Generation X School Leaders as Agents of Care: Leader and Teacher Perspectives from Toronto, New York City and London
UCL Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK
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Academic Editor: Gregor Wolbring
Societies 2016, 6(2), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc6020008
Received: 3 March 2016 / Revised: 11 March 2016 / Accepted: 28 March 2016 / Published: 31 March 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How School Leadership Influences Student Learning)
This paper draws on evidence from our three-year Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded research study of the lives, careers, experiences and aspirations of Generation X (under 40 years of age) principals and vice-principals in London, New York City, and Toronto. More specifically, the paper examines interview evidence from nine school-based studies in which nine leaders and 54 teachers discuss their perspectives on leaders’ care of their staff members. The evidence demonstrates that leaders and teachers both place a high level of importance on leaders’ ability and willingness to be supportive, understanding, and approachable. Teachers also expect leaders to serve as advocates for and role models of good work/life balance. While the school-level studies take place in radically different city-based contexts, the expectation of leaders’ care for teachers transcends different accountability and policy structures. Both groups focus their discussion on work/life balance and, more specifically, the need for leaders to understand that teachers are people with lives beyond school. The paper highlights implications for policy, practice, and future research.
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Keywords:
leadership; Generation X; global cities; care; collective efficacy; work/life balance
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Edge, K.; Descours, K.; Frayman, K. Generation X School Leaders as Agents of Care: Leader and Teacher Perspectives from Toronto, New York City and London. Societies 2016, 6, 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc6020008
AMA Style
Edge K, Descours K, Frayman K. Generation X School Leaders as Agents of Care: Leader and Teacher Perspectives from Toronto, New York City and London. Societies. 2016; 6(2):8. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc6020008
Chicago/Turabian StyleEdge, Karen; Descours, Katherine; Frayman, Keren. 2016. "Generation X School Leaders as Agents of Care: Leader and Teacher Perspectives from Toronto, New York City and London" Societies 6, no. 2: 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc6020008
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