The Relationship of Gender and Context to Leadership in Australian Schools

Abstract

This chapter focuses upon the interactions between core components of the organizational culture of Australian schools (level and size of schools, sectorial identity, and student gender) and the beliefs of a balanced sample of male and female principals. The findings qualify previous discourse about leadership and gender by suggesting that organizational variables generate significant variations both within and between genders. Some factors draw men and women towards shared belief platforms; others lead to highly significant differences within each gender. The findings thereby question essentialist typecasts which portray men as naturally bureaucratic and instrumental and women as collaborative and nurturing. The concept of "multiple masculinities and femininities" (Connell, 1995), is advanced as a more useful theoretical construct.Australia replicates the pattern of advanced western democracies where schools are highly feminized workplaces but disproportionate percentages of principalships are held by men. This mirrors broader patterns in the workforce where men hold 70% to 80% of administrative, executive and managerial roles. The 1996 census indicated that although 69% of teachers in Australia were women, only a third of school principals in Australia were female (ABS Census, 1998;Connell, 1987). In the state of Victoria, where this study was conducted, 67% were males and 37% were females. Observations that Canadian and English schools are institutions where "men manage and women teach" (Ozga, 1993;Reynolds, 1995) would appear to be equally applicable to Australia.

Leadership and Intercultural Dynamics

“…They each view matters through different cognitive frameworks, the former focused upon the needs of local populations of students, the latter more aware of macro-level policies and imperatives. As such they support the arguments of Western theorists that institutional and local contexts may shape the cognitive frameworks of educational leaders in ways that belie generalizations about national and social cultures (Ribbins, 1996;Coleman, 1998;Collard, 2003).…”

Moral leadership in schools

“…There are many studies that illuminate the complexities of the moral leadership concept and its varying dimensions (Coombs (2003) and Collard (2003) are other recent examples)[2]. The few studies mentioned in this article suggest a range of concerns and approaches are associated with studying the moral dimensions of leadership.…”

Learners, initiators, servants: The self-images of victorian principals in the 1990s

“…This difference was more a result of differences between men than between women across the sectors. Other sections of this study indicated that commitment to continuous learning was strongest in the Catholic sector (Collard 2003). This appears to have led men from the sector to be more inclined to view themselves as adult learners than those from government and independent sites.…”

“…This suggests that women were more responsive to the autonomy sanctioned by this sector than the men. Other sections of this study indicate that they apply this initiative in the areas of curriculum and pedagogy (Collard 2003). Conversely, the men appeared more inclined to regard themselves as custodians of an established institutional order and its internal accountabilities (Collard 2003).…”