru’s are selling a brand. Leaders are (actively) buying a brand (Collins) Ø Ø Guru-theories are not beside leadership – it is a part of leadership It offers a means of dealing with ambiguity D. Narrative and discourse theory: Storytellers & listeners 7

Current fashions and gurus in school leadership • Student centred leadership (Robinson, 2015) and • Professional learning communities (e. g. Albrechtsen, 2016) • We will attempt to study the guru-follower relationship in connection to these ‘phenomena’ • We believe a case study of these may tell a broader story of how school leadership is currently constituted in relation to omnipresent hopes and expectations – and vice versa 8

What is PLC? • • An idea? A concept? A phenomenon? A thing – containing different dimensions? (see below) • A commodity? Ø Albrectsen (2016) refers to PLC’s in all the above ways Ø The vagueness of PLC leads to a certain mystique – which may lead to heightened expectations 9

Who talk about – and promote – PLC’s? • Applied research(ers), e. g. in the UC’s; not so much ‘unapplied’ academics • Advisors, consultants, policy developers • According to Clark and Salaman (1996), gurus are not classic professionals in that they: – Don’t refer to a common, authoritative knowledge base checked and controlled by other professionals and professional associations – Don’t go through selection, qualification, and certification processes – Gurudom is based on the identification of a set of ideas with particular individuals (e. g. student centered leadership) – otherwise gurus would not be gurus – ‘Gurus’ work is aimed at hearts and minds, not structures and systems’ (p. 86) 10

To whom are PLC’s adressed? • Multiple – and therefore vague – receivers (followers) • Both teachers and leaders, depending on who talks/promotes – No clear distinctions are made between teachers and leaders – No conflict of interest is mentioned – No discussions of occupational professionalism (PLC’s for teachers) as opposed to organizational professionalism (PLC’s for leaders) – However: rhetoric sometimes changes when respectively teachers and leaders are (indirectly) addressed: • Professional capital ≈ teachers (Hargreaves) • Capacity building ≈ leaders (Jensen, 2016) 11

How are PLC’s promoted? (1) • Language: – Narrative and metaphoric (e. g. ‘teaching at a crossroad, with deep abysses at each side’) – Seductive/missionizing (e. g. by reference to Mandela as another guru) – With a touch of science (but not simply descriptive/analytic) – Many empty signifiers and superlatives involved (e. g. improve, support, strengthen, reform, inform, encourage, have positive implications, create active participation) – Some antagonisms (e. g. privatized teaching, business capital) • All in all: multiple ways of promoting the phenomenon 12

How are PLC’s promoted? (2) • Feelings, sentiments, affects aroused among followers (in this case us as readers): – A sense of importance (not unimportant) – Energetic – not boring – Spell-binding – Challenging/confronting – Non-objective – Uplifting, faith-promoting (c. f. Malinowski) – A sense of righteousness (the wrong way to go or the right way to go in education) – A sense of conviction • All in all: the literature is performing 13

Conclusion • Which expectations of educational leadership do gurus (PLC’s) constitute? – Schools can and should be led as collaborating, learning, and non -political organizations – Right action may lead to right results. Problems can be fixed • How are gurus (PLC’s) themselves constituted by such expectations? – A market is established – demand is guarantied – A reciprocal creation and consumption of hope is connecting gurus and followers – a never-ending viscous circle 14

Discussion • Expectations increase infinitively – More complex to be a teacher or a leader – Accountability replaces responsibility • Unintentional consequences – What happens if expectations are not realized – and problems cannot be handled as prophesied by the gurus and wished by the followers? 15