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Virtuous Educational Leadership
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Virtuous Educational Leadership
Doing the Right Work the Right Way

First Edition


October 2022 | 288 pages | Corwin

Excellent leadership matters

Without excellent leadership, school improvement is impossible, or at least impossible to sustain. But what are the characteristics of an excellent leader? Is general leadership experience and knowledge enough? And how do you practically grow and develop leadership in yourself and others so you can all have a bigger impact on student outcomes?

This integrated, holistic resource explores the virtues that are integral to achieving excellence in educational leadership, while offering practical guidance on how to do the right work in the right way—no matter what challenges you face or student inequities you’re trying to overcome. Features include:

  • Practical, research-based applications of virtue theory
  • Examples of school leaders’ thinking and actions
  • In-depth yet accessible theoretical analysis
  • Detailed analysis showing theoretical concepts in practice
  • Summaries and reflection questions

The success of your students and teachers is directly linked to your influence, your knowledge and ideas, your personal character, and your ability to focus on the proper purposes of education.


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Part A: Identifying the Proper Purpose of Leadership Work
 
Chapter 1: Three Proper Purposes of Education
The Proper Purposes of Educational Institutions

 
Less Satisfactory Approaches to Identifying the Right Work

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 2: Linking the Purposes to the Science of Learning and Teaching
How Students Learn

 
Implications for Classroom Teaching

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Part B: Doing the Right Leadership Work
 
Chapter 3: Implications of the Science of Learning and Teaching for Leadership
Dimension 1: Setting Goals and Expectations for Deep Learning

 
Dimension 2: Resourcing Strategically for Deep Learning

 
Dimension 3: Ensuring Quality Teaching for Deep Learning

 
Dimension 4: Leading Teacher Professional Learning for Deep Learning

 
Dimension 5: Ensuring a Safe and Orderly Environment for Deep Learning

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 4: Taking Context Seriously
Traditional Concepts of Context

 
Proposed Concept of Context

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Part C: Doing the Right Work the Right Way
 
Chapter 5: Virtues for Doing the Right Work the Right Way
Virtues Explained

 
Virtues as Inclusive of Motives, Knowledge, and Skills

 
The Place of Virtues in Leadership Frameworks

 
A Taxonomy of Virtues for Doing the Right Work the Right Way

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 6: Leadership Virtues
Sources of Leadership Influence

 
Virtuous Leadership Motivations

 
Identifying and Nurturing a Virtuous Disposition to Lead

 
Recruiting and Retaining Virtuous Leaders

 
Reluctance to Lead

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 7: Problem-Solving Virtues: Strategic
The Role of Knowledge and Skill in Virtuous Strategic Leadership

 
The Role of Motivation in Virtuous Strategic Leadership

 
Connecting the Details With the Big Picture

 
Finding the Strategic Focus

 
Enacting the Strategic Focus

 
Maintaining the Strategic Focus

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 8: Problem-Solving Virtues: Analytic
Analytic Virtues and Theories of Action

 
Analytic Virtues and Truth-Seeking

 
Motivational Aspects of Analytic Virtues

 
The Ladder of Inference: A Tool for Truth-Seeking Leaders

 
Strategic and Analytic Virtues in Action

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 9: Problem-Solving Virtues: Imaginative
Imaginative Virtues and the Integration of Solution Requirements

 
Imaginative Virtues, Creativity, and Problem-Solving

 
Strategic, Analytic, and Imaginative Virtues in Action

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 10: Interpersonal Virtues
Relational Trust: A Guide for Deriving Interpersonal Virtues

 
Four Interpersonal Virtues

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 11: Integrating Leadership, Problem-Solving, and Interpersonal Virtues
The Task-Relationship Dilemma

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 12: Being Virtuous in Tough Spots
Fostering Accurate Reporting

 
Building Collegial Accountability

 
Providing Critical Evaluation

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Chapter 13: Virtuous Leadership of Educational Improvement: A Case Study
The Problem: Attendance at Vauxhall Secondary College

 
The Leaders: Roles and Contributions

 
The Method: Using CCPS to Improve Attendance

 
The New Challenge: Addressing an Unanticipated Obstacle

 
Reflections on the Success of CCPS at Vauxhall Secondary College

 
Reflections on the Contributions of Leaders’ Virtues to the Success of CCPS at VSC

 
Summary

 
Reflection and Action

 
 
Conclusion
 
Chapter 14: Conclusion
 
References
 
Index

No one combines novel insights and precise ideas like Viviane Robinson. Robinson is as comfortable around the details of the trees as she is in stepping back to take in the forest. You won’t find a more unique and powerful book on leadership—one suited exactly for our times—than Virtuous Educational Leadership.

Michael Fullan
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

In Virtuous Educational Leadership, Viviane Robinson has made explicit what I have often described as an X factor in leadership—something that distinguishes excellent leaders from the rest. Her description and portrayal of virtuous leadership provides insights into the dispositions that underpin wise leadership.

Anne Berit Emstad
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Trondheim, Norway

Viviane Robinson is one of my favorite educational leadership researchers and writers, and this book illustrates so well why that is so. The school leader plays an essential role in engaging students in deep learning. Robinson offers invaluable insights for how to foster this type of learning through virtuous leadership.

Peter DeWitt
Albany, NY

Virtuous Educational Leadership is a gift for all of us searching for guidance in school leadership development. It is both inspiring and practical. Viviane Robinson promotes leadership excellence by showing how virtues are at the very core of leadership and how crucial they are in the face of today’s educational challenges.

Anna Jolonch
LID Barcelona, Educational Leadership Centre
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Making a positive change in any role, from teacher to principal, requires both a ‘what’ and a ‘how.’ Virtuous Educational Leadership provides a framework for identifying the ‘what’ (collaborative complex problem-solving) and approaching the ‘how’ (virtuous leadership). With Viviane Robinson’s characteristic depth and rigor, the ideas hidden in these pages will empower leaders worldwide.”

Oliver Lovell
Victoria, Australia

Virtuous Educational Leadership is a comprehensive examination of the complex world of school leadership. It draws upon research from a wide range of disciplines, supported by rich analysis, of examples of the work of leaders. Voices from the front lines are expertly interwoven throughout. I highly recommend it.

Tom Rees
Programmes, Ambition Institute
Manchester, UK

Educational leaders inhabit a world that expects simplicity to be curated from complexity, certainty from unpredictability, coherence from chaos. And, while the existing literature on educational leadership contains plenty of advice and its recommendations seem intuitively compelling, it is, ultimately, lacking in actionable specificity. Thankfully, Virtuous Educational Leadership is a work of deep practical wisdom that is anchored in theory, acknowledges the critical importance of context, and illustrates clearly how educational leadership is not simply about doing the right work of leadership but also about doing it in the right way.

Stuart Kime
Evidence Based Education
Sunderland, UK

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